Posted by Ron Hill on July 9, 2009, at 14:20:38
In reply to Discontinuing Lamictal -- how fast?, posted by fires on July 5, 2009, at 12:05:59
> I've been on Lamictal in combination with Parnate for several years. I recently added Neurontin to the above. My response to Neurontin has been so good, that I want to try to discontinue Lamictal. (Bipolar, mild hypomania).
>
> My pdoc stated that although increasing the dose has to be done slowly, decreasing the dose can be done quite rapidly.
>
> Has anyone ever discontinued Lamictal rapidly? If so, just how rapidly? (I take 150 mg x 2/day)
>
> If hypopmania returns, I can make a quick u turn.
--------------------------Fires,
Everyone responds uniquely, so take my anecdotal Lamictal withdrawal symptoms with a grain of salt.
I am bipolar type II and I have been using Lamictal as a component of my med combo for about five years. In my case, Lamictal provides useful antidepressant benefits and mild moodstablizing action.
Roughly three years ago I attempted to reduce my Lamictal dosage from 200 mg/day to a target of 150 mg/day. My purpose for the attempted dosage reduction was a hope to lessen Lamictal-induced cognitive impairment side effects (e.g.; word finding problems, etc). I weaned my dosage downward at a cautious rate of 12.5 mg per week. However, at the end of the third week, corresponding to a dosage of 162.5 mg/day, I fell into a deep depression. I quickly ramped back up to 200 mg/day and the depression went away.
Why do you want to discontinue your Lamictal? Why not keep Lamictal on board with Neurontin?
Given that you only recently added Neurontin, do you think it might be best to keep everything else constant for a while? By doing so, you can delineate between any Lamictal withdrawal symptoms as opposed to any possible changes in your response to the recent addition of Neurontin. Just a thought.
-- Ron
dx: Bipolar II and mild OCPD
600 mg/day Trileptal
200 mg/day Lamictal
500 mg/day Keppra
60 mg/day Nardil
poster:Ron Hill
thread:905084
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090709/msgs/905830.html