Posted by BP2TreadingWater on April 1, 2005, at 10:17:29
In reply to Bipolar II - SSRI/Lamictal - anxious, posted by CK1 on March 31, 2005, at 22:25:00
> I have been on Paxil 10mgs + Lamictal (37.5mg) for 3 weeks and am experiencing agitation/anxiety. Since I started both meds at the same time, I'm not sure which med is the culprit. I upped the dose of Lamictal to 50mg and got very tense (muscle aches in neck, crying like a baby for no reason) so I backed down.
> I'm wondering if it's a good idea to drop the Paxil to 5mg and add Lithium (150-300mg) to this combo making it:
> Paxil 5mg
> Lamictal 37.5
> Lithium 150-300mg
>
> Depression seems to have lifted, but anxiety is still not under control and, in my opinion, Lamictal is making it worse. Does anyone have any experiences with this combo or have any suggestions? I'm getting tired around 4pm for the past few days and need a nap so I'm wondering if Lithium will make me even more tired.
> (I have two months to mess around with this stuff until my internship this summer!)CK1,
I'm on Lamictal 100mg and it's working pretty well for me. I am a BP-II with rapid-cycling, or that is, I used to rapid-cycle before Lamictal. My depression is close to over, and my anxieties are more eveyday and don't grab me by the throat and make me impulsive.
Here's my take on your situation. First of all, Paxil is NOTORIOUS for producing anxiety (instead of alleviating it...go figure). My best guess is that you should taper off the Paxil and titrate your Lamictal up to 100mg and just hang out there for a while, see what happens.
Best of luck,
BP2TreadingWater
poster:BP2TreadingWater
thread:478374
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050330/msgs/478469.html