Psycho-Babble Medication Thread 1093861

Shown: posts 1 to 12 of 12. This is the beginning of the thread.

 

lamictal+trileptal

Posted by Christ_empowered on January 6, 2017, at 13:16:42

I'm on 1200mgs/Trileptal, 30mgs/Abilify, 400mgs/Wellbutrin SR, and 100mgs/Lamictal. I'm doing much, much, much better than before, and I'm quite pleased with my combination. I also do Orthomolecular with the prescribed drugs. I think the OM reduces symptoms/problems that remain after the prescription drugs and the vitamins seem to prevent some adverse effects I've had in the past (EPS and neuroleptic induced dysphoria, for instance).

I have some lingering depression, and I'm wondering if 200mgs/Lamictal would be a good idea. My psychiatrist said he goes up to 600mgs/Lamictal, which is most definitely not something I'm interested in at this point, but it is good to know I haven't maxed it out.

I just don't "get" Lamictal. Its not an antidepressant, but it helps depression and overall mood stability (?). I don't want to turn into a zombie, but I do want to get some of the obsessive traits and low mood taken care of, preferably by using the treatments I'm already prescribed.

Thanks.

 

Re: lamictal+trileptal » Christ_empowered

Posted by SLS on January 6, 2017, at 15:23:45

In reply to lamictal+trileptal, posted by Christ_empowered on January 6, 2017, at 13:16:42

> I'm on 1200mgs/Trileptal, 30mgs/Abilify, 400mgs/Wellbutrin SR, and 100mgs/Lamictal. I'm doing much, much, much better than before, and I'm quite pleased with my combination. I also do Orthomolecular with the prescribed drugs. I think the OM reduces symptoms/problems that remain after the prescription drugs and the vitamins seem to prevent some adverse effects I've had in the past (EPS and neuroleptic induced dysphoria, for instance).
>
> I have some lingering depression, and I'm wondering if 200mgs/Lamictal would be a good idea. My psychiatrist said he goes up to 600mgs/Lamictal, which is most definitely not something I'm interested in at this point, but it is good to know I haven't maxed it out.
>
> I just don't "get" Lamictal. Its not an antidepressant, but it helps depression and overall mood stability (?). I don't want to turn into a zombie, but I do want to get some of the obsessive traits and low mood taken care of, preferably by using the treatments I'm already prescribed.

Most people with depression or bipolar depression do best at 200 mg/day of Lamictal. I need a full 300 mg/day. As to why it helps with depression remains elusive, last I heard. Personally, I think Lamictal promotes more dopamine being released in limbic structures via disinhibition. Glutamate release in the nucleus accumbens normally inhibits dopamine release. If you reduce glutamate release in the thalamus (as Lamictal has been shown to do), dopamine activity in the nucleus accumbens is no longer inhibited, and is allowed to increase. Whether or not my theory is accurate really doesn't matter too much. It is of esoteric value, perhaps. The main thing is that it produces some measure of antidepressant activity. My guess is that a combination of Lamictal + (lithium or Trileptal) + Wellbutrin is worth exploring.


- Scott

 

Re: lamictal+trileptal

Posted by Christ_empowered on January 6, 2017, at 17:35:20

In reply to Re: lamictal+trileptal » Christ_empowered, posted by SLS on January 6, 2017, at 15:23:45

thanks. I'm on lamictal+trileptal+abilify+wellbutrin. Ugh. Kind of a lot, but it gets the job done, that's for sure.

When I get agitated or need a sleeping pill, I have gabapentin to take. Works nicely.

Do you know anything about high dose wellbutrin? Is the seizure risk really that terrible?

 

Re: lamictal+trileptal

Posted by linkadge on January 6, 2017, at 17:39:20

In reply to Re: lamictal+trileptal » Christ_empowered, posted by SLS on January 6, 2017, at 15:23:45

Lamictal has some mild / moderate effects on monoamine reuptake, monoamine oxidase (b), 5-ht3, and sigma receptors. The primary effect though is in stabilizing glutamate (which can have antidepressant effects by itself)

Linkadge

 

Re: lamictal+trileptal » Christ_empowered

Posted by Horse on January 6, 2017, at 23:59:14

In reply to lamictal+trileptal, posted by Christ_empowered on January 6, 2017, at 13:16:42

There was this recent conversation http://tinyurl.com/hald73w

I take 225 mg.

