Posted by Tony P on February 19, 2004, at 17:29:01
In reply to Re: my thoughts as a bipolar- Tony P, posted by polarbear206 on February 19, 2004, at 7:51:22
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> Tony,
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> I take lamictal and effexor for bipolar 2 and having great results. Since going up to 200mg, I've been able to cut back on the AD. I was still having mixed states til I went up to 200 and cut back on the AD. I'm going to push up to 250, then 300mg. I'd like to take the lowest dose possible of effexor (150mg at present) since I'm having good AD effects on lamictal and moods are more even. How much lamictal are you on at present and your AD?
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> PolarbearI've just moved up from 200 to 250 mg/day Lamictal 3 days ago, and notice an appreciable mood improvement (although I am also doing some other good things for depression this week that are no doubt having their effect too).
I am also taking a legacy cocktail of other psychoactive drugs that I hope I can cut back on with the Lamictal starting to work well: Clonazepam, diazepam, Buspar, Zopiclone. I was also self-medicating with OTC Robaxin to curb the agitation and anxiety with some of my former A/D's.
My pdoc has also given me a low dose of Seroquel (25-50 mg) to use if I swing too far up on Lamictal dosage changes, and to help with sleep. I don't find it very effective for the latter, but the Zopiclone has pretty much pooped out on me.
I hope the Lamictal plus better daily habits/structure will eventually lead to an improvement in my sleep pattern - waking up every 2-3 hours, than a few days later going hypersomnic and sleeping all day is the pits!
If the Lamictal seems insufficient A/D, Effexor is my pdoc's next suggestion, probably added to the Lamictal as I defintely react as Bipolar 3 (hypomanic/cyclothymia with some A/Ds). But so far I am finding the Lamictal sufficient - especially if I do the other things which are often so hard to do in the depths of d., like getting out of bed and outside, meeting with support groups, exercise, etc.
Tony
poster:Tony P
thread:315454
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040218/msgs/315803.html