Posted by JahL on May 24, 2005, at 18:12:16
In reply to TOPAMAX and LAMICTAL together????, posted by bipolarspectrum on May 24, 2005, at 17:27:50
Hi.
I've taken Lamictal for a few years now and whilst it helps a lot, I do notice the agitation (I get RLS).
I recently added Topamax, purely to try and improve efficacy, but couldn't last long on it. Like a significant proprtion of people who take it, I suffered from the dreaded cognitive dulling, as well as dry mouth, hypotension etc. I came straight off it when I read that 30% of patients on the higher dose (main trial) experienced 'vision disturbances'. The 'acute glaucoma' warning terrified me. [the chances of it actually happening are lottery numbers but I am particularly paranoid about losing my sight. Don't let me put you off tho']. After a month it hadn't helped anyway; it's not fabled for its AD properties.
Because the agitation isn't mania per se, I wonder if an anti manic agent would help in this instance.
However, as you know, (soft) Bipolar is a strange beast and responses seem to vary widely.
There are a few drugs that are said to help with Akathesia, kind of similar, though their names escape me (even tho' I tried them!). Scott will know.
Good luck.
Jah.
> I have found that lamictal makes me agitated and irritable... I am a soft bipolar.. I'm wondering if anyone has used topamax with lamictal.. I was thinking that mabye topamax could act as an antimanic agent and keep the lamcital agitation at bay???.. any thoughts?
> bps
poster:JahL
thread:502368
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050521/msgs/502398.html