Posted by henryo on April 15, 2008, at 6:15:10
In reply to Re: Lamictal, posted by henryo on April 9, 2008, at 1:14:26
Well, it took about two months to build up to a dose I imagined I could feel. Then another month to approach a therapeutic dose. They actually have a test to determine the blood levels. I can't say what that is about. I only got tested once, three years into it. I mean, I know if I'm in pain or not and I know if I am sleeping badly. Maybe the test has some other usefulness.
Moving on- Going at a rate of 25mg every week, I worked up to a dose of 400mg. The fatal rash concept got my attention, so I took it slow. I found it painfully slow. I had to get off all the other meds and then pray Lamictal would work. The results were good though and five years later still are. I think many people go for the 400mg to 450mg range. For me, if I take even a tiny bit more than 400mg, I can watch myself sleep. That's weird and it sucks.
I have to say as good as Lamictal was there were times when I still got depressed, though not nearly half as bad or as long as I would have without it. That I know. My crashes were/are/seem to be, seasonal. Lamictal is certainly the best thing to date. For me no weight gain, everything else works right, no problems. It is vastly better than nothing and it doesn't screw me up in some exotic way, that I know of.
Just a note, as I have posted before, I added Deplin this January and it has been very positive. Had to cut way back on the Lamictal cause it kicked up the sleep thing. Now I take 300mg Lamictal, 5mg Deplin. The addition of Deplin in my case has been powerful.
I sought out the Deplin because as I said, as good as Lamictal has been I had my moments/weeks that were less good. I got tired of that and stumbled on to a small miracle. That I know is off topic. But our responses to these meds are so idiosyncratic that who can guess what or how much will do what to whom.
poster:henryo
thread:821157
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080412/msgs/823390.html