FDA Issues Warning on Anticonvulsants Used To Treat BPD
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued a warning for people who take anticonvulsant medications such as Tegretol, Neurontin, and Depakote. After careful analysis, the FDA found that individuals who receive these types of medications may be as much as two times more likely to have suicidal thoughts or behaviors than individuals who receive placebos (inactive medications).
This news may be particularly important for individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD), who are often prescribed anticonvulsants due to their mood-stabilizing properties. BPD is also associated with a very high risk of suicidality. Find more on the specifics of the FDA warning on the FDA website.
For more on the use of anticonvulsants to treat BPD, see the article "BPD and Medications."
Comments
What particularly intrigues me is the unfortunate situation where someone is diagnosed as having epilepsy whilst also having, as yet undiagnosed, Borderline Personality Disorder. I can’t be the only one: epilepsy is just about the most common neurological complaint and personality disorders are becoming more prevalent. If there is a common component – structural, chemical or biological – between these disorders, then the likelihood of co-morbidity is presumably higher than the one in tens of thousands that would be dictated by pure chance. Even that rate of co-occurrence would affect a great number of people in a nation of some tens of millions of people.
In mine own case, I stopped using anticonvulsants – long before my BPD diagnosis – because they seemed to cause more problems than they relieved.
As a BPD who has been on Lamotrogene for more than 3 years – the prospect of “giving it up” is suicidal in itself. If the disorder predisposes one to suicide ideation what does it matter if this comes up again. for as long as it seems to “contain” the impulsivity – it works and is highly necessary! I’ll take my chances
My psychiatrist says this is false information, that the Depakote I am on slows and contains the suicidal thoughts and impulses. So far she is right. I would take a second look at this article – perhaps it contains false information.
I can’t believe your psychiatrist said this is “false information.” So… your doctor would like everyone to disregard a warning from the Federal Drug Administration? Wow.
Even SSRIs have been shown to be correlated with increased suicidal ideation. This doesn’t mean it happens to everyone who takes them. Just that depressed people who take them have more suicidal thoughts than do depressed people who don’t. It’s simply statistics.