Lamictal saved me for good!

[[ra...]]

Meems,

 

I am in that spot now.  I am working on getting a couple of other things in order, then starting Lamitcal to see if it will allow me to taper.  I will be trying it within a week or so.

 

I am not the sort that needs a microtaper.  If Lamitcal helps with anxiety and panic, I will shed 11 mg of Valium in 3 months.  If it doesn't, then I will find something else that will.  I can bear almost anything except that nasty fake chemical anxiety.

 

If I were you, I would ask the exact question you asked the here to my psychiatrist.  Mine said "maybe."

 

Be well and good luck,

 

ramcon1

[[Es...]]

Hey Ramcon,

 

I take Melatonin 5 mg. Tried mirtazapine together with Ambien (z-drug) for sleep. No Valium then. Slept well, but it made me gain an awful amount of weight during 3 mos and I could not concentrate (think) at work. I have an eating disorder. Bulimia alternating with anorexia. Mirtazapine has strong anti-anxiolytic properties too, I noticed.

 

I wonder if I could up my Melatonin. Didn't give Lamictal a second chance after that 25 mg incident. Pdoc thinks I should not try it anymore. At least for now.

 

But I upped my Prozac from 20 to 22,5 mg. Did it today. Am prepared not to sleep the whole night. I never get any sleep the first night after a Prozac increase.

 

Then my sleep stabilizes a bit. I literally fell to pieces in the last week. My OCD is terrible, insomnia and reversed circadian rhythm worsened a lot. I shall see if that increase does me any good.

 

This is my first post here after two weeks. I wasn't even able to read posts on this forum.

 

Trying to read with great difficulty.

 

Take care.

[[ra...]]

All,

 

Ok. Monday thru Wednesday were decent days fir me.  Then Thursday thru Saturday were just anxiety and panic sh!t storms.  I thought it would be a good time to try the Lamitcal.  I woke ok, but within 2 hours I was and have been in outrageous panic!

 

Did anyone get INCREASED anxiety and/or panic when they first started Lamitcal?

 

I also got the increased spinal stiffness and gastro churning I usually associate with increased glutamate.  The exact thing Lamitcal was supposed to decrease.

 

Thoughts?

 

Ramcon1

[[Am...]]

Lamictal has been pretty subtle for me so far

[[co...]]

I'm not sure Ram, do you think it's the Lamictal? It seems pretty mild at this point and I'm at 50 mg as of Friday. Could it be the mix with the Benzo? What about a smaller dose?

[[ki...]]

Ramcon, I've read a lot of posts about lamictal making people's depression, anxiety, and rage much worse during titration. It apparently settles down shortly after. I'd give it 1-3 weeks and see how you feel. Stay on the same dose of course.

[[Al...]]

I had some rage episodes at first, but then it settled and I feel awesome.

 

[[ra...]]

Really?  You had rage episodes at first?  That is exactly what I had and they scared me to death!  I took it saturday night, and by Sunday morning, I had that feeling I call "glutamated."  My spine was unbelievably stiff, my belly was outrageously distended, and my mind was just one rage/panic attack after another for the whole day.  They were BRUTAL.  I did not take it last night, I feel a bit better today and thought I needed to just let it clear.

 

I KNOW everyone is different, but can you remember how many days you had to endure the rage before it settled?  Do you know what I mean by "glutamated?"  Did you have any other bad stuff along with the rage?

 

Help!?!?

 

Ramcon1

[[ra...]]

Oh, and it also constipated me and gave me tons of gas, also parts of what I call glutamated.

[[ra...]]

Doesn't matter if it is the best drug in the world, 3 hours ago, so about 38 hours after 12.5 mg, I got a nasty rash on my face, and I am still "glutamated" and getting waves of rage, just less intense than yesterday.

 

I will never catch a break with a med.  Never.

 

Sigh,

 

Ramcon1

[[Es...]]

Hey Ramcon,

 

What if you're getting Stevens-Johnson's Syndrome?!

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3905385/

 

You should go to some emergency unit. It is a deadly condition and requires stopping lamotrigine ASAP. My pdoc told me about it.

 

Fix a pdoc appointment ASAP. Give this med a break, your life may be in danger. Check this rash even with a GP, oh my.

[[ra...]]

Estee,

 

Thank you for your concern, but do not panic.  I do not have Steven's Johnson's.  I have a little rash on my face that is fading with cortisone cream.  10% of people who use Lamitcal get a rash.  0.1% get steven's johnson's at a therapeutic dose, and I do not think any one can get in from 1 half of 1 pill, although if it would be someone it would be me.

 

But I am not going to die.  Well, of course I am going to die, but not too soon, and not from this.

