Posted by SLS on June 3, 2001, at 21:41:04
In reply to Re: Lamictal -another question! Briana and » chloe, posted by Cam W. on June 3, 2001, at 19:37:33
This was a nice post, Cam. I'm glad you jumped in to give such a well- balanced presentation.
> • Briana - The Lamictal monograph states that a normal starting regimen is 25mg to 50mg daily for two weeks and increasing by 25mg or 50mg every two weeks. Clinically, I find that when used as an adjunct for mood stabilization that taking 25mg for a week or two, then raising it by 25 mg every week or two, seems to work the best and avoids rashes. I should add that, if taken with valproic acid (Depakene™) or divalproex (Epival™ or Depakote™), the dose of Lamictal should be halved because these drugs interfere with Lamictal's metabolism.
The titration schedule I am familiar with when Lamictal is to be used to treat affective disorders and without the concommitant administration of valproate or enzyme-inducing drugs is as follows:
25mg x 2 weeks (12.5mg b.i.d.)
50mg x 2 weeks (25mg b.i.d.)
100mg x 1 week (50mg b.i.d.)
+50mg every 1 week
For bipolar disorder (depression):
- Average effective dosage = 200mg
- Range = 50mg - 300mgI don't know what dosages have been found to effectively treat rapid-cycling presentations or unipolar depression.
It's a great drug.
My impression is that the risk of precipitating a severe reaction to Lamictal is almost zero if it is administered properly.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:64875
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010530/msgs/65297.html