How are the Lamictal+SSRI people feeling? Any improvements?
1 - 17 of 17 Posts
Considering how sh*tty this condition is and the fact that the risk of getting 'the rash' is only 3 in 1000 I figured it is worth a shot as well.
So after 8 days at the 50 mg level, I really think I feel a bit more alert and energetic. It could be placebo effect I guess, but I'm not inclined to get that. In fact I'm normally convinced that stuff WON'T work (and I've usually been right), so it probably isn't just my imagination.
The only down-side so far is a tendance to examine to death every single bug bite or whatever, making sure it isn't a sign to head to the ER. I'm prone to heat rash, eczema (how the hell do you spell that stupid word? Nothing looks right), fever blisters, and crap like that anyway, so I'm not sure how I'm supposed to tell bad rash from good. I guess if it starts to look like something medeval, or if I could have been a no-makeup extra in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, I may have to give the stuff up. So far so good, though.
So after 8 days at the 50 mg level, I really think I feel a bit more alert and energetic. It could be placebo effect I guess, but I'm not inclined to get that. In fact I'm normally convinced that stuff WON'T work (and I've usually been right), so it probably isn't just my imagination.
The only down-side so far is a tendance to examine to death every single bug bite or whatever, making sure it isn't a sign to head to the ER. I'm prone to heat rash, eczema (how the hell do you spell that stupid word? Nothing looks right), fever blisters, and crap like that anyway, so I'm not sure how I'm supposed to tell bad rash from good. I guess if it starts to look like something medeval, or if I could have been a no-makeup extra in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, I may have to give the stuff up. So far so good, though.
Joined
·
636 Posts
please ask your dr. I started celexa first then added lamictal so very slowly. I dont know if it will help its still to early to tell. Im on 75mgs right now. I will update soon.
May I suggest that you try switching SSRI's if lamotrigine hasn't worked after a month? Just a thought.peacedove said:
I'm only at 100 mg, but I feel better than I did a couple weeks ago. I swear, I actually get a kind of buzz off the stuff one in a while. I'm taking it with an MAOI, though, not an SSRI. I don't think anyone really knows what to expect from that combination. I talked to the pharmacist, and the fact that MAOIs are enzyme inhibitors may increase the half-life of lamotrigine, so it may be building up in my system faster than normal. Dunno.
Since I've been on Lamictal since 1999 or thereabouts, I haven't answered this question recently. It HAS helped me at 200mg. Less fear of the DP/DR. Put it more in the back of my mind. Also REALLY calmed my moods. I have heard of this subtle difference from at least one or two others.
I was already on Klonopin 6mg/day, Celexa 40mg/day. This may have had some effect on my positive result.
Also, patience, patience, patience. I've mentioned this time and time again. It takes a long time for Lamictal to build up in your system. I felt NOTHING -- no side effects, NOTHING -- until I was at 200mg for about 4-6 weeks. My shrink begged me to stay on it to give it a good chance.
Others here who have come and gone have felt some improvement, subtle, no cure, etc.
Also, many who come and go from the Board do so because they've gotten enough support, proof they have DP/DR and can discuss it with their doctors etc. Doesn't mean they're cured, necessarily. BUT MANY HAVE. It's just tiring to answer the same questions over and over.
That sounds selfish, but I've been around since Andy's Board which I found in 1999. That's a long time. I don't feel like repeating myself.
I still come back here mainly when I'm lonely and need to connect with folks who understand. The ONLY ones who understand.
Also, no drug onset here. Had this since a little girl. See my site re: meds experimentation and therapy. Things aren't 100% accurate as my memory of early details when I was 15 aren't clear anymore.
My current combo, time, therapy, CBT have all helped. Meds, very much so. I can't tell you what is the key. But I am not cured from chronic DP/DR. But BAD episodes have decreased significantly.
Also, Tom, I used to check every red spot on my body when I first started. Really, even if you get the rash (which can be contracted by MANY drugs) an immediate call to your doctor and an IMMEDIATE visit to an E.R. can help you right away and with success.
Patience folks. Push it if you feel comfortable doing it, but give it a good try. The effect is subtle, yet it makes a difference at least in my case and I can't speak for anyone else. And there are SO many variables for each of us, it is so hard to know what really helped. I honestly don't know what has helped me the most. It's the combo of everything and working with a very agressive psychopharmacologist and a CBT. Early psychotherapy was also necessary in my case, and it helped me as well.
Hang in there.
Best,
D 8)
I was already on Klonopin 6mg/day, Celexa 40mg/day. This may have had some effect on my positive result.
Also, patience, patience, patience. I've mentioned this time and time again. It takes a long time for Lamictal to build up in your system. I felt NOTHING -- no side effects, NOTHING -- until I was at 200mg for about 4-6 weeks. My shrink begged me to stay on it to give it a good chance.
Others here who have come and gone have felt some improvement, subtle, no cure, etc.
Also, many who come and go from the Board do so because they've gotten enough support, proof they have DP/DR and can discuss it with their doctors etc. Doesn't mean they're cured, necessarily. BUT MANY HAVE. It's just tiring to answer the same questions over and over.
That sounds selfish, but I've been around since Andy's Board which I found in 1999. That's a long time. I don't feel like repeating myself.
I still come back here mainly when I'm lonely and need to connect with folks who understand. The ONLY ones who understand.
Also, no drug onset here. Had this since a little girl. See my site re: meds experimentation and therapy. Things aren't 100% accurate as my memory of early details when I was 15 aren't clear anymore.
My current combo, time, therapy, CBT have all helped. Meds, very much so. I can't tell you what is the key. But I am not cured from chronic DP/DR. But BAD episodes have decreased significantly.
