Posted by Wendy B. on October 17, 2001, at 10:46:01
In reply to Neurontin as a mood stabilizer, posted by Chaston on March 12, 2001, at 10:47:29
Hello:
Bringing back a thread from March '01...
My scrip for neurontin has been upped to 4200 mg or more, because of an apparent incident of hypomania last week. This was exacerbated by several nights of very little sleep.
When first prescribed, I was on 2400 mg (four X 600 mg spaced evenly through the day). I asked for a reduction of the amount (I felt better, I wasn't able to remember dreams, which I wanted to work on in therapy...), and with the pdoc's permission, went down to about 1800.
At the same time, I was becoming less compliant with the dosing, since you have to take so many pills through the day. I would go out of the house and not remember to take the pills with me, etc. So, the pdoc thinks the reduction in dose was a mistake, because of the hypomanic incident I mentioned.
I asked the pdoc if I needed a bigger gun, such as depakote or lithium, and she was adamant that if I upped the dose to 4200 or more, the neurontin would take care of the cycling. It seems she is very reluctant to add something like topamax as an adjunct mood stabilizer...
My dx is Bipolar I (one manic episode), and I suffer from typical bipolar symptoms, such as hypomania, anger and irritability, and depression. After the single episode, I went down, into a major depression.
Adjunct AD is Wellbutrin, to keep me from going down, 300 mg per day (I take 2 in am, 1 in early evening). The pdoc says it is the best anti-depressant for someone like me, because it doesn't produce mania for the bipolar sufferer. So far, after about 10 months of use, it has been working. I do get depressed, but the episodes last hours, not days.
My main questions are:
** What is the max dose of neurontin anyone is taking out there in babble-land?
** Are you taking neurontin as sole mood-stabilizer?** If not, what are your adjunct meds?
** What will I feel like on 4200 mg per day? I may have to go up higher than that. Already on 3600, I'm feeling woozy, a little removed, a little tired, non-reactive, calm.
** Would anyone recommend depakote or lithium over the constant pill-popping on the neurontin? (It looks like I'm going to have to get a new watch that I can set to beep an alarm every 3 hours...)
Anybody with info, or responses, or ideas?? I would appreciate hearing about anyone's experience with this topic...Thank you very much for input, in advance,
Wendy
> Has anyone had any success over a period of time using Neurontin as the sole mood stabilizer, in conjunction with an SSRI, to treat recurrent depression and Bipolar II (?? the one with periodic depressions, mild ups exacerbated by anti-depressants)?
> My P-doc put me on Neurontin almost a year ago. It had a calming effect. I ramped up to 1200 mg (all at bedtime, his recommendation), but felt too stupid (literally) in the morning to go up more. I have not had hypomania since then, but my P-doc put me on Depakote last December (now at 1250 mg/day).
> He says that the consensus seems to be that Depakote is better at mood stabilization. Since I would like to eliminate at least one of these drugs, my P-doc is having me taper off the Neurontin. I wondered if I am elimanting the wrong med.
> Thanks for your input!
poster:Wendy B.
thread:56289
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011015/msgs/81479.html