Posted by Elizabeth on April 4, 2002, at 5:52:12
In reply to Re: Unbelievable. 600mg? Malpractice., posted by SLS on March 27, 2002, at 19:13:04
Hardly. I've certainly heard of people taking that much. When I tried Lamictal (for a completely off-label use), I went up to 500 mg. (It didn't do me any good at any dose in that range.)
It's not clear how much people need for mood disorders -- it seems to be quite variable, though, and I would certainly allow for the possibility that some need high-end doses. Pharmacokinetic factors may play a role in some cases. Also, remember that the therapeutic serum level range for Depakote goes higher in bipolar d/o than epilepsy -- this could easily be the case for Lamictal as well. Therapeutic levels of Lamictal haven't been established, AFAIK, but it's worth considering the possibility that using higher doses would improve the response rate and the degree of response in mood disorders. I certainly don't think it's been studied enough that we can definitely say that it's no good increasing the dose past a certain amount. Lamictal's general safety and tolerability make it reasonable to consider that higher doses might be beneficial. Just because it's not the primary indication, that doesn't mean that the effective dose is likely to be lower -- it could just as easily be higher.
-elizabeth
poster:Elizabeth
thread:100086
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020402/msgs/101768.html