Posted by kxxxk on September 14, 2003, at 21:16:20
Full subject: Lamictal for depression in continuously cycling Bipolar Disorder I?
My wife continuously cycles from her (now controlled) manic or active phase to her inactive (depressive) phase and then back to her active phase again, one phase after the other, very predictably, with a little over 3 complete cycles per year. She passes through normal only as she is transitioning from one phase to the other. She now spends 75% to 80% of her time in the inactive or depressive phase, which is characterized by "lack of energy", that is, 12 hours sleeping in bed, 12 hours (mostly sleeping) on the couch - no sadness and no suicidal thoughts. We are, one by one, trying the appropriate antidepressants for the inactive phase, but with no effect of any kind yet. Just increasing the over-all length of her cycle would not help, as she would still be spending 75% to 80% of her time in the inactive phase.
Has anyone with continuously cycling Bipolar I had experience with Lamictal decreasing the severity of depression, especially such depression, or shortening the length of time in the depressive phase, or increasing the time not spent in depression proportionately more than the time spent in depression? If so, over how many cycles and (also) over how many years has Lamictal been taken? Have you noticed a need to increase the dose of Lamictal over this time to maintain its effect?
If there has been either positive or negative experience with Lamictal in somewhat similar circumstances, we would love to hear about it. Thanks.
(FYI: Her manic phase is controlled by 20 mg of Zyprexa at bedtime [after trying many other mood stabilizers for years]. This is tapered to 5 mg as she leaves the active phase because 20 mg of Zyprexa has no effect on her inactive phase, but maintenance of 5 mg of Zyprexa causes her eventual transition back to the active phase to be slow enough that we can catch it as it is occurring and increase the dose of Zyprexa back to 20 mg to prevent her symptoms from running away.)
poster:kxxxk
thread:260064
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030912/msgs/260064.html