AnneMarie Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 I decreased Lamictal 50mg the other day. With the Depakote, that's like a 100mg decrease overnight. I'm a bit concerned that this will effect my mood. I know the average clearance time for those also on Dep is 70 hours per the PI sheet. That does not necessarily mean much. And, yep, YMMV, but... anyone ever make this maneuver and have an idea how long until I can feel out of the woods? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tek Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 Unfortunately, I'm of zero help...but I'm curious why you are tapering down on Lamictal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneMarie Posted November 20, 2007 Author Share Posted November 20, 2007 I was dx'd a year ago when I went extremely hypomanic and put on Lamictal straight off because "depression" was my main problem, or so I have thought. Along the way I went through a few APs to quiet the hypo which didn't calm down until Lithium. Since then I've slipped into depression/mixed states again and again. We threw Zyprexa at it the last time, and afterwards my pdoc convinced me to give Depakote a go (I had been resisting) while saying that she thought I'd been confusing depression with mixed states for years. The Dep clicked something into place, but my cognition went to hell. Lamictal had caused a similar problem when I raised it to 250mg and cutting it in half has turned the lights back on w/o my mood going wacky so far. In short, I probably do mixed states and not depression, or at least only rarely regular depression, and we've been treating to the wrong symptom. Still, I'm nervous about the med changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sorrel Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 There is no reason to think dropping the Lamictal will screw with your mood, since you have another mood stabilizer in place to replace it. Well, you have TWO other mood stabilizers in place. I tapered off Lamictal (while already on lithium at a therapeutic level) at 50mg per week, which my psychiatrist said was probably unnecessarily slow. I didn't feel anything during the decrease, mentally or physically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CER Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 It's always second nature to be nervous about med changes. Good luck with it Stacia. I'm sure you'll get it right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazynotstupid Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 I decreased Lamictal 50mg the other day. With the Depakote, that's like a 100mg decrease overnight. I'm a bit concerned that this will effect my mood. I know the average clearance time for those also on Dep is 70 hours per the PI sheet. That does not necessarily mean much. And, yep, YMMV, but... anyone ever make this maneuver and have an idea how long until I can feel out of the woods? You're out of the woods when there's no more trees. Really, take it from a guy who lives in a bunch of trees. You don't know til you're there--and if you don't know, then don't worry about it. Except, I think, you're saying you ain't even in the woods yet. So then--don't worry until a branch hits you in the face. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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