Posted by Randal on August 20, 2002, at 12:19:12
In reply to Depends on the accuracy of the kindling theory... (nm) » Randal, posted by Ritch on August 20, 2002, at 1:58:07
Hi Mitch,
A related question:
Say two bipolar parents have a kid. Statistically the chance of having a bipolar kid is 75% according to the Time article. This is even greater than for twins, and you would know this from birth, even without some sort of genetic test. The genetic test of course doesn't yet exist, but this is a scenario that must be faced now by a significant number of parents. Bipolar people are more likely to marry other bipolar people-- I think they called it assortive mating.
Now should the parents give the kid low doses of some mood stabilizer (lithium, depakote, whatever) in the hopes of keeping the disease from ever surfacing? I mean even in the absence of any (clear) symptoms. Would this work?? My *guess* is that it's got to have some effect on at least slowing the progress of the disease. I might worry about giving a kid such drugs from early on and the possible dangers. However these must be known (and I assume they are not a big problem) since so many epileptic kids receive large doses of anti epileptic drugs throughout childhood.
I guess a related question is whether epileptic kids, treated with such drugs throughout childhood, have a lower than expected rate of bipolar disorder. I understand that epileptics as a whole have a higher rate of bipolar disorder than the general population, so of course this would have to be factored in.
More dramatic things have been done for other diseases. I'm thinking about breast cancer, where women with the gene have actually had mastectomies as a preventative measure. Bipolar disorder is also a life-threatening disease, with up to a 20% lifetime fatality rate from suicide.
If I were such a parent I would want to do something like this. Does anyone know if people in fact do?
Just thought I would throw this out to see if anyone else had any thoughts or experiences with this.
Randal
poster:Randal
thread:28868
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20020820/msgs/28982.html