Bipolar disorder affects about 57 million, or 2.6 percent, of Americans over the age of 18, according to the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. You can't cure bipolar disorder, a mental disorder characterized by mood shifts ranging from severe depression to mania. The medications used for treatment often have significant side effects, so many people with bipolar disorder dislike or refuse to take them. Many turn to alternative medicine and more "natural" but unproven treatments, including B-6 and other vitamins. Do not take large doses of vitamin B-6 without your doctor's approval.
Possible Effects
Vitamin B-6 belongs to the B-complex family of vitamins, which work synergistically. B vitamin deficiency can cause depression, which plays a part in bipolar disorder. Vitamin B-6 aids in the manufacture of neurotransmitters, including seratonin and dopamine, known to play a part in mood modification, including depression.
Evidence
Studies on the effectiveness of nutritional supplements, including megadoses of vitamins, have not shown to be effective, according to psychiatrist Jim Haggerty, M.D., on the website PsychCentral. B-6 may help those with marked irritability. While studies such as one published by researchers from the University of Calgary on the effects of high-dose chelated vitamins and minerals on bipolar disorder showed benefit, this study, published in the December 2001 issue of the "Journal of Clinical Psychiatry," was not specific for vitamin B-6.
Alternative But Unproven Theories
Vitamin B-6 along with zinc may have value in treating people with pyroluria, an abnormal breakdown of hemoglobin that leads to vitamin B-6 deficiency. Symptoms similar to those of bipolar disorder, such as depression, anxiety, mood swings and poor stress control, accompany the disorder, which responds to B-6 and zinc therapy. Other centers treat either low levels of serotinin, dopamine and norepinephrine with B-6 as part of a constellation of vitamin therapy for undermethylation.
Considerations
Many unproven therapies for bipolar disorder are used by practitioners. Some may have value though they've not yet been proven effective. While vitamin B-6 may help treat bipolar disorder symptoms in a subset of people with the disorder, it is no substitute for prescription medications, unpleasant though the side effects may be. Vitamin B-6 also can cause nerve damage, although it usually subsides when you stop taking the vitamin. Do not take B-6 for treatment of bipolar disorder or substitute it for prescription medications without your medical doctor's supervision.
References
- PsychCentral; Vitamins for Bipolar Disorder; Jim Haggerty, M.D.
- Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance; Bipolar Disorder Statistics; May 2006
- Office of Dietary Supplements: Vitamin B-6
- "Journal of Clinical Psychiatry"; Effective Mood Stabilization ... ; B. Kaplan, et al.; December 2001
- Dr. Randi Fredricks; Bipolar Disorder and Adverse Reactions to Nutritional Supplements; Randi Fredricks, Ph.D.
- "Drugs"; Vitamins in Psychiatry: Do They Have a Role?; W. Petrie, et al.; July 1985
