[SecretGarden]

I have been on Lamictal almost forever...lol... or 7-8 weeks now and have been at "therapeutic" dose now for 2-3 weeks..I can not remember. Still depressed and sleep deprived. Anyone have sleeping problems with this. I hope they decrease..

Also, I know that we say that meds take 4-8 weeks to kick in but I forgot to ask my pdoc today... is that 4-8 weeks at therapeutic dose? I assume so but welcome input.

[Direction]

No sleeping issues so far...

Some can give an immediate effect...with Lamictal the tration schedule I think really limits effect until you make it past the 100 mg mark...

[SecretGarden]

Glad to hear it Direction and hope it continues to do well for you. I am up to 200 now and am told that is my therapeutic dose. Have a few other stressors going on so ... who knows. Thought I would ask. I hope to feel a bit better than I am now...and hope that will just take time. I forgot to ask today.

[Direction]

I've seen posts about 250 and 300 so it is really individual thing...

[sunrise]

I think the dose depends also on what you are taking it for (epilepsy, depression, bipolar, etc.) and also what other meds you are taking.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamictal
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A therapeutic response may require weeks or months of subsequent dose escalations, and very small differences in dosage often have noticeably different effects, much more so than with most other psychiatric medications; as little as 10% more or less may make a noticeable difference.

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Good luck.

[SecretGarden]

Thank you Sunrise.

[DePressMe]

My therapeutic dose is only 100 mg because I am taking abilfy and an antidepressant with it—I don’t know but maybe they interact? I was under the impression that lamictal was a mood stabilizer and if you are having problems with depression that sometimes you needed to take an antidepressant with it? However, I may be wrong. Do you have mood swings that need to be controlled? I am not exactly sure when I started it but I think it has taken at least a full 2 months for it to start kicking in…

I don’t have sleeping problems on the lamictal—I tend to sleep too much. If you do not get your sleep worked out soon—please call your pdoc—sleep is an important part of feeling better. If I am not sleeping or sleeping too much, I am miserable.

I am sorry you are going through this—I know how frustrating it can be to wait for a drug to kick in or to get on the right combo of meds. Hang in there.

[SecretGarden]

Thank you. I am off the lamictal now... as of this weekend as I determined it gave me anxiety but .... I am still anxious. :-( Taking Ambien. Took 2 last night and still only slept 5 hours. I think I need an antidepressant and told him so. He thinks I need an antianxiety med. See him Thursday. God I hate this. I feel like crap.

[sunrise]

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SecretGarden said:
Thank you. I am off the lamictal now... as of this weekend as I determined it gave me anxiety but .... I am still anxious. :-( Taking Ambien. Took 2 last night and still only slept 5 hours. I think I need an antidepressant and told him so. He thinks I need an antianxiety med. See him Thursday. God I hate this. I feel like crap.

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SG, it is good you are communicating your needs to your pdoc. I hope you won't have any ill effects from stopping the lamictal. Did you know there are some anti-depressants that specifically help with anxiety? Maybe you could try one of these and kill two birds with one stone. When I went to my doctor recently for an anti-anxiety med, she at first wanted to prescribe me an AD for my anxiety. I declined this option and held out for a non-AD antianxiety med (buspar), but she did educate me to the existence of ADs that are specifically effective for anxiety. I can't even remember now which ones--paxil, lexapro? (don't quote me on that)

Hope you are doing well.

[DePressMe]

I am sorry the lamictal did not work out for you. I hate the roller coaster of trying to get the right meds…but, you do need to sleep. It might take a bit for the lamicatl to get out of your system, so hang in there.

Is this level of anxiety new for you? Is there something going on that might be contributing to it?

I hope the pdoc figure out something to help you.

I am here if you need to talk.

[SecretGarden]

Thanks Sunrise and DePressMe.

For anyone reading this...I do not wish to discredit Lamictal. I have alot going on..... so as my pdoc says it is not all the Lamictal that is making me anxious. Can hardly wait til Thursday but am not sure I will get anything yet.

Anyhoo.... When I spoke to him Saturday he told me that he thought I may just need something for anxiety... In the past I was on an antianxiety antid...lexapro.... when suddenly we switched meds. and on and off and on and off.... over 5 months now.

Thanks you two.