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Oh I'm an interesting case all right... » BarbaraCat

Posted by chicklet on September 25, 2003, at 13:15:29

In reply to Re: And now i jump in! » chicklet, posted by BarbaraCat on September 25, 2003, at 10:41:46

Hey Barbara...
I've been reading your posts since oh, waaay back. I don't frequent the med board much anymore but of course the Lamictal thread caught my eye.
>>Provigil - that's interesting, especially about regulating sleep. Do you also have ADD symptoms?

Nope. No ADD. Just a smart, creative, in-the- know pdoc! I tried Ritalin many years ago- just for fatique- and hated it too. Apparently Provigil is known for a low s/e profile and much fewer of the ups and downs that you can get with other stims. Yeah, regular stimulants can be b-a-d for Bipolars...but then so can ssri's! I don't fall into the manicky realm though, since I've been on an ms I've never been "triggered" into a manic episode. We're talkin 16 years here. yeah that's me. bipolar with none of the fun.

>>felt uncomfortable with the anxiety. But now I'm wondering if I should just stick with it longer...

How long did you stick with it? I don't know anything about it, but I know that my first week on the Provig SUCKED!!! I don't get anxiety and I had it. Bad. Nervous moody jittery teary switching back and forth just throughout one day. A wise pharmacologically-savvy friend told me to stick it out for a little while longer and I did.

>> I hate to add anything to my mix since I'm on a 'say no to unnecessary polypharmacy' campaign,

Oh sing it sister. I've really really had enough of this crap.

>>then finding it later in the garage. Stuff like that.

it must be so frustrating...

>> You know, you're the first person I'm aware of who is on such a high dose of Lam. How is that for you?

Perfect. When I first started on it I was on Trileptal too. I'd been on Tegretol for years and years and we switched to Trileptal. By the way- anyone out there still on Tegretol---get thee on Trileptal!!! Anyway, my doc wondered if i was just a speedy metabolizer or something and did a blood level (didn't even know they could do that). At that time i was on like 300 Lamictal plus the Tri. The blood level was waaay low for the Lam...subtherapeutic. So we increased it.
Now on 60 Prozac, 500 Lam, .075 Synthroid (thanks a lot, Lithium...), and now the Provigil. I guess an ave dose is 200. i seem pretty good on 100. I think I'd be crawling out of my shorts at 200. but I don't have ADD either so...

>>you tried Omega-3?
tried for a while and got impatient...try to get a lot through diet but...yeah i know I know...
How's your exp with Omegas been?

What else are you on?

>>of the energy/ADD like symptoms
Oh wow, I didn't know that the thyroid had anything to do with ADD!

Good to chat with ya...
Karen

>
>
> > I've been on 500mg Lam for over a year now, and for a long time i had a Lamictal, Trileptal Prozac, Synthroid combo. working pretty well. I have a strong tendency towards the downs of bipolar and pretty much haven't gotten manicky since I was dx 16 years ago. So the fight for me has been the depression.
> >
> > The Lamictal was initially activating for me but it evened out with each increase. I'm not prone to anxiety (obviously-if I'm on Lam and Prozac), but i was taking Prosom to sleep at night. When the depression's bad, the sleep's bad.
> >
> > But I had a recent dip in my mood that was reeeealy bad and I just knew this meant "Let's try___" because there's really no where else to go with my levels of each med. My doc put me on Provigil which is used for narcolepsy to promote "daytime wakefulness". Apparently they've seen some promise in it for enhancing the effects of some AD's and MS's and for actually having a mood lightening effect of its own. I take it in the am and within 30 minutes or so (i don't know what's 'normal') I feel nice and awake. During the 1st week on it, i got anxiety, but it went away. Well the point of all this is that the Provigil seems to be regulating my sleep...I take it in the am (kinda works like a cup of coffee), I'm not sleepy during the day, and then at night I'm good and tired and ready to sleep. Without needing a benzo or anything! Too soon to tell much else becauses it's only one week on it, but my mood has begun to improve as well. (it could be just a cycle...we'll see)...just thought I'd pop in and letcha know what seems to have worked well for me...
> > Barbara's already more than helped you with all of the other schtuff...
> >
> > Take care- and congrats on feeling better...oh yeah, and amidst all of your choices and questions coming up, make sure to sit back and revel in your new found good mood!
> > Karen
> >
>
>


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