Posted by linkadge on February 14, 2010, at 15:37:38
In reply to Re: rapid cycling caused by lamictal?)) Blueberry, posted by linkadge on February 14, 2010, at 15:27:08
Lamotrigine is not approved to treat either depression or mania in bipolar. It failed clinical trials for these indications. It is only approved for the reduction of further episodes of depression and mania in bipolar. I.e. in patients who are already stabilized, lamotrigine appeared to prolong the period until a future episode. (There was some cherry picking with trial results obviously.)
In other words, if you are destabilized or rapid cycling don't expect lamotrigine to stabilize you (oh sure I know yadi-yada lamotrigine did wonders for me case reports will come up - but it is not backed by large scale trial data). If a doctor is using it for this purpose they are not in touch with the research. I would switch to depakote or olanzapine as these have a well documented antirapid cycling effect.
If, after stabilization, you decide to go back on lamotrigine, this might be ok....so long as it actually works for you.
Linkadge
poster:linkadge
thread:936887
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100204/msgs/937015.html