lamictal and topamax

[spaceman]

I am taking lamictal 450 mg and wellbutrin 300 mg and I am still depressed. I work at a car detail shop during the week and then on the weekends I just lay around and watch tv and feel depressed. I am still depressed during the week but I get up and work because I need the money. I have tried lithium depakote gabapentin etc. I have never

tried topomax. anyone tried topomax as an adjunctive therapy to lamictal? i'm just taking a shot in the dark here

as so far nothing else has worked for me.

any help would be appreciated.

thanx Brian

[SashaSue]

Topamax works as a mood stabilizer for relatively few people. I don't think I've ever seen anything, either first person or a study, suggesting it has any real efficacy for depression. Depending on your history with AD's, I'd agree with Sylvan that trying a different or additional AD makes much more sense. If you've consistently not done well with AD's in the past, I'd think lithium would be a much better choice for augmentation. Or maybe seroquel or abilify.

[exl2398]

topamax was worthless to me, still titrating up on lamictal. have you considered an maoi?

[netsavy006]

Just throwing it out there, have you tried increasing the wellbutrin? I see you are on 300 and from that I know the max is 450.

[spaceman]

my wellbutrin is at 300 mg because 450 puts me on a 30 up 30 down rotation. as it is now i have some hypomanic episodes. i dont know of any ads that do not cause bps to cycle into hypomania. any brand or name suggestions?

[domovoi]

honestly, 300-400mg of seroquel snapped me out of deep 6-month depression in about 2 weeks. i don't know anything about topamax though. i would second SashaSue's post about trying an AAP like seroquel or abilify. i think they may even win over lithium in the short run, because they are less bulky in terms of time taking to work and side effects. well, don't know about side effects but they start working faster.

[vectorgirl]

The only thing that snapped me out of really really horrendous chronic depression (I'm bipolar II) was Geodon and Abilify. Not at the same time, but the two drugs each time worked. I just couldn't tolerate the side effects. But at the time Geodon was a godsend, I wish I'd stayed on it for a shorter period of time though. But no AD's were working for me at all. Geodon knocked me out for 12 hours and I woke up a new person.

[nalgas]

i dont know of any ads that do not cause bps to cycle into hypomania. any brand or name suggestions?

Some are more or less likely to on average than others, but as has already been mentioned, it depends on the individual. Also, that's much less of a problem if you're already on a mood stabilizer of some sort that's working reasonably well. Many people are able to find ADs that work well for them without that problem as long as they're taking the right AC/AP along with them. Lamictal is unfortunately not really known for its anti-manic powers, so it may or may not be able to handle that job.

[pineappleupside]

I take Topamax, but mainly for rapid cycling.. Which I find it works fabulously for.

Saphris really helps with depression.. & fast too. (like 3 days)

I take Lamictal and Topamax together - the Lamictal is more for Depression though, Topamax more for ultradian/ultra rapid cycling, Saphris - Mania/ Depression (it helps for everything really - but great for depression overall) and Zoloft for OCD, oh and Deplin because it helps/boosts anticonvulsants and antidepressants - well helps you absorb them better?

[nibblerd]

I was on 800mg of moclobemide a day (RIMA) and found it to be a lovely AD, but it can send you into hypomania without a mood stabilizer. With 150mg on my mood stabilizer (lithium) I developed serotonin toxicity with persistent vomiting and had to discontinue.