Posted by KathyA on October 26, 2002, at 15:28:02
In reply to Re: Meds for Cyclothymia:Lamictal? KathyA, posted by polarbear206 on October 25, 2002, at 18:41:57
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> Kathy,
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> I feel so much better taking lower doses of my antidepressants in combination with the lamictal. keep in mind that most antidepressants used alone with bipolar disorders can exacerbate your cyclothymnia. Mood stabilizers should be the MAIN medication. If an antidepressant is needed, the dose should be low. I took lithium and depakote in the past. I didn't have the good results with them that I have with lamictal. I feel NORMAL for once. My sleep and wake cycle are also normal. You have to titrate up on lamictal slowly. It has a narrow therapeutic window and it takes time and patience to get there. I take 100mg lamictal with 7.5mg of paxil and 50mg of imipramine. I was on double the dose of both of them prior to lamictal. Did you wein off the effexor slowly while adding the paxil? Whatch out for some withdrawal. Could be why you are feeling bad. How much paxil are you on? I have some good sites with information on lamictal and cyclothymia. Many of us bipolars have atypical depression with our low's.
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> Laura
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> http://www.psycom.net/depression.central.html
> Scroll down the page to cyclothymia.
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> http://www.psycom.net/depression.central.lamotrigine.html
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> http://psycheducation.com/depression/frameset.html
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>Laura,
Thanks! I'd seen two of those sites before but I looked at the third and it was very informative.
I did not wean off the Effexor as my doctor said I didn't need to if I was switching to another SSRI. Within 5 days I had crashed into a depression like I haven't seen for a long time. Last night I took a half dose of Effexor and I feel much better today, in fact quite good, maybe hypomanic. But it's definitely preferable. I guess I'd better get in to see my doctor a little sooner than planned. One more question: Have you (or anybody else out there) had any trouble with weight gain on Lamictal? Or has anybody combined Tegretol and Lamictal? Or switched from Tegretol to Lamictal? What were the effects?Thanks so much for your responses, Laura. I had no idea when I started this that it would mean so much to me.
Kathy
poster:KathyA
thread:124863
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021025/msgs/125334.html