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N&PD Moderators: Skorpio | thegreenhand
Lamotrigine (Lamictal) for depression
- Thread starter C10H12N20
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NotTonight
Bluelighter
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I don't think they even make it in 2mg doses. A typical dosage is 200mg daily for bipolar and can even be higher than that. Its possible that I'm wrong but I can't imagine that 2mg could possibly have any effect, even if combined with Depakote
streetsurfer
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- Feb 18, 2004
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Bump!
Has anyone got anything to add? I am thinking of ditching the valproate for this one as I am almost exclusively in a depressed affective state and my mania is more agitation (god damn it).
Valproate seems to have not only the effect of making you gain weight but also makes your belly distended.....for me anyway. I have had to up the dose 5 fold since I started taking it and while it helps...... somehow I feel more unstable
Has anyone got anything to add? I am thinking of ditching the valproate for this one as I am almost exclusively in a depressed affective state and my mania is more agitation (god damn it).
Valproate seems to have not only the effect of making you gain weight but also makes your belly distended.....for me anyway. I have had to up the dose 5 fold since I started taking it and while it helps...... somehow I feel more unstable
rashandreflex
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i take 100 mg of lamictal a day, and i agree with the above posters that it is really a mild drug in terms of noticeable side effects. obviously, the most important thing to watch for is the development of a rash...most of the rashes are non-fatal allergic reactions, but a few of them are the potentially fatal SJS. you should titrate slooowly.
lamictal has been a better drug for me than depakote (sodium valproate) ever was, but it's really difficult to recommend a drug based on anecdotal evidence bc your mileage may vary. you mentioned agitation...if you are having agitation even on depakote, lamictal alone might not be the answer bc its strength really isn't in tempering agitation...are you taking anthing else?
so far on this board i have heard that lamictal affects sodium channels, that it is a glutamate inhibitor, a 5HT3 agonist, and a sigma opioid agonist. i can see how 5HT3 agonization and maybe sigma opioid agonization would affect mood, but does anyone have any theories on how glutamate antagonization or sodium channel action would affect mood?
lamictal has been a better drug for me than depakote (sodium valproate) ever was, but it's really difficult to recommend a drug based on anecdotal evidence bc your mileage may vary. you mentioned agitation...if you are having agitation even on depakote, lamictal alone might not be the answer bc its strength really isn't in tempering agitation...are you taking anthing else?
so far on this board i have heard that lamictal affects sodium channels, that it is a glutamate inhibitor, a 5HT3 agonist, and a sigma opioid agonist. i can see how 5HT3 agonization and maybe sigma opioid agonization would affect mood, but does anyone have any theories on how glutamate antagonization or sodium channel action would affect mood?
streetsurfer
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Well drugs like ketamine are antagonists of glutimate at the nmda receptors, maybe reducing the amount of glutimate in the brain reduces erratic firing of neurons and over stimulation, which would manifist as worry, anxiety, stress... thereby reducing depression....maybe?
streetsurfer
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Well if its not that, I am going to go with my second theory...Magic 
Jamshyd
Bluelight Crew
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I'd like to revive this thread because my doctor suggested that I try this medication for my manic-depression (Bipolar II according to him). Seeing that it is a glutamate antagonist and a sodium-channel blocker, I am wondering now if it might be effective for me, since I found that the only thing that worked for my mood was Ketamine and, to an extent, gabapentin?
Also, is anyone aware of Lamotrigine's interactions with recreational drugs?
Also, is anyone aware of Lamotrigine's interactions with recreational drugs?
Well, as far as nmda antagonists such as ketamine are concerned, lamotrigine blocks the fx of these drugs, not sure why but i guess it dominates the receptors or sumthing. They have dun studies where subjects where givin larg doses of k/pcp and lamictal brought down the high and killed the hallucinogen fx. I think it's close to the way neostigmine which is used to block antichlorgenic overdose by dominating the antichlorogen for the receptors
Case for lamotrigine?
Case for lamotrigine?
I have a family member age about 62 who began psychosis about 3 years ago. A neurologist discovered seizure activity with an EEG test. Patient didn't follow up because Patient's mother had same condition in retirement years and psych meds made her worse until she was mentally gone. Patient saw same neurologist from 3 years ago - a few months ago, again EEG showed seizure. During the elapsed time psychosis increased and family figured out it was clinical and started at psychologist who prescribed lexapro. That caused hallucinations and aggravated psychosis. Another psych dr. prescribed risperdol, then two weeks later abilify. Both had disastrous results. catatonic demeanor or hallucinations and tardive. It took three months for the Patient to recover from two weeks of risperdol and 6 weeks of abilify symptoms mentioned. After 2nd EEG Patient tried Keppra and went angry/belligerent in 3 days and had to stop. At this point, none of the neuorleptic meds have helped, all made conditions worse. Any dopamine boosting substances or supplements increased psychosis as well as moderate to excessive sugar in diet (as we witnessed during monitoring Patient daily.) Daily treadmill exercise helped recovery and builds brain cells too.
