Posted by bleauberry on May 2, 2011, at 15:50:48
In reply to Lithium and Lamictal Redundant in Unipolar MDD?, posted by SLS on May 2, 2011, at 11:16:30
If they help, no matter what subjective "name" is given to someone's symptoms, then those meds are not redundant. If they do not help, no matter what the name, then they are redundant.
If we are waiting for scientific evidence, I think it is going to be a long wait. If there already exists scientific evidence, it can almost always be scrutinized when put under a microscope.
But I do know where you are coming from. It's all quite frustrating. In my own torturous journeys, the only true answer I could find were in my own personal trials. No amount of scientific evidence made any difference one way or the other. For example what science says should have been helpful, wasn't. And what science didn't even look at or mention, was.
Some people put a lot of faith in white coats. I am not one of those.
The best evidence on lamictal suggests it can "delay" a relapse.
I guess I am a fan of lithium, no matter what the diagnosis is, because it has biological benefits outside of the psychiatric treatment. It is a natural salt of the earth. It's only my opinion, but I think lithium is almost always dosed too high and results are expected too soon. If someone is in the emergency room, then obviously my stance on that is not appropriate. But for long term, I would favor it over lamictal for any kind of depression. The trick is in the size of the dose.
poster:bleauberry
thread:984341
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110502/msgs/984377.html