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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by rjlockhart37 on December 19, 2015, at 22:38:25
i was in vary postive mood, not euphoric just content and then it faded through the rest of the day......i took lamictal 2 hours ago and i feel better, lamictal does not enhance the mood but it stablizes it, that what i've noticed what lamotragine is ... it's a stablizer
ill go into a idlestate, like frozen and then get irritible and not want to do anything, like that feeling you just are discusted with everything, it's all internal nuerotransmitter alteration, and after i took lamotragine i came out of it
i'm prescribed 400mg but i don't take it anymore because it made me too stabilized and boring mood, but when im depressed and in a slump it pulls me back to baseline
anyone have similar experiences
Posted by SLS on December 19, 2015, at 23:41:40
In reply to good to irrtible, posted by rjlockhart37 on December 19, 2015, at 22:38:25
> i was in vary postive mood, not euphoric just content and then it faded through the rest of the day......i took lamictal 2 hours ago and i feel better, lamictal does not enhance the mood but it stablizes it, that what i've noticed what lamotragine is ... it's a stablizer
I know it sounds trite, but everyone is different when it comes to the effects psychotropic drugs have on them. For me, lamotrigine is much more an antidepressant than it is a mood stabilizer. The last time I had a manic episode, I was taking 300 mg/day of lamotrigine, and I blew right through it as if I were taking nothing at all. I needed Zyprexa to put the fire out.
I would recommend not playing with your dosage by going up and down so frequently. There is no way your brain can truly stabilize itself if you do this. From the way you describe things, you might do best at 300 mg/day. Otherwise, you can start at 200 mg/day and titrate upwards methodically from there, understanding that depression might re-emerge. Just don't hop up from 200 to 400. At least give 250 mg/day a week and 300 mg/day another two weeks if necessary.
I don't think you can be "too stabilized". I guess it is a matter of semantics. You might be experiencing a flat affect or cognitive dulling as a result of taking too much lamotrigine. Unfortunately, there are some people for whom there is no optimum dosage. They suffer cognitive side effects at dosages that are too low to produce a therapeutic response. I think you should be okay, though.
Do you think you are being confused by catching an immediate "buzz" every time you raise the dosage, only to see it disappear? For instance, when you increase the dosage from 200 mg/day to 300 mg/day, do you feel a brief improvement that lasts a day or so? Do you then decide to raise the dosage again to 400 mg/day in order to recapture a therapeutic effect, only then to experience flat affect, memory impairments, and cognitive dulling?
- Scott
Posted by rjlockhart37 on December 20, 2015, at 0:21:05
In reply to Re: good to irrtible, posted by SLS on December 19, 2015, at 23:41:40
for me 200mg is more for keeping me from being depressed, and 400mg is more reinforcing mood stabization, and it creates everything kind of voltage controlled, i can't get into manic moods, sometimes lamotragine works as a mild antidepressant but for long periods on 400mg i was dulled out, i wasnt depressed but it decreased excitability, i stayed more calm
the good: relief from depression during a period, stable mood
the con: blunted effect, sometimes feel boring and suppressed emotionsa while back i wrote i post about the horrid zyprexa withdrawl and i had to self medicate with lamotragine at 800mg to prevent siezure, i stopped zpyrexa and noticed i was more social and energetic and fast thinking, but after 3 days things started to get unbalanced and unstable, and i would get these aura feelings like i was having a siezure, i mean zyprexa is not a narcotic but i've taken it so long that my nuerons are adapted to having it, when it's gone they become free-radical type, mania, impulsive, irrtibile
but i take lamictal sometimes when needed for deprssion
Posted by rjlockhart37 on December 20, 2015, at 0:26:53
In reply to Re: good to irrtible, posted by rjlockhart37 on December 20, 2015, at 0:21:05
but it's mainly a stablizer for me, it helps sometimes and it's good, but other times i get the emotion blunted effect or "feeling boring" about everything because nuerons are controlled and are can't get into hieighned states with electric firing because it stablizes it
Posted by SLS on December 20, 2015, at 12:12:59
In reply to Re: good to irrtible, posted by rjlockhart37 on December 20, 2015, at 0:26:53
> but it's mainly a stablizer for me, it helps sometimes and it's good, but other times i get the emotion blunted effect or "feeling boring" about everything because nuerons are controlled and are can't get into hieighned states with electric firing because it stablizes it
I don't understand your thinking here.
It's nice to have theories about things, but there is a reason why neuroscientists must still rely on clinical investigations and empirical data to determine the effects a drug will have on people. Things can get quite complicated. For instance, it may be that reducing glutamate firing in the thalamus by applying lamotrigine causes an increase in dopamine firing in the nucleus accumbens, the reward center of the brain, through the process of disinhibition. That's my theory anyway. It could explain the antidepressant effect of lamotrigine. Maybe not. It is interesting to ponder, but that won't affect how much of it I must take on a daily basis to feel better. The dosage that I came to was the result of trial-and-error. Interestingly, when I first reached a dosage of 300 mg/day, I experienced a bit of flat affect and cognitive impairment - a sort of brain fog. It disappeared entirely after a month or so.
- Scott
Posted by rjlockhart37 on December 20, 2015, at 13:47:24
In reply to Re: good to irrtible » rjlockhart37, posted by SLS on December 20, 2015, at 12:12:59
yea that's what i ment the "flat" effect......makes everything feel blahh bland and boring
what i ment was it controls the amount of nuerotransmitter firing, and that's why people can't get into heighnted nuerotrassmitter states (mania) on mood stabilizers
but everyone is diffrent, i like lamictal at times, others i hate it because it gives the flat effect
Posted by Zyprexa on December 24, 2015, at 6:14:00
In reply to good to irrtible, posted by rjlockhart37 on December 19, 2015, at 22:38:25
I think its good to not take more than you need! Thats what I try to do with the olanzapine. I have a 20mg pill which I cut into 1/3's and some times 1/6's. Currently the last 2-3 weeks I take 2 1/3's and one 1/6 th a day. Before I was taking 2 1/6ths and one 1/3 for the longest while. I think my blood levels must have come down. Or maybe the pills lose strength quickly in the bottle.
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