Hey Dudette! How's it going?

The Lamictal™ (lamotrigine)/Topamax™ combo is one I've always liked as a mood stabilization treatment, even though I only seen it used a couple of times, for any length of time. On paper, this should be a standard Bipolar II treatment, but for some reason it doesn't have to complete holding power against hypomania.

The life-threatening Stevens-Johnson syndrome is a concern, but usually to young children given high doses. In adults you do see a lot of rashes when the dose is pushed too fast. I would think that people with sensitive skin would be more prone to the rash side effect, but I have absolutely no proof of this, nor have I investigated it.

Your best bet would be to go low and slow. Take 12.5mg or 25mg once daily for 2 weeks and increase slowly every 2 weeks until your doc notices an effect. This is a very slow and arduous way to do a med titration, but it will probably avert any risk of a rash in someone as sweet and nice as you.

Lamictal is a wonderful antidepressant for bipolar depression. I have seen it work like a charm as an adjunct (add-on) to regular bipolar medication. I would really like to see the researchers tease the real mechanism of action out of this drug.

Go for it!

Anyway, I am settling in to my new job in a very small town. It is sure a different life. I can see that I am looked on with suspicion, as an outsider, but I just tell the story of my Great-Grandfather homesteading about 40 miles west and the old people's faces light up. It's funny, my dad grew up about 20 miles away, but it may as well have been a million miles. These little communities are tight knit, and more or less closed (and a little inbred in some instances, if you ask me).

It is sure different dealing with the public after having to deal with psychiatrists for so many years. I am sure that I come off at times as an aloof city-dweller at times, but I keep telling myself that this job isn't forever.

So, how are you doing? What's up? I haven't been online much lately. I am finding that the internet is beginning to bore me. I also seem to be losing interest in medicine, but my new hobby is quantum cosmology and the structure of "reality". It is a neat topic, but very, very weird. I have been trying to gear myself up to take on some of the mathematics, but I think that I will need a calculus overhaul before attempting that. Perhaps I'll apply to homestudy for a physics degree. Whoa! That sounds like work .... maybe not .... I dunno.

Anyway, the lawn is calling me to cut it. I'd better go. Talk to you soon. - Cam

<font color=blue>"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened." - Winston Churchill</font color=blue>