 

Re: lamictal+trileptal

Posted by SLS on January 7, 2017, at 0:04:42

In reply to Re: lamictal+trileptal, posted by linkadge on January 6, 2017, at 17:39:20

> Lamictal has some mild / moderate effects on monoamine reuptake, monoamine oxidase (b), 5-ht3, and sigma receptors. The primary effect though is in stabilizing glutamate (which can have antidepressant effects by itself)
>
> Linkadge

The sigma thing sounds interesting. I didn't know about the other stuff.


- Scott

 

Re: lamictal+trileptal

Posted by PeterMartin on January 7, 2017, at 2:40:55

In reply to Re: lamictal+trileptal, posted by SLS on January 7, 2017, at 0:04:42

I've been taking Lamictal for about 10yrs. I'm taking 200mg now but for most of that period I took 150.

I'd definitely recommend going up a bit from 100. 100 is usually the lowest dose most people would get an AD effect from. The good thing w/ Lamictal in my experience is that you'll usually get a nice anti-depressant effect when you increase the dose - even if it's a small increase. If you're concerned about cognitive issues then my suggestion would be to increase to 125 or 150 vs making the full jump to 200. Small changes in lamictal can make a large difference so you may find 125/150 is good enough at least to give you a little kick start and you can always go up from there....

Good luck.

 

Re: lamictal+trileptal

Posted by PeterMartin on January 7, 2017, at 2:46:30

In reply to Re: lamictal+trileptal » Christ_empowered, posted by Horse on January 6, 2017, at 23:59:14

> There was this recent conversation http://tinyurl.com/hald73w
>
> I take 225 mg.

This is great - thanks for posting. I only wish they had a Lamictal only group. I take Lamictal and Seroquel but I'm one of those people who doesn't think Seroquel does all that much for depression (at least not in the range I've taken ~100). Lamictal on the other hand always has. But thinking about it I may have always taken them at the same time (taking at least a tiny dose 25mg of Seroquel for sleep).

 

Re: lamictal+trileptal » PeterMartin

Posted by Horse on January 7, 2017, at 17:58:14

In reply to Re: lamictal+trileptal, posted by PeterMartin on January 7, 2017, at 2:46:30

Hi Peter, I meant to link the thread, too http://tinyurl.com/gm67j3u

I don't think it says tons more

 

Re: lamictal+trileptal

Posted by linkadge on January 7, 2017, at 19:28:35

In reply to Re: lamictal+trileptal » PeterMartin, posted by Horse on January 7, 2017, at 17:58:14

I had a better response to seroquel then I did lamictal. Lamictal was ok, but it didn't dampen some of my hypersensitivity (light sound) whereas seroquel did.

Linkadge

 

Re: lamictal+trileptal

Posted by rjlockhart37 on January 8, 2017, at 0:59:21

In reply to lamictal+trileptal, posted by Christ_empowered on January 6, 2017, at 13:16:42

lithium helps the mania states of manic depression, but lamotragine helps the depressive phases....your right it's not a antidepressant, but it has mood stablizing effects mainly from depression....im not sure if it's as effective as lithium in controlling mania, but doctors use both lithium and lamotragine to keep a cap down on baseline

it does something with the nuerons, stablizes them out of depressive phase, yet it's not euphoric it just simply helps the mood, i take 200mg and notice some mood stablity and i realize when i take lamictal when im in a slump it does bring me back to baseline.......but i've been on 400mg before, i didnt like it that high because it made everything kinda controlled, but really everyone reponds diffrently to dosages, i've read some people got good responses on 400mg but it's genereally a heavy duty dose for mood

200mg is standard and help with mood, larger doses like 600mg are for siezures

 

Re: lamictal+trileptal

Posted by phidippus on October 7, 2017, at 14:50:46

In reply to lamictal+trileptal, posted by Christ_empowered on January 6, 2017, at 13:16:42

That's a very low dose of Lamictal...

obsessive thoughts won't be helped by increasing it, though...

Eric


This is the end of the thread.


Show another thread

URL of post in thread:


Psycho-Babble Medication | Extras | FAQ


[dr. bob] Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD, bob@dr-bob.org

Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.