Tricyclic Antidepressants

important question … please respond

Question:

The 200 mg limit for Lamictal dosing is for epilepsy, not bipolar.  I don’t really know what dosing should be used for bipolar–it varies widely.  But at any rate, I believe that Lamictal has the most anti-depressant properties of any drug since imipramine, and I believe it will become the drug of choice in 10 years. I take around 1000 mg per day in divided doses every 6 hours.  Don’t follow my example.  I only have depression, not bipolar, but I find the Lamictal helps me to have clear thoughts and surprisingly, less obsessions. The incidence of rash was reported as 3%.  These were non-serious rashes and they occurred mostly while people were taking Depakote.  {The rash was not dependent on the amount of Lamictal taken.}  I would be willing to take this risk 7 times a week and twice on Sundays. The incidence of serious rash was reported as 0.03%.  There is more of a chance of getting hit by lightening. * Sent from AltaVista http://www.altavista.com Where you can also find related Web Pages, Images, Audios, Videos, News, and Shopping.  Smart is Beautiful

Response:

>It’s me again. 2400mg Neurontin, 200mg Lamictal, 150mg Seroquel and 4mg >Klonopin daily, with incomplete remission of depressive symptoms. >The question is this: should I try to get my pdoc to increase my >Lamictal dosage or should I try to stay on the medication regimen that

I think you should push for more Lamictal. I’m not sure how you can sway the reluctant doctor. I usually take a dim view of people taking information they have found on these groups or on the web to their doctor; however I make an exception to that for people who have some knowledge of their medications, effects, side effects…and I consider you one of those people. If there is _any_ way you can see a more experienced doctor for a consultation, your present doctor will almost certainly go along with what he says. Are there any good medical schools anywhere near you? How are the chilis doing? I’m going to have a massive crop of Tabascos soon. I don’t actually eat them…just worry them about in my mouth and gradually release the juice…yum.

Response:

Your going to have to hire the best psychotherapist in town,  yourself,  All they do is help define the ego and show you how to work with it.  Normal people use friends in place of psychotherapists.   Once you get in touch with your true self life will be better.  Your lack of funds will make this a do it yourself project. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >x-no-archive: yes >It’s me again. 2400mg Neurontin, 200mg Lamictal, 150mg Seroquel and 4mg >Klonopin daily, with incomplete remission of depressive symptoms. >The question is this: should I try to get my pdoc to increase my >Lamictal dosage or should I try to stay on the medication regimen that >I’m on, with no changes whatsoever, and assume that the remaining >depressive symptoms are psychological artifacts that will eventually >resolve themselves or that I’m going to have to work on consciously? >My caseworker is a Psychiatric Social Worker, not a psychotherapist, but >she’s willing to help me work on the issues that are bothering me on an >unofficial basis. >I can’t see a psychotherapist. Psychotherapy is not an option for >outpatient mental health care consumers at the ‘public’ center that I go >to

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – >x-no-archive: yes >It’s me again. 2400mg Neurontin, 200mg Lamictal, 150mg Seroquel and 4mg >Klonopin daily, with incomplete remission of depressive symptoms. >The question is this: should I try to get my pdoc to increase my >Lamictal dosage or should I try to stay on the medication regimen that >I’m on, with no changes whatsoever, and assume that the remaining >depressive symptoms are psychological artifacts that will eventually >resolve themselves or that I’m going to have to work on consciously? >My caseworker is a Psychiatric Social Worker, not a psychotherapist, but >she’s willing to help me work on the issues that are bothering me on an >unofficial basis. >I can’t see a psychotherapist. Psychotherapy is not an option for >outpatient mental health care consumers at the ‘public’ center that I go >to

I’ve had cognitive therapy, which I feel is a very positive treatment for depression. It’s as successful as antidepressants with unipolar depressives in proper trials. But I only got that because I enrolled in a trial to test it – there’s a 2 year waiting list to get it in the UK. As I said in response to another post, my pdoc also thinks that 200mg Lamictal is the highest dose validated by current trials, but I know there are people out there (in the US, hardly anyone takes it in the UK) who take considerably higher doses. Anecdotal evidence might help your case. How long have you been on the Lamictal? Stuff I’ve read suggests that it takes quite a long time to reach its theraputic level, at least a month after the full dose is achieved. Do antidepressants make you manic? (They do me.) I’ve been on the 200mg Lamictal (and Tegretol and Haldol) for more than a month now. Preliminary evidence suggests that it doesn’t stop me from getting depressed, but it may be helping me recover more quickly. I go down, but then I bounce up again very fast. So I’m not as stable as I would like, but it does seem to be a bit better than it was when I was on Tegretol and Lithium. It’s all fiddling about, isn’t it. When it comes down to it hey just push buttons at random, and hope it will work. Good luck Jackie Web page at http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/close/xhq10/mem.htm I’ve been Jay H, Canarybird, Empty Cage, Serin, Phoenix, even Crow. Let’s see if I can stick with this one for a while.

Response:

Filed under: Imipramine