Comments for MGH Center for Women's Mental Health

Comment on Depression During Pregnancy is Often Not Treated by R. Cosac

R. Cosac — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:16:50 +0000

Thank you for publishing an article about a largely ignored topic. It was very informative.

Comment on Interactions Between Antidepressants and Tamoxifen by Edna Spohn

Edna Spohn — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:06:45 +0000

This article is excellent advice. I am taking Tamoxifen and had just been prescribed Lexapro —- the generic version.
I did not pick it up at the pharmacy, but brought these articles out to show him that I didn’t think I should be taking that medicine.
Now is there some risk of taking venlafaxine which is a weak inhibitor which I had been prescribed,but it interfers with my night time sleeping?
I initially spotted this information in the Fall issue of the CURE magazine

Comment on Interactions Between Antidepressants and Tamoxifen by MGH Center for Women's Mental Health

MGH Center for Women's Mental Health — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:36:23 +0000

This is a very interesting observation. While there is no specific name to describe what you have observed, there do seem to be certain women who are more vulnerable to mood changes during hormonal transitions. For example, we sometimes see women with histories of postpartum depression who develop recurrent symptoms during the menopausal transition. There is not too much research on this topic. Bloch and colleagues observed that in women with histories of postpartum depression, a similar episode of depression could be elicited by abruptly withdrawal of estrogen. Bloch M, Schmidt PJ, Danaceau M, Murphy J, Nieman L, Rubinow DR. Effects of gonadal steroids in women with a history of postpartum depression. Am J Psychiatry. 2000 Jun;157(6):924-30.

Comment on Use of Wellbutrin (Bupropion) During Pregnancy by joan finkelstein M.D

joan finkelstein M.D — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:11:02 +0000

thank you for the update on use of wellbutrin in pregnancy. After perusing PubMed I found this to be an excellent summary that will be useful for my practice and my patient who is thinking about pregnancy and is now taking wellbutrin. I will advise her to switch to another medication.

Comment on Interactions Between Antidepressants and Tamoxifen by Ruth Steinman, MD

Ruth Steinman, MD — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:20:27 +0000

I have a 38 year old patient with a history of post-partum depression who one month into Tamoxifen treatment developed a severe agitated depression with suicidal ideation. She describes a history of mood changes with BCP use in her twenties. She is high risk for recurrence of breast cancer and her cancer is highly estrogen sensitive, so a decision not to treat with Tamoxifen is a difficult one for her.

I had a recent patient who developed a similar agitated depression during pregnancy.

I am wondering if there is a name for this-women who have a CNS extremely vulnerable to hormonal changes who develop an extreme level of agitation.