Posted by lando68 on September 27, 2005, at 9:32:45 [reposted on September 28, 2005, at 5:49:46 | original URL]
Hi...about two years ago, I was placed on Lamictal for Bipolar 1 during a tumultuous time in my life...lots of circumstantial ups and downs. The tumult eventually calmed, and I seriously doubt that I was Bipolar 1 to begin with, but was a good little patient and did what he told me. I was originally prescribed the maximum (I believe) dose of 400 mg. I took this amount for about a year, along with a small dose of Prozac. I weaned myself off the Prozac after about a year of being on the Lamictal. No problem. I then waited a month or so and weaned myself down to 200 mg of Lamictal. No problem. I have now been on the 200 dose for about a year.
This medication is insanely expensive. It is, in fact, beyond my budget even though I have very good insurance. In order to stretch my current prescription until I can pay for the next refill I broke my remaining pills down to 175 mg per day. No problems so far, but today was my last dose, and I can't afford to refill until Friday. If I wait until then with no Lamictal, how likely am I to have withdrawal side effects? I called my Dr. to see if he had any sample packets to tide me over, and he doesn't.
poster:lando68
thread:560557
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20050822/msgs/560557.html