AnneMarie Posted November 3, 2007 Share Posted November 3, 2007 I've been doing some depression, cycling and some mixed stuff on my Lamictal-Lithium combo which lead to adding Zyprexa. My pdoc has now added Depakote with corresponding decrease in Lamictal in hopes that I'll stabilize and we can get me off of APs. Does anyone have insight on this combo/plan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loon-A-TiK Posted November 6, 2007 Share Posted November 6, 2007 i'm unsure as to why you're on 50 different things. IMO your pdoc should look at how you can be on fewer meds. Lithium, Depakote, and Zyprexa are all hard on your body. zyprexa is hard on you because it causes weight gain and type 2 diabetes in some patients (it caused me to gain weight and my blood sugar went up but we caught it in time). i'd ask about if it's possible to take lamictal alone, or with maybe just lithium. maybe your dose isn't high enough. but for me, lamictal and lithium together are magic. i never felt more stable than when i was on them both together. i'm going EEEEKKKKK at your meds. BAD! i'm saying bad because 3 of the 4 are terrible for your body. ask your pdoc for meds that will harm your health less. the atypicals besides zyprexa may be worth looking at. abilify is my favorite. geodon is my least favorite (and the worst med i've ever been on, not that it doesn't really help some people). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneMarie Posted November 6, 2007 Author Share Posted November 6, 2007 Lamictal leaves me too wired to do mono. Pairing it with Abilify, Geodon, or Seroquel didn't manage the hypo/mania or I ran into deal breaking AP SEs. Lamictal and Lithium were working, but a mixedish depression kept persisting. Over 200mg, Lamictal causes me a lot of cognitive dulling. I'm already at a high Li mx dose. Z recently was added as an emergency med to deal with a tanking mood. It's temporary, and is being phased out. Dep was added to hopefully stop what my doc thinks is more of a mixed state that's not being managed by Lamictal and Lithium than actual depression. The goal is off Z within a week or so, then reduce Lithium. If this works, my pdoc wants to drop Li altogether. I'm reluctant since Lithium is the most neuroprotective med there is for bp. I can't take ADs, and reality is that all stabilizers are harsh. It's more about what works for the individual w/the least damage for the individual. Anyway, I'm curious to hear from anyone whose been on this cocktail or cross over plan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mj1127 Posted November 6, 2007 Share Posted November 6, 2007 Lamictal leaves me too wired to do mono. Pairing it with Abilify, Geodon, or Seroquel didn't manage the hypo/mania or I ran into deal breaking AP SEs. Lamictal and Lithium were working, but a mixedish depression kept persisting. Over 200mg, Lamictal causes me a lot of cognitive dulling. I'm already at a high Li mx dose. Z recently was added as an emergency med to deal with a tanking mood. It's temporary, and is being phased out. Dep was added to hopefully stop what my doc thinks is more of a mixed state that's not being managed by Lamictal and Lithium than actual depression. The goal is off Z within a week or so, then reduce Lithium. If this works, my pdoc wants to drop Li altogether. I'm reluctant since Lithium is the most neuroprotective med there is for bp. I can't take ADs, and reality is that all stabilizers are harsh. It's more about what works for the individual w/the least damage for the individual. Anyway, I'm curious to hear from anyone whose been on this cocktail or cross over plan. Hi Stacia, If I already told you all of this, chalk it up to general dumbness - anyway, my pdoc is very big on the Lamictal/Depakote combo and has had good success with it. And if you are finding that Lamictal overwires you, Depakote might be just the thing to get you back down to earth. By itself, it kicked a miserable mixed state down to a plain old depression in two doses, which is faster than anything I've ever taken other than Z. Other than that, I'm not the poster child for this combo - at a high enough dose for depression, Lamictal tended to make me anxious and irritable, add Depakote and the high end stuff would go away but I'd eventually get depressed, same for a lower dose of Lamictal. The deal breaker ultimately was the cognitive problems from Lamictal, though I would probably have stuck it out longer if it had worked better. But it already sounds like you have done better with Lamictal than I ever did, so all I would say is just to watch out for creeping depression with the Depakote. Otherwise, I hope it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneMarie Posted November 13, 2007 Author Share Posted November 13, 2007 Hey MJ, Good to see you here. Idk. I may be running into a similar situation. The Dep did turn the volume down a notch even though I didn't realize the volume was still on. Then, I got real, real dull headed. Dropping the Z helped that some (still not too bright), but now my mood is slipping. It feels like I can't win. Grrr. The options on this combo I'm toying with are reducing one, two, or all three. I'm pretty sure I don't want to go up on any. Grrrr. We'll see. The journey continues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mj1127 Posted November 13, 2007 Share Posted November 13, 2007 Thanks, good to be here. But I'm sorry it's not going as hoped. Did you try the light box? What does your pdoc want to do next? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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