Posted by fires on July 9, 2009, at 15:23:50
In reply to Re: Discontinuing Lamictal -- how fast? » fires, posted by Ron Hill on July 9, 2009, at 14:20:38
> 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
>Thanks for the info. I haven't had a bout of Major depression since 1988-- except when I stopped Parnate on the bad advice of a cardiologist. It wasn't until about a year after stopping Parnate that the Depression struck. I was given Effexor because my pdoc was concerned that Parnate had caused my previous tachycardia.
Effexor helped my depression, but for the first time in my life I experienced hypomania and mixed states. (At age 50!).I finally got off of Effexor and back on Parnate. The effects of Lamictal have been difficult to figure out.
I also take, in addition to Lamictal, for various disorders:
Parnate
Klonopin
Requip XL
Coreg CR
Florinef
Aciphex
Androgel
Neurontin (gabapentin)Now you can see why I want to try and stop Lamictal. :) (Klonopin, 1 mg at bedtime, is for sleep)
poster:fires
thread:905084
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090709/msgs/905836.html