Posted by BarbaraCat on March 18, 2003, at 15:33:44
In reply to Lamictal-I am depressed and it's getting worse, posted by Krissy P on March 12, 2003, at 19:20:23
Krissy,
I have to agree with Ron and Maximus here. You are not, I repeat not, on a mood stabilizer. Lamictal is tossed into that category because of it's anti-epileptic profile but it doesn't work well enough if you need something different. I know this well because I've been in a very similar place to you. I'm fine at 50mg lamictal and if I start increasing I get depressed. I'm on a tricyclic after being on all the SSRI's and SNRI's in the book. The only thing that makes everything else tie together and work is lithium. Without lithium, NOTHING works. Lithium alone does not work but it is a necessary part of my brew.I HATE taking it because it's caused my hypothyroid condition to worsen and I'm concerned about kidney problems. But I'm only taking 600mg which seems to be the magic number for me. If you have the kind of bipolar syndrome that responds best to lithium, believe me, nothing else is going to work as well. You'll continue to futz around with this med and that. They'll work for a while and then you'll get in that weird mixed hypomanic depressed place again. I can only say to give lithium a try. For what is does, nothing else does it better. After many off/on attempts I am now a greatful believer that sometimes those old fashioned meds work the best - at least for me. As far as the weight, I now feel so much better (since starting nortriptyline) that I'm inspired to exercise like mad and am getting in better shape than ever.
poster:BarbaraCat
thread:208531
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030314/msgs/210434.html