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Old Jan 05, 2017, 10:29 AM
mossanimal mossanimal is offline
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Member Since: Aug 2016
Location: Northwoods
Posts: 405
Yes. That pretty much settles it. Thank you. And I had forgotten about the rash thing.

Quote:
Originally Posted by still_crazy View Post
Most psych drugs don't work that way. Stimulants are unique in that they work quickly and can be stopped without too many problems (usually irritability, dysphoria, lethargy, etc. that can be handled, weirdly enough, with a sedative...).

Lamictal is definitely something I'd recommend taking every day, day in and day out. If you go 3 straight days without it, you have to start the process of ramping up the dose to a therepeutic level again.

Back in the 70s, some doctors would do "drug holidays" for people on the antipsychotics/tranquilizers/neuroleptics. That's when the old drugs had been around for a good 20 years or so and the risks of long term treatment had become apparent. The idea was that a "drug holiday" would allow people to see if treatment was still needed and also allow the doctor+patients to see if tardive dyskinesia had developed ((TD is caused by, and also partly suppressed by, neuroleptics, so withdrawing the drug can allow previously suppressed TD to show through)).

Turns out, it was a bad idea. As with most psych drugs, you can't go on and off, even if its just for a little while. With most psych drugs, the best approach is to take it and then, if you'd rather not take it, do a very, very, very slow taper off.

Hope this helps.
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Bipolar I Meds: Lamictal 100 mg, Wellbutrin 300mg, Latuda 40mg