moot3r Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 (edited) I did a drug interaction check and the problems are rated from major to moderate to minor.The only major one I had was the combination of seroquel and tegretol. Summed up it said tegretol reduces the effects of seroquel. I don't like that. Antipsychotics are what keep me out of the hospital.I'm thinking of changing my mood stabilizer.It would help if you guys could tell me your experiences with different mood stabilizers in case in the future i need to come off tegretol.side effects-sedation-mood stability would all help in your answers. I'm trying to stay away from the really sedating ones as I already am groggy enough.Thanks. Edited April 28, 2015 by moot3r Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tryp Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 (edited) Drug interactions are pretty complicated - when they say "reduces the effect" it doesn't necessarily mean that you need to come off of Tegretol or even that coming off of Tegretol would be helpful for you. It just means that your doctor needs to work with you to make sure you're on the right dose to get the effect that you want, and that you may need a higher dose than someone who was not on the other medication. But dosing psych meds is so individual anyway - and those interaction checkers list everything, even theoretical interactions. That's why it takes working with your doctor to figure out if/how the listed interactions apply to you. I was pretty sedated on valproate, but not much on Lamictal, after I got started. Edited April 28, 2015 by tryp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissaw72 Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 ^^Yes to the Depakote for me too. I was waaay to lethargic/tired on it. For me that side effect didn't go away until I stopped taking it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt07 Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 I take Tegretol, and all my pdoc did was adjust the dosages of my other meds upward. I'm doing fine. I love my Tegretol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paranoidling Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 (edited) - Edited March 6, 2022 by Paranoidling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowan77 Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 I take lithium and lamictal and am not sedated on either of them. I took Depakote for 4 years. It worked quite well but I felt quite sedated on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phoenix_Rising Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 I also take Lithium and do not find it sedating. Now Zyprexa is another story. I am taking Vyvanse to deal with the sedation, but it only works so well. However, I will take sedation over depression any day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Always Unstable Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 ^^Yes to the Depakote for me too. I was waaay to lethargic/tired on it. For me that side effect didn't go away until I stopped taking it. I also found that with depakote. I was very lethargic on it. I found lamictal much more ....I dunno, stimulating? But now I'm tapering off of lamictal as the psychiatrist in the hospital started me on lithium and said there was no need to be on both. So far my opinion of lithium...I don't necessarily feel sedated I just feel kind of out of it. But I'm sure that will change. I've only been on it for a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wonderful.Cheese Posted May 6, 2015 Share Posted May 6, 2015 Drug interactions are pretty complicated - when they say "reduces the effect" it doesn't necessarily mean that you need to come off of Tegretol or even that coming off of Tegretol would be helpful for you. It just means that your doctor needs to work with you to make sure you're on the right dose to get the effect that you want, and that you may need a higher dose than someone who was not on the other medication. But dosing psych meds is so individual anyway - and those interaction checkers list everything, even theoretical interactions. That's why it takes working with your doctor to figure out if/how the listed interactions apply to you. I was pretty sedated on valproate, but not much on Lamictal, after I got started. ^^ This. FWIW some of my meds interact like that but I have never had a problem like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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