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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 5 of 5. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by TomG on September 17, 2002, at 12:44:59
I gave Lamictal six weeks at 150mg and have been on 200mg for a week now. I have felt nothing positive or negative from the drug (no unbearable side effects). I have given each dosage a chance to work. My depression is mainly apathetic, feeling extremely slowed down, and anxiety. Have any of you had absolutely no response at all until a higher dosage is reached above 200mg? This is the only medicine that I'm taking for bipolar II. Should I give up on Lamictal?
Posted by Peter S. on September 17, 2002, at 15:05:53
In reply to Should I Give Up On Lamictal?, posted by TomG on September 17, 2002, at 12:44:59
I'm up to 600mg (supposedly the maximum dose). I am feeling a lot of benefits, although I'm still cycling.
If there are no side effects you may want to go up to the maximum just to see if you get any benefit.
> I gave Lamictal six weeks at 150mg and have been on 200mg for a week now. I have felt nothing positive or negative from the drug (no unbearable side effects). I have given each dosage a chance to work. My depression is mainly apathetic, feeling extremely slowed down, and anxiety. Have any of you had absolutely no response at all until a higher dosage is reached above 200mg? This is the only medicine that I'm taking for bipolar II. Should I give up on Lamictal?
Posted by TomG on September 17, 2002, at 16:07:10
In reply to Re: Should I Give Up On Lamictal?, posted by Peter S. on September 17, 2002, at 15:05:53
Pete,
How do you tell if you are cycling? I usually feel bad all the time as far as depression. I only have had about 7-8 episodes of clear-cut hypomania in the last year. What is your cycling like? At what dosage did you start to feel effects?
I'm up to 600mg (supposedly the maximum dose). I am feeling a lot of benefits, although I'm still cycling.
> If there are no side effects you may want to go up to the maximum just to see if you get any benefit.
>
>
> > I gave Lamictal six weeks at 150mg and have been on 200mg for a week now. I have felt nothing positive or negative from the drug (no unbearable side effects). I have given each dosage a chance to work. My depression is mainly apathetic, feeling extremely slowed down, and anxiety. Have any of you had absolutely no response at all until a higher dosage is reached above 200mg? This is the only medicine that I'm taking for bipolar II. Should I give up on Lamictal?
>
>
Posted by jsarirose on September 17, 2002, at 16:48:10
In reply to Should I Give Up On Lamictal?, posted by TomG on September 17, 2002, at 12:44:59
> I gave Lamictal six weeks at 150mg and have been on 200mg for a week now. I have felt nothing positive or negative from the drug (no unbearable side effects).
I've spent a lot of years looking for a med that would work. Some of that time was wasted because I didn't go to the very maximum dosage. I would highly recommend pushing the Lamictal much higher (slowly, of course). You can go up to 800mg from what I've researched and what my doctor says. As long as you aren't having any side effects that are intolerable, you may want to consider going higher.
Some people are treatment resistant and need higher than average doses of meds to get the benefit. Also, you're able to go much higher on many drugs than what the pharmaceutical company originally publishes. For testing purposes they only go so far, but after a while de facto use creates a better guideline.
-Jessica
Posted by Peter S. on September 17, 2002, at 21:11:37
In reply to Re: Should I Give Up On Lamictal?, posted by TomG on September 17, 2002, at 16:07:10
Tom,
Cycling for me means weekly- sometimes every 4-5 days. The very mild hypomanic episodes have followed this pattern. Sleep also has a huge effect. I'll feel good in the morning and then if I take a nap, my mood goes seriously down. I don't know what to call this kind of cycling- uldtradian? I haven't heard much about it.
> Pete,
>
> How do you tell if you are cycling? I usually feel bad all the time as far as depression. I only have had about 7-8 episodes of clear-cut hypomania in the last year. What is your cycling like? At what dosage did you start to feel effects?
>
>
> I'm up to 600mg (supposedly the maximum dose). I am feeling a lot of benefits, although I'm still cycling.
> > If there are no side effects you may want to go up to the maximum just to see if you get any benefit.
> >
> >
> > > I gave Lamictal six weeks at 150mg and have been on 200mg for a week now. I have felt nothing positive or negative from the drug (no unbearable side effects). I have given each dosage a chance to work. My depression is mainly apathetic, feeling extremely slowed down, and anxiety. Have any of you had absolutely no response at all until a higher dosage is reached above 200mg? This is the only medicine that I'm taking for bipolar II. Should I give up on Lamictal?
> >
> >
>
>
This is the end of the thread.
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