Posted by Squiggles on November 2, 2006, at 15:23:08
In reply to Your meds » ronaldo, posted by ed_uk on November 2, 2006, at 15:13:04
> I would consider lamotrigine as a possible treatment. Perhaps, if lamotrigine was helpful, you might be able to reduce your lithium dose? I wouldn't recommend making any abrupt changes to your medication. Lamotrigine is a drug which needs to be introduced gradually - the initial dose is very low......increasing to a therapeutic level over several weeks. After a few weeks on lamotrigine, you might feel able to reduce your lithium dose slightly eg. to 800mg/day.
>
> On the other hand, it's early days on Zyprexa 10mg. Perhaps it would be best not to make any changes to your medication until you've fully stabilised on Zyprexa, which might take a couple of months.
>
> Regards
>
> Ed
There are a number of reasons why I must not
get off lithium and onto another drug:1. My doctor refuses to lower my lithium
dose - i have asked numerous times; and
to tell the truth, when i tried to lower it
myself, i did not feel well at all;2. There is no reason to switch from lithium
to something else; my kidneys are fine, my
thyroid is stable, my psychological state is
good, and my heart is fine. My only real
problem is the typical side effects of lithium
(which is a problem with every drug) and the
diarrhea, which may or may not be due to
lithium.3. Switching to another drug after so many
years would require the possibility of withdrawing from clonazepam (out of the question), adjusting
the thyroxine - very tricky;4. It is not known how the withdrawals and the introduction of a new drug would react on my body after so many years.
5. If it does not work out, it is not known if the damage done could be reversable.
AFTER SO MANY YEARS OF STABILITY AND PSYCHOLOGICAL GOOD HEALTH (which others would envy on the armamatorium of current psychiatric drugs) WHY SHOULD I CHANGE TO SOMETHING EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTRARY TO MY AND MY DR.'s ADVICE?
Squiggles
poster:Squiggles
thread:699709
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061028/msgs/699818.html