Posted by JohnX2 on February 24, 2002, at 20:22:02
In reply to Too many meds for bp 2?/neurontin dosing, posted by Chloe on February 24, 2002, at 19:49:51
Personally I might get some anxiety just trying to keep
track of all those medicines. Its quite a job. I've played
the ball game too.As far as the neurontin goes, I think the concensus opinion
on this board will be that a 3x a day dosing is required to
keep the medicine from being "bumpy". The medicine is metabolized
very quickly through the kidney. So when I took it I found that
I needed to space the dosing about 8 hrs apart 3x a day to keep a
steady level in my body. Personally I believe that it is very
important to try to keep our medicines at a constant level in
our body as best we can, especially for bipolars. The Neurontin
is a mood stabilizer, with the blood levels going up and down in
your brain during the day you are bound to be wishy washy.
Do you take a multiple dosing of Diazepam? I'm not
sure on the 1/2 life of that medicine. I take Klonopin
2 times a day and this insures that the medicines maintains
a consistent level in my body.Generally I would say it is ok to juggle a lot of medicines.
I'm a little suspicious that you would want to have them
circulating in and out of your bodies during different times
of the day. Some medicines only require once a day dosing
(like maybe celexa), so it probably doesn't matter when you
take it. But other medicines like neurontin are important.
I don't remember about Depakote. But if the standard regimen
requires multiple daily dosing and your pdoc has you just
taking a little at night, I think that is odd.Being bipolar (as I am) its best to try to keep
a solid base of medicines in the brain around the
clock instead of trying to shuffle different medicines
in and out. I don't think there is anything wrong with
trying to keep a small dash of a lot of medicines in the
head as long as they are around the clock. This is
just my philosophy and others may disagree.-John
> I am bp 2 and have had a hell of a time trying to get my mood right. I seem to need alot of small doses of mood stabilizers and just a spinkle of AD or I get hypo-agitated, agressive, and/or mixed states. I feel like I am on a lot of meds. But my pdoc says low doses of all of them helps me tolerate the side effects better...But I hope it's ok to take all of these.
>
> I have been having dizziness during the early evening hours about 7 hours after my morning 200 mgs dose of Neurontin. I take another 200 at bedtime. I am wondering if it's related to the spacing of the dosing of N. But since I started depakote, I was needing less neurontin during the day. The dep. seemed to make the N last longer.
>
> BUT I got very flat and deeply depressed from the depakote so my pdoc added on the smallest bit, 112 mgs of Eskilith. Now I am still kinda flat, but not so depressed! But since adding that I get dizzy/anxious mid N dosing...
> Do I need to space out the N more evenly now that I have added Li? Or add in another mid day dose? I really liked having the twice a day dosing...But the evening anxiety and dizziness is a bit disconcerting. I tend to be kinda slow and tired till mid afternoon, then the anxiety starts to creep in and remain for the rest of the day.
>
> Here is my current cocktail..
> 112 mgs Eskilith CR am (AD/stabilization)
> 200 mgs Neurontin am/pm (calming/stabilization)
> 250 mgs Depakote pm (anti-anger/stabilization)
> 1.4 mgs Celexa am (AD)
> 20 mgs Amitriptyline pm (for neuropathic pain)
> 5-10 mgs Diazapam
>
> Anyone have any thoughts on taking subtherapuetic doses of lots of meds?
> And about the timing or dosing of the neurontin with the depakote?
> Comments?
> Thanks for letting me ramble. Sorry if it's a little incoherent...Sometimes hard to think straight:)
> Chloe
poster:JohnX2
thread:95352
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020222/msgs/95356.html