betcsu Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 im just curious how many split their lamictal dose and how many take it once a day. please share your regime, including your dosage, and other meds you take as well. i'll start.... im only at 50mg and i take it once a day with 40mg celexa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiaB Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 I take 200mg twice a day - morning and evening. My other meds are in my signature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meg Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 I take 100mg in the morning along with everything else (zoloft 150mg, wellbutrin xl 45mg and adderall 20mg) (note that I'm not bp..just plain old unipolar) I'm curious what people's experiences are with splitting the dose though, why do you? does it make a difference for you and your mood stability...just wondering if it's worth a try? not to threadjack, just curious if y'all don't mind tacking it onto your response, thnks! m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiaB Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 I actually have no idea why it's split - I never asked. Honestly, I'm never sure what lamictal is actually doing for me, but I keep taking it because I'd rather not find out what I'm like without it. I've been on it for well over 2 years now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nalgas Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Might I also direct you to this thread? I had a feeling this had come up somewhat recently, and there it is. Some people have a more consistent response taking stuff more than once a day, while others don't notice much of a difference. I personally have a history of having Issues if I take doses of things too far apart (for some unknown reason, I seem to notice the rise and fall in med levels throughout the day more than most people do; see also: my comments on half-lives in that other thread), so Lamictal once a day didn't work out for me. Well, neither did twice a day, but it was at least better than once a day. Heh. Some people are fine with once a day, though, especially if they find it keeping them awake at night (solved by taking it all in the morning) or putting them to sleep during the day (solved by taking it all at night). Basically, if what you're already doing works well enough, rock on and keep doing it, but if you still have some issues with side effects, sometimes splitting/un-splitting doses or changing the time(s) of when you take it can help a little bit if your response has been good but not quite as great as you'd like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zenbean Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 i took 150 mg all at once in the morning, because i found it very activating. started out taking it before bed, and figured out pretty quickly that that was a fast ticket to the insomnia train. never tried splitting it - it seemed to hold me till the next dose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unregistered Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 I used to split it, but I found I was having sleep problems (may or may not have been related) so now I take it all in the morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isis Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 at the moment i take 100mg in the morning and 150mg at night....im working my way up to 200/200. however - im not sure why im taking it twice... my pdoc doesnt really know anythign about lamictal so he probably doesnt really know either. At some point i'd like to try taking it all at once but im not sure - im paranoid about upping my blood level too quickly and getting 'the rash'. so... im not sure if suddenly shifting 200mg to the other half of the day is an issue. i started the pill and so now im increasing lamictal again. im feeling really depressed now and im stressing because i dont know if its because lamictal loses some of its effectiveness when you're on the pill...or if im just crashign anyway. im desperate to get up to about 400mg but i am terrified of increasing it too quickly. *frustration* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest soon2bdownunder Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 Maybe I'm still out in la la land, but I thought/read lamictal is only good for 12 hrs. Talk to the pharmacy. They know more than Dr's know about drugs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nalgas Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 The half-life is actually closer to 24 hours (sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on the individual). If it were only 12, I suspect a lot more people would have a lot more problems taking it once a day. If you're worried about switching too suddenly from split to single dose, it couldn't hurt to ask your doctor and/or pharmacist. Even doing it suddenly would even out pretty quickly, though. It would be the equivalent of an extra half day's dose (or missing half a day's worth, depending on how you do it), which would level out in a couple days. I haven't heard of anyone around here's brains oozing out their ears just from missing a single dose, which that would be the equivalent of if you skipped one dose (either morning or night), then took the full day's amount all at once from then on (in the night or morning, respectively). Odds are you'll live, and with no more issues than a normal dose increase. As far as feeling like crap at the moment, if Lamictal has been what's helping with depression, starting hormonal birth control could certainly make you feel like crap, because it does put a significant dent in your Lamictal levels. It could take a bit of an increase to make up for that and some fiddling around to find the new right spot for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest soon2bdownunder Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 nalgas- It appears you are wiser (I'm sure you're thinking "well I know that" ;o) ) than my neuro. Found that lamictal in deed has a 1/2 life. It is 14 hrs w/ my drugs & anywhere from 25-40 hrs w/ valproate. That would explain the eyes are only a mess in the A.M.-early P.M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isis Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 nalgas - thanks. i am quite confused at the moment!! conflicting information from various sources as to whether i am better off increasing or leaving lamictal at this dose, whether it will get better or if its not really working anymore, if the pill is causing too much trouble, and whether i should change the way i take it!! my docs, they are very nice, but they dont know anything about lamictal (i asked to go on this one). i think im going to go harass my pharmacist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mel1 Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 when i read this thread title, i thought you meant "splitting" a pill. i split a 200mg. kite-shaped pill into 4 equal pieces because i take 150 in the am and 200 at night. i also split a 200 mg seroquel horsepill into 4 equal pieces and take 50 mg. one in the am and one at bedtime. thank God for pill splitters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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