Question:
I was put on Prozac to relieve my deep, deep depression and it wired me up, but it did lift my depression. BY DAY TWO. I also felt my libido, which has been dead for years. Because I felt like I snorted coke and my blood sugar crashed, I stopped taking it on day three. But I got a taste of "normal" and want it back! Saw my P-Doc today and he prescribed Lamictal? He said we might combine it with the Prozac. I still don't see how that
will stop the blood sugar crashes.
So what can I expect with Lamictal? Will it relieve my depression? I
have no highs really. My highs are anxiety and phobias, so if this puts
me at lower than low or puts my emotions on co-pilot, I'll be
disappointed.
Answer:
I am BP also when it was thought that I was just depressed my pdoc
gave me liquid Prozac holy shit did that stuff make me manic I felt like
I was on LSD my pdoc told me to take 10 drops I only took 4 for 3 days I
started having bad trips waking up outta my sleep from real back
nightmares with panic attacks thought I was going to die, then it made
me go nuts and cross the line and I got arrested, my pdoc denies it had
anything to do with the prozac, there are many lamictal fans in this group. it's a mood stabilizer,
minor side effects, and actually may....... work as an antidepressant.
seriously if that shit happened to you on prozac never ever take an
SSRI again.. it will just exacerbate things.
lamictal flattens like all mood stabilizers but not as much as the
other. living flat is better than the roller coaster you'll get if you
keep taking ADs alone. I'm going to start this today. The depression is so deep
this week I have really messed up some relationships and career
oppurtunities being unrelaible. I have a pill phobia so it's hard.
Will I feel dizzy? etc
I have 25 mg tablet. Can I break it into a smaller dose?
Baby doses actually take effect for me. I was on 2.5 of Prozac and it
kicked in fast.
Can I expect some "lifting" without mania? That's the purpose of a mood stabilizer (lithium, depakote, tegretol,
lamictal, etc) -- esp. to control mania. Gets you down from a manic high
and should prevent serious manic episodes in the future. Assuming that your
on the right one for your particular brain neurochemistry. Lamictal has a
very good reputation, seems to help a lot of people. Many mood stabilizers (not all) will also help prevent extreme lows. They
tend to 'flatten' moods - that is prevent major highs or lows.
I can't diagnose you (I'm not a doctor and its over the internet). But ---
mania caused by the use of antidepressants if a pretty good sign of Bipolar
disorder. Ask your doctor what he thinks your diagnosis is.
(Mania is not to be confused with insomnia produced by a SSRI - many SSRI's
have that as a side effect. ANYONE - bipolar or not - who goes without
sleep (or only 2-3 hours a night) long enough will experience symptoms
similar to mania. By long enough I mean several days, I think in the
experiments most people started having problems after 72-96 sleepless
hours.)
So, if someone experiences mania when on antidepressants, the next step most
doctors take is to try a mood stabilizing drug.
Some of us - like myself - need antidepressants in addition to mood
stabilizers. But many BP's do well just on mood stabilizers.anbody get the rash? You may develop a rash during the first 2 to 8 weeks of Lamictal
therapy, particularly if you are also taking Depakene. If this happens,
notify your doctor immediately. The rash could become severe and even
dangerous, particularly in children. A slight possibility of this
problem remains for up to 6 months.
