Birth Control Options for Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depression, refers to patterns of severe and abnormal mood swings that can go from a disabling depression to mania. Bipolar disorder affects different people differently with symptoms that are unique to their lives, moods and circumstances. Any birth control plan for BPD patients needs to be started with the consultation of the doctor so that the birth control options do not interact with the other medications that are being taken to control BPD symptoms.

Birth Control Options for BPD Patients

• An effective contraceptive plan is very important for a BPD patient since a number of medications that are used to treat BPD, such as lithium, present a high risk of birth defects. Medications such as carbamazepine, oxcarbazepine and topiramate heighten the metabolism of oral contraceptives therefore BPD patients who are on these medications should not depend entirely on oral contraceptives but should consider another method of birth control such as an injection of depo-medroxyprogesterone acetate, intrauterine device or condoms. Other medications besides these do not have the same reaction with oral contraceptives. For instance lithium and valproate do not affect the efficacy of oral contraceptives. The use of birth control pills also needs to be carefully monitored since they can trigger rapid cycles or some other variants of the BPD. Generally it has been seen that the progestogen in birth control pills can aggravate depression while estrogen has an opposite effect whereby often improving depression. Hence Levlen is seen to be more depressive than Tricyclen. But since both release varying degrees of hormones throughout the cycle they could both potentially worsen manic depressive episodes. Even though the low progestogen pills like Orthocyclen, Norinyl 1/35 or Desogen 1/35 are often suggested, there is a chance that any one of these can worsen the symptoms of BPD. The best solution is to try different pills for a couple of months to monitor their effects with the consultation of a doctor before making a final choice.