While searching the issue of seizures I came across a study that reveals a genetic explanation about seizures by glutamate toxicity that leads to dopamine toxicity and LTP or long term memory loss in the hippocampus all as a result of glutamate toxicity and a microdeletion in a gene. Some of you may have seen our blog http://orthosz.blogspot.com which tracks this Patient's progress. We have been unable to get a Dr. to even try Lamotrigine because they all approach this matter from a treat the symptoms by observation perspective rather than find the underlying cause of the psychosis. We (the family members active in the Patient's progress) want to try Lamotrigine because it appears from our reading it would address all the known and suspect issues involved: seizures, drop attracts, glutamate toxicity in hippocampus and quite possibly the psychosis caused by the increased dopamine of the chain of events. There's more details of the study on our blog.
There's a Dr. Restak who's got an article on "Complex Partial Seizures Present Diagnostic Challenge" here's a link for this http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/p950927.html
Basically, there's a high probability that patients with these psychosis symptoms never get a fair shake at recovery because they are prescribed neuroleptics only to mask the symptoms and return people back to their catatonic socially safe lives (my own opinion and over simplification.) But as I read this article, words jumped out at me as descriptions of the seizure experience were what our Patient has experienced, including the fear. It makes me think we're onto something somewhat of a possible solution.
We're going to try to convince our family Patient to seek a specialist and ask for a trial of Lamotrigine. I wanted to bring this issue to the board here so it may help someone if they have this condition and are not getting treated by doctors correctly. Our Patient was just released by a involuntary psych hospital with a two week prescription for Quetiapine only! After all the seizure evidence (which included childhood seziures)! Quetiapine (Seroquel) a drug that has 50% chance of diabetes and lowers seizure threshold for many people making the seizures happen more often! When I asked them what test they use to determine if a Patient is ready for release the answer was "observation." They look at the patient.
Doesn't seem like scientific method for detecting complex partial seizures. 8(
Case for lamotrigine?
I have a family member age about 62 who began psychosis about 3 years ago. A neurologist discovered seizure activity with an EEG test. Patient didn't follow up because Patient's mother had same condition in retirement years and psych meds made her worse until she was mentally gone. Patient saw same neurologist from 3 years ago - a few months ago, again EEG showed seizure. During the elapsed time psychosis increased and family figured out it was clinical and started at psychologist who prescribed lexapro. That caused hallucinations and aggravated psychosis. Another psych dr. prescribed risperdol, then two weeks later abilify. Both had disastrous results. catatonic demeanor or hallucinations and tardive. It took three months for the Patient to recover from two weeks of risperdol and 6 weeks of abilify symptoms mentioned. After 2nd EEG Patient tried Keppra and went angry/belligerent in 3 days and had to stop. At this point, none of the neuorleptic meds have helped, all made conditions worse. Any dopamine boosting substances or supplements increased psychosis as well as moderate to excessive sugar in diet (as we witnessed during monitoring Patient daily.) Daily treadmill exercise helped recovery and builds brain cells too.
While searching the issue of seizures I came across a study that reveals a genetic explanation about seizures by glutamate toxicity that leads to dopamine toxicity and LTP or long term memory loss in the hippocampus all as a result of glutamate toxicity and a microdeletion in a gene. Some of you may have seen our blog http://orthosz.blogspot.com which tracks this Patient's progress. We have been unable to get a Dr. to even try Lamotrigine because they all approach this matter from a treat the symptoms by observation perspective rather than find the underlying cause of the psychosis. We (the family members active in the Patient's progress) want to try Lamotrigine because it appears from our reading it would address all the known and suspect issues involved: seizures, drop attracts, glutamate toxicity in hippocampus and quite possibly the psychosis caused by the increased dopamine of the chain of events. There's more details of the study on our blog.
There's a Dr. Restak who's got an article on "Complex Partial Seizures Present Diagnostic Challenge" here's a link for this http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/p950927.html
Basically, there's a high probability that patients with these psychosis symptoms never get a fair shake at recovery because they are prescribed neuroleptics only to mask the symptoms and return people back to their catatonic socially safe lives (my own opinion and over simplification.) But as I read this article, words jumped out at me as descriptions of the seizure experience were what our Patient has experienced, including the fear. It makes me think we're onto something somewhat of a possible solution.
We're going to try to convince our family Patient to seek a specialist and ask for a trial of Lamotrigine. I wanted to bring this issue to the board here so it may help someone if they have this condition and are not getting treated by doctors correctly. Our Patient was just released by a involuntary psych hospital with a two week prescription for Quetiapine only! After all the seizure evidence (which included childhood seziures)! Quetiapine (Seroquel) a drug that has 50% chance of diabetes and lowers seizure threshold for many people making the seizures happen more often! When I asked them what test they use to determine if a Patient is ready for release the answer was "observation." They look at the patient.
Doesn't seem like scientific method for detecting complex partial seizures. 8(
MadMadamEmily
Greenlighter
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2009
- Messages
- 20
Seroquel is freaking me out, and I am glad I'm off of it. I am taking a low dose of Lamotrigine working my way up to 100 mg a day or more if it is effective. I just wonder about about energy levels. Does it help? Make you sleepy? So far so good, but I am worried about becoming a zombie when I have two babies.