My Lamictal experience....

[aimees]

I am completely distraught right now.  I was doing so well since finally getting to/starting 200mgs of Lamictal and now this...I have had three major panick attacks in the last four days.  The first two, I shrugged off...thinking wow, that was scary.  Tonight, as I was driving with my kids to Target, I had to turn around and go home because I thought I was going to pass out.  I have never had panic attacks this bad before and I am now a total wreck.  I have had to take my valium, which was originally prescribed for sleep and I never used, for the last two attacks and it barely calmed me down.

I can't stop crying and I honestly feel like giving up.  What will I be facing now???  What drug will my pdoc be pushing on me to make THIS stop?  Will I ever be able to function like a normal person??  God...I was doing so well!!!  How can this be happening to me now???  I don't want to do this anymore!!!  I thought I was better...now I feel more scared than I did BEFORE ANY MEDS!!  How can I take care of my kids when I fear that I can't even take care of myself...I went through hell titrating up on Lamictal and NOW this...I just want it all to go away......I am crushed.....

Sorry...I just need some support...where do I go from here???

 

[revlow]

aimees:

I know you're scared. As best you can, take a deep breath...and try not to "panic" about the panic attacks themselves. You'll just add fuel to the fire if you freak. You know what I mean? Try to remain as calm as you can. I know, harder said than done...but do what you can.

You may just need a slight bump up in Lamictal, or some other adjustment in your meds. Or maybe the panic attacks are unrelated (hey, t'is the season!). Of course you won't know anything until you talk with your pdoc. And in the meantime it does no good whatsoever to "globalize" the situation -- you know, thinking this means your whole world is crumbling to pieces. Take a deep breath and remind yourself that thinking this way and getting panicky is not going to help.

Take it easy. Have a little patience. You'll find out what's going on soon enough.

Don't know if this will help, but I'm a mom myself (have 2 step kids in college now). I've learned to treat myself -- at times -- as if I'm a kid. How would I deal with a kid who's panicking, getting worked up, worried about everything? I would probably do my best to calm them down. Get them to see that it's not the end of the world...we'll get through this, and so forth. Get them to focus on the moment, what needs to be taken care of in the here and now.

I wish you the best. Please keep me posted.

revlow

[tallulah]

oh aimees im so sorry to hear what youre going through!

*deep breath*

i myself went through the same problem, and i think youll find that many others here have gone through periods of intense anxiety/irritability at different doses. are you using lamictal as a mood stabilizer? did you increase the dose because it wasnt working well enough?

please speak with your pdoc about this - its not fair for you to have to deal with this every day.

keep us posted...

[Sulu]

Aimees, sorry that you feel so awful .  Any chance the dexedrine could be aggravating or causing the anxiety.  I have never been on it but when I was in my early twenties I did speed a few times and while I felt great coming down was a bitch!  And the friends I had that did it a lot got pretty anxious a lot.  Just a thought from someone who doesn't really know how to help but thought I'd throw it out there just in case.  Hope you feel better soon, Sulu

[aimees]

Thanks so much everyone!

I'm calling my pdoc today to see what he advises.  I'm so upset because I know it will probably be just more f***ing pills and I wanted so bad for JUST the Lamictal to be my miracle.  Pretty stupid of me. 

Just to give a little more info.  I was not stable on anything lower than 200mgs and when I started the 200mgs, I felt really good.  My moods finally felt stable and I really thought that was it!!!  I really thought that I was somewhat "fixed", at least for a little while.  Hell, now looking back, perhaps I was manic.  Damn, I really don't know what is normal at this point anymore.  If it was mania, it wasn't like my "old" mania.  It was just a feeling of  happiness, just an overall good feeling.  To me that was stable, so I'm not sure what has happened.

As for the dex, I have been on dex for three months now and at 20mgs for two of those three months.  It has never given me any anxious feeling.  If anything, it helped me slow down and focus a tiny but better.

I'm not much for conflict, so I completely stayed out of all of the recent board issues.  I'm just so thankful that I have a place to go when I feel so out of control and I'm glad that this site is still here for me and everyone that finds themselves in a terrible time.

aimee

[NARS]

Dexedrine is an amphetamine.  At therapeutic levels of lamictal most people are happily stabilized and functional.  But the combination doesn't sound good.

The fact that you were stable at first on dexedrine and then had anxiety and panic attacks doesn't mean the combination is bad for you.  I was plenty stable on 200 lamictal and 450 wellbutrin; a month later I completely flipped out with mixed states.  Lowering the wellbutrin and increasing lamictal helped, but I may have to drop the wellbutrin entirely.

Why did you add the dexedrine?  Check with your pdoc on whether this is a good idea. 

[LunaRufina]

As for the dex, I have been on dex for three months now and at 20mgs for two of those three months.  It has never given me any anxious feeling.  If anything, it helped me slow down and focus a tiny but better.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

aimees-

I'm really sorry you hit this with the Lamictal. It's always really disappointing when a med suddenly doesn't work how we hoped.  But, that doesn't mean that the Lamictal won't work at all because you are having the panic attacks [which are pretty serious]- I second what NARS said and would reconsider the dexedrine at the current dosage or the med itself.  I know it hasn't made you anxious before [my concerta helps to slow me way down and focus, too] but meds together could always work differently. 

Maybe you could lower the dose, or step back down slightly on the Lamictal. Or if you think something else may help as well, a different med for the ADHD may be an option.  If you think you were doing really really well on the Lamictal up until now, that doesn't mean you need to trash it.

I know someone around here who does well on Lamictal- once they stabilize on it.  But titrating up on the doses for them is really really hard and they are working up it very slowly, at 12.5 mgs every dose.  This isn't unheard of, but they do have a few weeks between eaching dosage change.  After a little over two months, they are now at 50mgs. They have a lot of anxiety for every upped dose and have to work to push through it.  I'm not saying this is the road for everyone.  I do say that there are different ways to work with your meds to find the right doses and combinations.

I saw in another post of yours that your doc mentioned trying abilify with the Lamictal if it didn't work out.  Maybe you should try to work with just the dosages of the lamictal and dex first? I know you don't want to be on more pills, and keeping it simple is the best plan.

Don't give up.

Like NARS said, do talk to your doc about the dex.

I'm glad you're planning on calling. Good luck.

Keep us up to date.

~navy~

[aimees]

I talked to my pdoc about my recent issue with panic attacks and he called me in a prescription for Ativan 1mg.  He only wants me to take it when I feel an attack coming on and assured me that it was one of the fastest benzos, so I should feel relief a hell of a lot sooner than I have with the Valium. 

I asked him if he thought the panic attacks had anything to do with my current med cocktail and he said he didn't believe it did.  He wants me to stay on my current meds and take the ativan when needed.  I see him in two weeks and we will see how things have gone, and if we need to try other meds we will discuss it then.  I know he doesn't want me off the Lamictal and I am in full agreement with him on that.  We both agree that the Lamictal IS working.  As for the dex, who knows.  I take it for ADHD.  It has helped calm me and allows me to focus on things for longer than 5 minutes, but if he decides that it's causing more problems then i'm off it.  Hell, i'm a stay at home mom...who needs to focus at that job???

I am very lucky that my pdoc has really made himself available to me.  I can email/phone him any time and he gets back to me pretty quick.  He has been great to me when I freak out like this and I feel lucky that I have him.

Thanks to everyone.  I SO appreciate the help!  I rarely get this freaked out and it is such a blessing to know that I can get some support here.

aimee