 

It is just another of the long list of meds that did not agree with my fragile neurology.

 

At this point, I am just going to take high doses of Thorazine (joke)

 

Ramcon1

[[Es...]]

Just read the leaflet carefully, please.

 

Take care,

Estee

[[ki...]]

What's truly interesting to me is that a medication can give you your creativity back...what exactly was your cog fog and lack of creativity like before you started the lamictal? For me It's like I'm always blank when I try to think of an idea or complicated concept. Hard to explain.

[[Am...]]

Quick question, should I quote if it's the post right above mine? Anyways my creativity seems to go downhill on some meds the verdict is still out for me on lamictal.

[[co...]]

Yep... not sure about the Lamictal. But that's been my track record with most meds. Had a great day on Saturday... slowly declined Sunday. Monday and Tuesday were spent in bed. Today not much better but cut the grass. Still feeling pretty hopeless. What time of day do you take it?

[[co...]]

Americano, Alesii,

 

Can you guys let me know what time of day you take this? I'm not sure if taking it in the morning is good idea? I feel really strange right now. I'm wondering if I should just take it at night. Does the "strange" feeling go away? It's been a week at 25 mg and a week at 50 mg.

 

Thank you for your help,

[[Sl...]]

I was prescribed Lamictal a couple months ago.  I've been titrating up (now at 75mg). 

I've heard mixed reviews on the drug, but we'll see where it takes me.

 

I take mine at night 9:30pm and i go to bed at 11:00pm

For the first 3 or 4 days after a dose increase i get an uplift in mood and energy.

This mellows out by day 7 and then i make my next increase on day 14.

I only do 25mg each increase.  In the beginning i started at 12.5mg because i was so worried about the rash.

 

The way Lamictal theoretically modulates glutamate COULD theoretically allow someone to get off a benzo a little easier.  This is just a guess. 

The new science is to play with GABA/Glutamate instead of Serotonin / Norepinephrine / Dopamine.

 

 

[[co...]]

So are you feeling better? How is your sleep on the medication?

[[...]]

For those interested in using Lamictal you might want to read these posts:  https://beyondmeds.com/2010/05/24/gabaglutamate-system-benzos-lamictal

 

https://beyondmeds.com/lamictal-redux

 

https://beyondmeds.com/2007/12/20/lamictal-withdrawal-from-hell

 

 

[[co...]]

I appreciate it but no thanks. Read too much bad stuff already on these boards. For every good thing, someone has something bad to post. Some people here have to take their own path with medication because not treating severe depression is very dangerous for those who are suffering from it day in and day out. If you think Benzo's damaged your brain, depression untreated can do far worse things and become permanent. And of course the side effect of that is killing yourself. Yes, medication is the last thing I want to do. Believe me, I was poly-drugged for 1.3 years before I realized that I wasn't getting anywhere because of inter-dose Benzo withdrawal and  periodic kindling. However, 9 months out and feeling suicidal everyday is not safe. You can find good and bad all over the web... if you're searching for good things, you will find them. If you are searching for bad things, you will find much more. Typically people do not post much on the web unless they are having a very bad experience. There are a lot of very high functioning people on AD's and psyche meds. Personally I know at least 6 friends in my life who have stable jobs / careers and have been taking AD's for some time. Yes Lamictal withdrawal will be tough I'm sure. So is SSRI withdrawal - and there are many horror stories. But there are also many positive stories. It depends what you are looking for. Any medication that affects your body or changes your brain chemistry will be difficult to get away from; especially if it is helping you. Whether it's good for them is not the question... do the risks outweigh the benefits is the question. Many people do well on medications, they are functioning and not sitting at home waiting for a miracle to happen. Or waiting for day after day to go by in isolation trying to distract themselves. This is ok when / if you have a job to go back to. I do not... I have to pull myself up and get out there and interview which I had a tough time doing when I was well. I cannot wait for 2 months, 3 months, 5 months,  1 year, 2 years to lose everything I have worked so hard to build. I do not want to sit at home anymore... I want to become stable enough to try to get a job and some dignity back into my life. And if this medication helps me do that, I will weep tears of joy. If it doesn't help me, then I will be on to something else... if I'm not constantly working on this then I  know that will be the end of me.

 

No offense to you Pris and I appreciate your concern, however, I find to often on this board that there is unsafe advice being given to people. Not that you proposed this as advice and I understand it was simply posted out of concern that Lamictal is not a safe medication. But again, no pyschiatric medications are safe - and in my case, at this point, the risks are negligible because the alternative is me not living through this.

 

 

[[ra...]]

