Posted by bleauberry on December 19, 2007, at 20:24:28
In reply to Re: Abilify or Lamictal, what is your preference?, posted by oldschool305 on December 19, 2007, at 18:07:38
> Thanks bleauberry... May I ask you another question please?
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> Do you think a small dose of Zyprexa at night (2.5mg-5mg) with 50mg of Lamictal in the day would be a good combo?To me a small dose of zyprexa is 1.25mg to 2.5mg. 5mg is medium. Any more is high. No way to predict with any of our psych meds whether some combo will be good or not.
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> Right now I am only taking Lexpro (5mg) and the insomnia and anxiety is horrible. When I FINALLYYYY get to sleep at 5-6am, I sleep all day long and have no energy to do anything.Not cool. It is not just disrupting of your life, it is strongly anti-healing. This in my opinion should be the main priority to fix.
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> I start a job soon, need to start feeling better. I have samples of 10mg Zyprexa and getting my lamictal prescription filled tomorrow.Choose one. Stay at a certain dose for 2 weeks before making any changes or additions. That way you know what is doing what in terms of what you feel and side effects. If zyprexa, I would cut the pill into quarters, and start with a half of a quarter (1.25mg). It doesn't have to be exact. With lamictal, most start at 25mg but I started at 12.5mg. Of the two, zyprexa is almost guaranteed to quell your anxiety in mere hours and to give you some good sleep. Lamictal is more difficult to predict. It makes some people tired and increases anxiety and insomnia in others. I do not see lamictal as a good choice to start with when sleep is such an important priority. But I'm not your doctor either.
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> Last, but not least, I read that 99.9999999% of people using Zyprexa gain weight. What if I am only on a small dose of 2.5mg - 5mg, and I take Lamictal in the day time? Will that possibly lessen my chances of gaining weight? I took Remeron years ago, and I gained tremendous weight, is it similar to Remeron? =\Most people do gain weight on zyprexa. Even me, skinny and impossible to gain weight, I gained enough weight to look normal instead of bone skinny. But it is also common for the weight gain to level off at about 3 months. I think whenever anyone takes meds with a weight gain risk it is important to make dietary changes, such as little or no sugar, focus on meats and veggies, no junk foods, no high calorie foods.
I generally do not like to talk good of antipsychotics. I am however very experienced with zyprexa. It seems to work wonders for a lot of people with the weight gain thing being its biggest drawback. I'm scared of the other antipsychotics.
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> Thanks all =O
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poster:bleauberry
thread:801536
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20071213/msgs/801652.html