Also, Tom, I used to check every red spot on my body when I first started. Really, even if you get the rash (which can be contracted by MANY drugs) an immediate call to your doctor and an IMMEDIATE visit to an E.R. can help you right away and with success.
Patience folks. Push it if you feel comfortable doing it, but give it a good try. The effect is subtle, yet it makes a difference at least in my case and I can't speak for anyone else. And there are SO many variables for each of us, it is so hard to know what really helped. I honestly don't know what has helped me the most. It's the combo of everything and working with a very agressive psychopharmacologist and a CBT. Early psychotherapy was also necessary in my case, and it helped me as well.
Hang in there.
Best,
D 8)
Damn I wasn't hoping for a subtle effect. I could get that by raising my klonopin. I need a cure dammit!!! Or at least something better than what I've felt so far. My DP is baaaad. Worse than normal I think, I don't know if it's the Lamictal or some changes in my life.
I also have had DP since I was a little girl. Maybe Lamictal doesn't work as well for those of us who have had it practically forever.
I'm still gonna stick it out though... I'm at 100mgs now and I'm not gonna call it quits til I'm on 250mgs for at least a month.
I also have had DP since I was a little girl. Maybe Lamictal doesn't work as well for those of us who have had it practically forever.
I'm still gonna stick it out though... I'm at 100mgs now and I'm not gonna call it quits til I'm on 250mgs for at least a month.
I won't pry for details, I'll just ask whether the changes are the sort that have worsened your DP in the past.peacedove said:
That's right, you've had DP since you were about 6, huh? God, what a cruel thing to happen to a child. I sure hope this stuff works for you. What is your next dosage? I think the usual jump is 100 to 200 after 2 weeks, but your doctor sounds a bit cautious for that. Which SSRI did you say you were taking with it? I forget (and I'm too lazy to search the old posts).
Tom,The Mysterious Tom Servo said:
My psychiatrist... and granted this was back in 1999 was very agressive with meds but very cautious with Lamictal as well. I crawled up to 200mg 25mg at a time. I don't know if it was over a period of weeks. It was like the starter pack, then we did accelerate a bit.
Things certainly have changed though in even 6 years. Some nimrod shrink I saw when I moved (saw him every 3 months for 2 seconds) said, "Watch that rash, it could come on any time" even though I'd already been on the med several years. Oi that man. He was a complete idiot about a lot of things. I don't know if that is a fact or not but I doubt it.
Remember folks w/bipolar and with seizure activity take this stuff too. If people were dropping like flies from the stuff we'd have known already... or maybe not :shock:
Peacedove
I keep reminding myself that there is no cure for DP/DR out there. No one treatment, it's trial and error. I know people who've had no rec drug onset who've had success with various meds, and those WITH rec drug onset w/varous drugs.
There are SO many variables in all of us, despite our commen symptoms, I don't think we can make a general assumption that we're all doomed.
My hope is that future research will uncover another med or a new treatment of some sort.
Odd, but I just thought again, I have sort of "given up" on a cure for MYSELF, not for the younger people here. I don't mean for that to be a downer either. It's just MY case. And I may be wrong, wrong, wrong. I hope so.
Each on a case by case basis.
We are ALL unique 8)
Tom Servo, I have no idea what my next dose will be, probably 200. My SSRI is Prozac. The changes in my life are mostly work related... the long drive to work and back which intensifies my DP, sitting at work knowing how far I am from home. I've never really had a steady job before so this is all new to me.
Interesting. My shrink's goal in L.A. was to get me on the highest dose of Lamictal possible and off my other meds. Well:peacedove said:
1. I didn't want to rock the boat
2. I moved across the country and have only last year found some decent psychiatric care.
I have tried (WITH my other meds) to push the Lamictal to 225mg. I can't as it makes me very tired. I have eliminated one med in my cocktail now... nortriptyline. I plan to pull back the Klonpin and the Celexa.... ONE AT A TIME AND VERY SLOWLY 8) .... I have to yell that .... at that point I will again try to push the Lamictal as it seems to have two very positive effects on me:
1. Mood regulation -- I didn't know how bad my mood swings were (though I'm not bipolar/more Borderline) until the Lamictal. My (ex) husband noticed it first, before I did!
2. The effect on the DP/DR.
I always tell this story over and over. I may very well be high functioning Borderline or have "Mood Dysregulation" which could be on the bipolar spectrum.
My shrink in L.A. was working with bipolar patients who were responding very well to Lamictal alone. He had a mother and daughter who were on a million different medications for their moods and incapacitating DP/DR. BOTH women on Lamictal alone were ultimately stabilized and the DP/DR went away completely.
Have to remember we are all unique. Also have to remember, and I believe this strongly that DP/DR are SYMPTOMS, very few people have true Depersonalization DISORDER. If DP/DR are symptoms of certain illnesses and the main illness is treated properly and of course responds to treatment -- some people don't respond as well DP/DR can be eliminated.
Unfortunately, humans aren't that simple.
We are complex.
We are unique.
Keep going peacedove. Very curious to see how this pans out with you.
I also have a feeling that in years to come, there will be better meds that will address mental illnesses better, and as a bonus might knock out some DP/DR here and there.
Best,
D 8)
EDIT: To peacedove ... if you're already at that high a dose with the Lamictal and are tolerating it well, it seems to me that's why your doctor is moving more quickly. Sorry, missed that one.
Joined
·
166 Posts
im currently on no meds at all
that may change but the docs have given me loadsa meds over the years which have done more harm then good in my eyes hence me being drug free at mo!!!!
that may change but the docs have given me loadsa meds over the years which have done more harm then good in my eyes hence me being drug free at mo!!!!
1 - 17 of 17 Posts
