Posted by barbaracat on October 14, 2005, at 11:33:32
In reply to Re: Just Diagnosed BarbaraCat » BarbaraCat, posted by KarenRB53 on October 13, 2005, at 20:35:33
> Just wondering if you're still on Lamictal and how you're doing with it?
> Thanks, Karen
>
**Wow, that was a while back and so much has happened since then. No, I'm not on Lam. I was doing fine on 75mg for about 4 months or so. Then my mom died suddenly and threw me into a tailspin and the depression came back with force. My pdoc had me slowly titrate up. With every increase I'd feel agitation which subsided, but I wasn't getting the antidepressant relief.At 125mg I started itching ferociously, like stinging little needles or tiny biting gnats. So bad I couldn't go to restaurants cause I'd embarrass myself needing to scratch everywhere.
I didn't associate it with Lam because we'd just taken in another stray cat and I blamed it on finally becoming allergic to our many cats. Besides, I thought the Lamictal rash was just that, a rash and my pdoc didn't associate it either. When I got up to 175mg I was itching so badly I had goudged bloody tracks on my head and body and my skin was looking puffy and inflamed, but still no 'rash'. So we backed down and then off completely because it no longer worked for the depression I was dealing with. Eventually went to nortriptyline which got me over the bad spot.
A few months later, after Lam was out of my system I took an oral chelator, DMPS, to get rid of mercury toxicity. I had an immediate awful reaction to it that turned into Stevens Johnson Syndrome, or the dreaded rash. I have theories as to why this happened and not all attributable to Lamictal, but I now know that that itchiness and inflamed skin was a 'prodromal state of Steven's Johnson'. The pumps were primed, an allergy had been already born and was waiting for the scales to tip to activate it. They sure did tip and for 5 weeks I was miserable and scared that it was going to progress into TENS, which is very bad news indeed.
So now I'm taking a very small amount (approx 5mg) of Cymbalta, just an index fingertip full of the pellets, and along with lithium I'm doing well. The depression is gone. That micro-dose (5mg vs. typical 30-60mg) is just right for me. Iv'e tried more and went from extreme agitation to extreme lethargy. And how about you? - Barbara
poster:barbaracat
thread:9730
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051010/msgs/566813.html