Posted by Barbara Cat on July 18, 2003, at 11:58:29
In reply to Re: Lamictal- mood stabiliser, posted by maxime on July 17, 2003, at 14:56:44
> It seems like some of who are BP are using Lamictal as an antidepressant. But is any one using it as a mood stabiliser and if so do you use add on stabiliser (seems like several of you take lamictal and trileptal). I'm also curious to know if you are taking both which one did you try first and which one was add on.
>
I started on lithium first. Was on Remeron first (just one of many SSRI-type meds I tried over the years). When it pooped out like they all do, lithium was added as an augmentor. Worked for a while but I was still getting mixed states. When I discovered my reactions were pure bipolar being destabilized by SSRI, I quit Remeron and went with lithium alone. Lithium alone did not help with the massive mixed states depressions I was in the grip of. Added lamictal and it worked well until a severe stress hit and I needed nortriptyline to keep me from harm. Helped alot but got tired of weight gain, cotton mouth, tremors. So I stopped nortriptyline without any withdrawal while slowly increasing lamictal. Lately I've increased lamictal from 75mg to 150 and will go up as needed. Before, I couldn't tolerate the anxiety from a dose greater than 75mg, but this time it's OK. It seems to be a wonder med at this higher dose, but I still need lithium to soothe my skittering neurons. I probably need more than 600mg lithium I'm on because I still get too wired, but I will not take more because of the problems it's caused with my already hypothyroid condition. I also don't want to deaden passion or creativity, so I'm using exercise to release the pressure. If I can avoid plummeting while dancing on the edge of hypomania, that's quite OK by me.
poster:Barbara Cat
thread:9730
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030718/msgs/243172.html