Posted by urizenbrooklyn on May 31, 2006, at 14:38:44
In reply to Re: Lamictal and thinking » urizenbrooklyn, posted by detroitpistons on May 31, 2006, at 14:23:00
Thank You for your thoughtful and helpful response.
I think I can still benefit from the increased antidepressant aspects of the drug. I'm at a stressful point in my life. I'm about to travel around the world (literaly) in a month, and then I'm starting graduate school in September. Though this is exceedingly postive, it's stressful and my anxiety level has been high. What I'm hoping is that if I go up to 200mg now it doesn't mean I can't come back down to a lower dose later on in my life. This if my first experience with medication. Though I've exhibited bi-polar symptoms most of my life, in the past I've treated it with exercise and psychotherapy alone. The past few years have been especially tough, as I've had a string of personal and professional losses, and I've stopped exercising regularly. I needed something else, the manic periods stopped being fun, and intense anxiety emerged as a new symptom. I'm still young, I turn 25 in a week, and hope that with healthy living and self-monitoring I can use the meds as one tool amongst many. From what you say I could still benefit from this dose increase. I'll see how it goes for the next 2 weeks.
> When I went to 300 mg, I did feel a positive effect. From what I understand, Lamictal's antidepressant effects don't get any better after 200 mg. However, the mood stabilization effects can continue to get better with increased doses, sometimes as high as 500 or 600 mg.
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> If you feel OK on 100 mg, then just stick with that. When I was on 200 mg, I was still not well so that's why I went up. But if you're OK, then what's the point of going up?
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> By the way, if your doctor asks why you don't want to go up and you tell him it's because you fear cognitive difficulties, he may not know what you're talking about. This isn't something that's talked about much as a side effect by anybody but the people who take it, like the people on this board. Not everyone may experience this side effect though, especially at a relatively low dose like 200 mg. People with epilepsy take much higher doses. I don't think I had this problem when I was at 200 mg. Again, only go up if you think you need to...Just my 2 pennies.
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> > I'm on 100mg, and though I felt a significant change when I initially started I haven't felt any changes with subsequent dosage increases. I'm suppossed to start on 200mg tonight, but after reading this post I almost don't see the point. It's not that the Lamictal isn't working, it definetly has. All of my close friends and family have told me I seem more relaxed and in control. I still have swings, but they're not as severe and I'm far less anxious. Should I talk to my doctor about sticking with 100mg? I only have a two week prescription for the 200mg, should I just stick it out? These drugs are not a silver bullet; with psychotherapy and exercise I think I'll keep this disease at bay. I didn't expect the Lamictal to cure me, it's done enough already.
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poster:urizenbrooklyn
thread:650415
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060530/msgs/651077.html