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[Larry - it's interesting you mention Lamictal. I saw my pdoc today and he put me on this med as nothing else has lifted the depressive episode I have been in for the last 2 months. Have you taken this med? I would be interested in your input on it if so.

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If I never used it, you're not interested?

Sorry, semantics and such leap off the page at me. I've never used it. It's on my list of options, though.

Lamictal is an unusual drug, in that it is approved by the FDA for use in Bipolar I, but it is the only drug with proven efficacy in bipolar depression, which is an attribute of Bipolar II. But, I don't put much store in FDA approval. It's at best, a representation of the minimum the drug has been shown to do. I think it's the usefulness the drug is showing in use by doctors that best defines a drug. And Lamictal seems to have broad application.

I want to separate that effect from what happened with Neurontin. That was a case of the drug company running around and pushing the drug for off-label applications. Lamictal seems to be doing this all by itself.

It's a tricky drug. It's a weird drug. It has the possible side effect of a potentially fatal rash called Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, but Lamictal is far from the only drug that causes this syndrome. Somehow, it's gotten stuck with all the hoopla for it, though. The thing is, Lamictal tends to cause rashes. Plain old ordinary benign nuisance rashes. Like you get from using the wrong soap, or whatever. You need to get a rash checked out by a doctor, but it's almost never The Rash.

The other thing is, you have to titrate the dose very slowly. Some doctors start as low as 12.5 mg/day. And you increase by increments, once a week. All to avoid inducing side effects, which is good. Even if you got that bad rash (SJS) you can avoid it, by dropping the dose, and coming up slower.

Anyway, there are very few drugs out there that have the anecdotal support like Lamictal has...."Twenty years of drugs that never worked, and then Lamictal, and it's like a miracle...." Stuff like that.

The thread started out in relation to borderline personality disorder. There is strong evidence that Lamictal decreases attributes like outbursts of anger (that's really important in relationships involving borderlines), and reduces mood lability and reactivity. I could give you Medline references, if you want to see them. But I linked to the Remedyfind site, because it had user reports. Those anecdotes I mentioned earlier. "Miracle." You don't see that for too many drugs. And you don't see that too often from those with BPD.

Best,
Lar