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#1
Mar 01, 2012, 11:02 AM
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So I just started taking bi-polar meds last week and am not sure about dosages or anything with this Doctor. He put me on Lamictal saying we had to ween me on to it so I started with 25mg and it made me get into a major manic & depressive states like i've never had before. Don't know how to handle life daily so now he has me on Depakote 1000mg for a week and then he took blood and is going to see about putting me on lithium next week. Should he be dishing out heavy duty meds like these the last Doctor I was seeing for bp tried EVERYTHING before he thought about lithium and he weened me on the Depakote started at 250 then 500 then 750 and this guy is just throwing me on high dosages like it's nothing. Is this normal?
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#2
Mar 01, 2012, 04:46 PM
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I don't know about Depakote, but going on Lamictal gave me pretty serious rapid cycling. In the end, it was worth it, but it took about 2 months of weekly high/low shifts with a slow increase in "normal" days in between before things stabilized. Lamictal is always a slow titration because it reduces risks of side effects.
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disorderlychickadee.wordpress.com |
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#3
Mar 01, 2012, 05:09 PM
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Honestly if you were cycling that badly the higher dose of Depakote was probably to stop the mania. (It's very good at that, I liked that part of it while I was taking it.) That said, 1000mg is a medium-sized dosage and not really that worrisome unless you're extremely sensitive to medications; Lamictal is the one to worry about with titration.
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dx: bipolar I - lamictal 150mg/risperdal 3mg/klonopin .5mg "Neither a lofty degree of intelligence, nor imagination, nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, that is the soul of genius." --Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart |
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#4
Mar 01, 2012, 06:20 PM
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Ask him to explain why he wants you on Depakote and Lithium. Generally you're only prescribed one mood stabilizer at a time.
Nacht is right about the dose. I took 750 mg for about a year and 900 mg Lithium now. (Which is average dose)
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"You got to fight those gnomes...tell them to get out of your head!" |
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#5
Mar 01, 2012, 08:53 PM
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You don't wean onto meds, only off. Wean means to decrease slowly. FYI
Also, dosages of meds can be misleading. With Abilify, 30mg is considered high, while with Depakote 500mg is small. You can't compare straight numbers when looking at drugs. |
 hamster-bamster
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#6
Mar 01, 2012, 09:29 PM
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Sometimes mood stabilizers are combined. I need three, it turned out.
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#7
Mar 02, 2012, 12:23 AM
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well, I think I'm right about this...
you "titrate" up when starting a med like lamictal to avoid side effects. have taken lamictal for years, works really well for me. |
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