Colley,

 

That was an excellent post.  I also am searching desperately for functionality.  It all came crashing down when I quit smoking, and yes I have cheated a few times which sets the rest button, but even after 5 months off, my waves of anxiety, panic and despair are crippling even with diazepam, regardless of the cause.  After this long, off and stopping a 7-10 a day habit, i am not even sure it has anything to do with smoking, but who knows?

 

If there is a med, any med, that can give a person a functional life back, who is anyone to criticize that person for taking it? 

 

Lamitcal did not work for me.  I see a functional psychiatrist next week, and hope she will have some ideas.  Then maybe lithium.  I will also keep searching, and when I stop, that will be the end of me.

 

Ramcon1

[[Es...]]

Hey Ramcon,

 

I'm glad you're still alive. When you wrote about that rash, I really freaked out.

 

Didn't Lamictal stabilize your mood?

 

I was thinking to try 1/4 of 25 mg yesterday, cause I was crying non stop for two days in a row.

 

I decided to increase Prozac instead by 2,5 mg, cause I know Prozac.

 

Pdoc allowed me to do both, so I'm not doing anything against his advice.

 

I tried the majority of psych meds in my lifetime and none made me functional.

 

The only thing I know for sure. Large quantities of benzos make a person extremely dysfunctional.

 

Lithium is for ppl with BP disorder.

 

The thing that made me most functional in life were therapy, AA meetings and tons of self-help books.

 

I no longer believe in drugs. I have no idea whether Prozac does more harm or help. Must take sth for my OCD. Prozac is the only AD I tolerate.

 

How did you quit the cigs? Wellbutrin is helpful in quitting cigs. It's not for ppl with BP, schizophrenia etc. Only for ppl with depression. But it must act similarly to the cigs, if it helps to quit them.

 

I felt lousy on Wellbutrin and lasted 3 weeks. I know a person for whom it really used to work. But this person does not take other psych meds. Remember about interactions. There is a natural supplement, L-tyrosine, which acts in a similar way. I felt terrible on it. Natural supplements can also be dangerous.

 

If you don't have BP, psychosis or schizophrenia, you may ask your pdoc about Wellbutrin.

 

Take care.

 

 

[[...]]

I understand colley, believe me I do and you have my sympathies. I've had lots of years on antidepressants feeling like hell on earth because paradoxically they didn't appear to do much for my depression and then in withdrawal from Effexor where I was desperately suicidal for a year and a half until my shrink put me on my final antidepressant alongside diazepam. During that year and a half I was besides myself with fear, every minute, every second was a nightmare. I actually believe that akathisia was part of the problem because I have never experienced anything like it before but at that time I simply had no words to adequately describe what was happening to me. I was introduced to so many other drugs during that period and lamictal was one of those drugs. I would have done just about anything for relief. That's why I ended up on a benzodiazepine, the biggest mistake of my life. When I came off diazepam the suicidal ideation was very strong and it's only been in my third year that I found any relief from it.

 

Polypharmacy and multiple withdrawals have probably led me to where I am today. These have been years where I doubted I would survive. I didn't have to search very far to find out the bad things about the many psych drugs I tried, they were pretty evident. Lyrica is a mood stabilizer like lamictal and I tried it on two separate occasions. I can remember well the sense of calm it gave me, I thought it was my saviour. Maybe my fragile central nervous system just couldn't take anymore psych drugs but in the acute period of my benzo withdrawal I took Lyrica and it felt within seconds as if I had suffered a stroke, I literally couldn't speak. When I was eventually able to say something it didn't make sense, you would have thought I'd developed some kind of bizarre Tourette's. I was so frightened. That's why I come on here and warn others about the dangers. Rationality went out the window, if I had been in my right mind I wouldn't have gone near any of the drugs they offered me. So you see I do very much understand the situation you find yourself in. Now I grieve for the brain I once had and fear for the long term prospects of recovery. Psychotropic drugs have ruined most of my life. Perhaps now you will understand why I feel the way I do. But I do wish you the best of luck and I hope you find what you are looking for.       

[[ra...]]

Estee,

 

I did not do well with the Lamitcal, so I will not takecit again.  I felt it trigger my glutamate, and am only today feeling myself, one week after a single dose.

 

I think meds can help people, I am grateful for remeron for sleep, but I do agree with pris that most of them bite people in the ass so we must be careful.  I hate lyrica.

 

I am hopeful my new functional pdoc will have more natural ideas.  The only other thing I might try is lithium.  The is low-dose orotate that you can buy as a supp, and if that is good but not quite, then there is the "drug" lithium carbonate "still a salt" is available as low as 150 mg.

 

And lithium is not just for bipolar anymore, especially low dose, it can be helpful for depression and anxiety.

 

We will see.

 

ramcon1