Posted by JahL on March 24, 2002, at 20:51:52
In reply to Lamictal beneficiaries- A Question for you. . ., posted by Bekka H. on March 24, 2002, at 17:07:00
>My questions are: What is the QUALITY of the relief you feel from Lamictal? How has it relieved your depression? Do you see a change in your life (for example, have you accomplished some of the things you were unable to accomplish when you were depressed?). Are you motivated to do the things you care about?
Hi. I'm BP II. Lamictal initially had a pretty decent AD effect, as well as resolving somewhat all my other symptoms. This has faded with time but it still serves its main function, muting the suicidal noise. VPA works similarly for me but Lamictal has the added advantage of reversing some of the BP psychomotor retardation.
The initial improvement occurred pretty early on and at a low dose but I think that this is more of a BP reaction (my brother, also BPII, had an identical reaction). I have no idea how Lamictal works 4 unipolar folk but I've read in a few places that higher doses might be required and that response times are longer (particularly because of the slow dose escalation ).
> I'm having some problems with Lamictal now, like insomnia, but I will try to persevere if I believe that this medicine might help me.
I think the insomnia, loss of appetite, slightly wired feeling etc is fairly typical. Can't say it's gone away with time but the pros outweigh the cons (4 me).
After some very pleasant rapid cycling, SSRIs (& every other AD) ultimately did nothing for me and generally worsened my depression. For me at least, SSRIs are a world away from Lamictal in terms of lethargy, amotivation etc.
I'm now on 400mg and the side-effects are no worse than when I was on, say, 100mg. Pretty tolerable overall.
How long you been on it? What's yr current dose?
J.
poster:JahL
thread:99911
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020322/msgs/99950.html