Posted by Cece on June 17, 2002, at 22:58:12
In reply to Re: Lamictal and poop out, posted by Peter S. on June 17, 2002, at 19:15:34
In my experience with Lamictal, there was an initial positive effect that plateaued and didn't increase until I reached a substantially higher dose. I took the early good effect as a message that 'this is a good med for me- keep going'.
I went very slowly (12.5mg steps) up to 125mg, stayed there for awhile, then with the prodding of my present pdoc who I really trust, started to go up again. At my present dose of 300mg, I can definitely feel stabilizing and AD effects, but at the same time it's subtle- I just notice that my off-center highs and lows are much less extreme and very short-lived. I may soon start slowly climbing a bit more to see if there is more stabilization and more AD effect possible for me- I don't feel like the Lamictal is pooping-out, I just think that it may have more to offer me. My pdoc has a number of patients who don't really feel its effect until around 600mg. I kinda doubt that I'll need to go that high, but the point is that it is not really a 'low dose med' (from what I have learned anyway).
Side effects:
If I stepped up any faster than 12.5mg every 1-2 weeks, I felt really lousy- kind of fluish, flushed, and sometimes agitated. Even at my small steps, I sometimes felt a little weird the third day after- but it passed quickly.
I have been slowly gaining weight, but I don't know whether it's the Lamictal or not, as I take a small amount of Trimipramine, a small amount of Depakote, and Hormone Replacement- all of which can cause weight gain. I hate having to make the choice, but I do choose sane over thin. And my eating and exercise habits aren't the best anyway, so can I really blame my meds? Of course Topomax shed weight amazingly, but it made me progressively more and more stupid. Thin or stupid? Plump or sane? All I have to do is remember what years of depression punctuated by hypomania was like to continue to choose sanity over vanity.Best to all,
Cece
poster:Cece
thread:109819
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020617/msgs/110183.html