Posted by amy_oz on September 16, 2003, at 23:04:31
In reply to Lamictal + Depakote = ?, posted by wcfrench on September 16, 2003, at 13:01:53
> I've heard varied responses on this, but does anyone know exactly how the interaction of these two medications works? I've heard that Depakote doubles the Lamictal dose and Lamictal can increase OR decrease Depakote.
>
> I'm on Lamictal and might have to add Depakote soon, any advice?
>The main interaction is that Depakote doubles the half life of lamictal in hte body.
The half life of something is the time taken for half of the dose of a medication to be metabolised by the body.
What you'll do is lower the amount of lamictal you take, and introduce the depakote v. slowly.
I was on Epilim (a slightly different form of valproate which is the generic name for depakote)
and introduced lamictal v. slowly. I currently take 900 mg Epilim and 50 mg of Lamictal a day. This amount of Lamictal is obviously less than what most people take ( roughly 100mg or more).Hope this helps.
Amy
poster:amy_oz
thread:260653
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030912/msgs/260859.html