Lamictal and Klonopin Interaction?

[StriaTerminalis]

I have a history of what has been diagnosed as dysthymia, or a form of mild depression.

Many medications did not work for me so I began taking Lamictal off label, and to my surprise it worked very well and many of my symptoms began to improve. I was also taking 1.5 mg of Klonopin (at night) at the time, which I had been on prior to the Lamictal.

The dose of the Lamictal was increased from 225 mg to 250 mg. Around a week later I had to take 2 mg of Klonopin for the night because the pharmacy did not have my prescription filled. After a decent nights sleep, I woke up in the morning feeling extremely tired and sedated - barely able to function. This persisted throughout the morning but slowly got somewhat better as the day progressed. After this experience the improvements that I had made from the Lamictal were completely gone. This was still the case after lowering the Klonopin and the Lamictal to where they were before.

Could there have been some sort of an interaction between the medications that would have caused this to occur?

 

[sekio]

There shouldn't be anything obvious. Increasing your klonopin dose 33% will definitely leave you feeling more tired in the morning though.

Would you say you are more or less active than you were before your dose increase? A few days of sitting around the house feeling sluggish can have a serious impact on depressive symptoms, even in the case of e.g. catching a cold. Make it a point to go out and try to catch some sort of rebound, if at all possible - stay physically and socially active.

 

[MyExcuse]

I'm on 200mg of Lamictal daily and noticed something similar. I used to be able to take 40-60mg of Diazepam without a tolerance (>6 months without using) to get a great euphoric effect.

I recently took 10mg and it had me feeling a little loopy for the whole day, with minor sedation lasting well into the next day. Totally killed it's recreational value unless I have at least a day to let it wash out.

This was the same thing with Etizolam. Two years ago (a year before I started Lamictal), I was able to take 2-5mg of etizolam for recreation and now I can barely take 1mg without it really messing with me the next day.

On the plus side, dissociatives and psychedelics aren't affected - in fact psychedelics feel more healthy and normal (less stress, less crazy thoughts).

unfortunately, Lamictal is one of those meds that affects everyone differently. I've traded mood lability for rather serious cognitive deficit but it was worth it.

 

[Coolwhip]

IIRC, lamictal is believed to upregulate GABA receptors over time, not a direction interaction but would explain your experiences.

 

[paranoid android]

I take 200mg's of lamotrigine a day and have been on it for about 5 years now. I haven't found it to interact with any drugs i have taken and that includes benzodiazepines. I am prescribed 6mg's of clonazepam a day but i have also taken lorazepam, oxazepam, Valium, (both orally and ampoules for IV/IM use) and temazepam while on lamotrigine and it hasn't increased the sedation that these drugs cause or caused any sedation on it's own. The only anticonvulsants (besides benzos of course) that i have found to potentiate the sedation of clonazepam or any other benzo are gabapentin and pregabalin which seem to act in a totally different manner then lamotrigine