What is the likelihood that a BP has no symptoms to 48th year?
The scenario:
Age 48 female, has first depressive episode of life, due to accumulation of actual sad events. Treated with 150mg Effexor. Triggers hypomania in third week.
Is this switch to hypomania a reliable indicator for BP disorder?
The doctor said that this is an indicator of bipolar disorder. However, I think he is making an erroneous conclusion from the statistics. It appears that when
(A) BP patients
(B) are treated with an SSRI (like effexor)
then about 40% of them
(C) switch to (hypo-)mania.
So, this is A and B implies C. The doctor's statement was equivalent to C and B then implies A, which is incorrect logic. It might be true, but all I've found is articles detailing the
"A and B implies C" relationship and none going the other way. In fact, I found one article that concluded the opposite. That is, a pool of people who became hypomanic after taking an SSRI at a certain level then became "normal" after a reduction, and stayed that way for years.
Either way, what are the long term implications?
We're reducing the dosage, slowly. But I am really concerned that we may have started something that we can't fix.
Thanks,
DS
The scenario:
Age 48 female, has first depressive episode of life, due to accumulation of actual sad events. Treated with 150mg Effexor. Triggers hypomania in third week.
Is this switch to hypomania a reliable indicator for BP disorder?
The doctor said that this is an indicator of bipolar disorder. However, I think he is making an erroneous conclusion from the statistics. It appears that when
(A) BP patients
(B) are treated with an SSRI (like effexor)
then about 40% of them
(C) switch to (hypo-)mania.
So, this is A and B implies C. The doctor's statement was equivalent to C and B then implies A, which is incorrect logic. It might be true, but all I've found is articles detailing the
"A and B implies C" relationship and none going the other way. In fact, I found one article that concluded the opposite. That is, a pool of people who became hypomanic after taking an SSRI at a certain level then became "normal" after a reduction, and stayed that way for years.
Either way, what are the long term implications?
We're reducing the dosage, slowly. But I am really concerned that we may have started something that we can't fix.
Thanks,
DS