BouncingMind Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Hi, i'm new here. I have been diagnosed with panic disorder and major depressive disorder. My panic disorder also seems to be related to generalized anxiety disorder. Anyway, my pdoc recently increased my dose of lamictal to 50 mg. I am using it off label for my anxious-depression issues. I think i am starting to feel better. Actually....about 60 percent better. Feelings of worthlessness have faded. I actually don't even feel sad right now and usually i feel like "whale shit" during the mornings. Here is the issue though. It seems unusual that such a low dose would help me. Yes, i have heard on here that 25 mg has antidepressant effects. But really, my doc originally said something like "you won't feel it till we get to 150 mg and even then it's so subtle". I still have a week to decide if i need to increase my dosage or not. It just seems really low. If he pushes it up more will it backfire and make me feel shitty? In case your curious, I am treatment-resistant to all those ssris (selective sucky-meds reuptake initiators). Also wellbutrin wasn't helpful because as we all know its gonna ramp up anxiety. Effexor was like...an ssri...end of story. Cymbalta was like...an ssri. Those two didn't feel stimulating actually more sedating. I am not on any antidepressant at the moment. Unless i get back to feeling completely like my old self...i guess going up wouldn't hurt. Again i got like a week to decide. I take lamictal at night because supposedly it sedates some people (i hear FAR more about stimulation but i notice neither). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hallowedink Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 To be honest, everyone needs a different dose of any meds. Lamictal in particular seems to vary a lot from person to person. Remember that if you raise the dose and it doesn't work, you can always lower it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Emperor Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Right from 25mg I started feeling "good" at every dose increase. Unfortunately, this would fade over a few days and I'd feel crummy again. YMMV, but I didn't really feel anything consistent until I hit 150mg. The SSRIs and SNRIs seemed to make things worse for me or just generally make me batshit, for some reason, and I had the anxiety issue with the Wellbutrin which did actually help, but the anxiety was so awful I had to be taken off it. Sorry, I was rambling. Anyway, yeah, for me the lower doses made me feel good for a few days afterwards and then I'd go back to feeling "normal", which is actually BAD. But now that I'm at 150mg, I still get depressed from time to time, but when it happens, it seems to be a little less severe and MAYBE there's less time between the times I get depressed, but I'd have to check my mood charts to determine that. Heh. I also take mine at night because it's sedating. In any case, good luck with the Lamictal! Maybe 50mg is the dose for you, hopefully you continue to feel well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muriel Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 I had pretty much the same experience that The Emperor did on Lamictal. It was a great drug for me. It's not known to be that great for anxiety, so you may find you need something else for that as things progress. But it was a very good drug for me, and is very good for many people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gearhead Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Lamotrigine worked for me right from the start, from 25 mgs. After a few weeks I got used to that dose and went up to 50...I'm presently at 100 mg and I feel great and have no plans to go higher. Everybody's different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brishen Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notfred Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 You need to try a range of doses to find the right one for you. You just have to try different doses to tell what is your correct dose. There is no reason to under medicate yourself. nf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjimjam Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 My experience with Lamictal was that the initial effects as the dose was being titrated were not indicative of the effect once at the target dose. Don't get me wrong, it's been amazing for my depression, but at the full dose I'm calm and stable. When I first took it, it had a very stimulating effect. It almOst felt like hypomania. It had some negative consequences in my life actually. So it definitely does something at the lower doses, which can be quite intense. I've read others have had similar experiences. Another thing, once your body adjusts to Lamictal (took a long time for me) it's pretty benign side-effect wise. So don't be afraid of a higher dose for that reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revan Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 I like low dose Lamictal. My depression is stabilized very well at 50mg. However, it does nothing for the anxiety.I take Klonopin which has been the best anti anxiety med I have tried. The two go together very nicely for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balletomane Posted December 23, 2011 Share Posted December 23, 2011 I take a much higher dose of lamictal, but I agree that the combination of Lamictal and Klonopin is awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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