Posted by Mitch on May 30, 2001, at 1:21:16
In reply to Re: I think Celexa makes me worse., posted by chloe on May 29, 2001, at 19:30:51
> Thanks for the post Mitch. I am starting to think you may be right about the Lamictal and my skin. But right now, Trileptal starting to scare me. I have had two terrible colds in the two+ months have been on Trileptal. I am wondering if I am having some leukopenia, or depression of my white blood cells. I haven't had a cold in 5 years until I started Trileptal. My pdoc wants me to have a CBC. But the lab is closed now.
Get the CBC since it will chill-out your pdoc and yourself, but I don't think the Trileptal is *causing* your cold-I really think it is probably coincidental. BTW-most people don't have five year lapses between colds! The advantage to taking Trileptal over Tegretol was supposed to be the elimination of dangerous blood disorders that Tegretol can rarely cause. Is it correct that you were on Tegretol and switched to Trileptal? If so, how long were you taking Tegretol before you made the switch? If you had NEVER taken Tegretol before and NOW you are on Trileptal and having the skin things-you may just be hypersensitive to the common chemical structure of these two meds (skinwise). In the monograph for Trileptal it does mention that people who have had skin reactions to Tegretol will have a higher than normal propensity to have the same skin reactions reoccur with Trileptal.
> The slightest change sends me over the edge. That is why I am wonderin how I could go off Trileptal without something to replace it. I am only taking 200 neurontin. More than 200 seems to make me revved up. Do you have that experience? Under 200 it's rather calming for me.
I *suspect* that Trileptal could (probability-wise) be destabilizing you (not helping)and the skin reaction seems to be fairly pinpointed as well. In that case tapering it away would be helpful not hurtful. Also, when you say "the slightest change in my meds sends me over the edge", are the "over the edge" situations tend to involve antidepressants?? You must realize that for bipolarII or III? folks that AD's are like plastic explosive (depending on which one and how much). Interestingly I have found that when I started taking (even low doses) Neurontin that it seemed to *amplify* SSRI, stims, all sorts of AD's.
As far as Neurontin goes-it is a really *weird* med. All I know is that if I take less than 300mg/day (100mg/3x), I get more depressed, tired, and inattentive. So that is my minimum dose. You must realize that this stuff washes out of your system really fast-so some of the phenomena surrounding it (I believe) may relate to the *withdrawal* from it. I am now taking 400mg/day (100/4x), and I feel a *lot* better. I just have trouble taking 300mg doses (they wallop me).
Oh, just an FYI-you mentioned and I have personaly noticed how the Trileptal "took" the oil out of your skin? Well, I have noticed (quite obviously) that Neurontin seems to *add* colllagen or oil into my skin (without acne). Go figure! I don't know if that would be helpful for you or not.
You said you are taking a benzo (Klonopin?), you may consider upping it a notch or two (instead of the Neurontin for now), if you start tapering away the Trileptal.> It is so interesting that you have had similar responses to Trileptal. I guess we both have to be cautious about our skin and "rashes".
I don't think you (or myself) should write-off the Lamictal just because of the rash thing. Just because you have a skin reaction to one med doesn't mean that you will have one with another-and you don't want to exclude a med that could be very helpful for you (especially to get off AD's that are causing cycling!).
You mentioned that you had eczema-are you seeing a dermatologist for it fairly regularly? If so, maybe when you get the Trileptal washed out of your system (and your skin gets better), and are ready to withdraw the Celexa (so you can start slowly bringing in Lamictal) you could have your derm doc. in with your pdoc as a team. That would be a great way to proceed.
Good luck!
>
> Thanks, Mitch for the info and warning!
> All the best,
> Chloe
poster:Mitch
thread:63935
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010522/msgs/64692.html