Healing > Medications and Therapy
SSRI's to Mood Stabilizer (lamoTRIgine)
Soccer_Dude:
Well, after a couple of bad starts with SSRI's, my MD didn't want me to try another until we got a second opinion. I went to see a psychiatric nurse practitioner, and explained my symptoms and experience with SSRI's, and she thought it was best for me to try a mood stabilizer, to help calm things down in my brain. She prescribed lamoTRIgine (LaMICtal). She made it sound like it was safe and wouldn't be too many side effects other than the RASH you need to watch out for. I'm a bit scared to try something new espeically a anti-siezure med. She made it sound like it would help with my symtpoms and would also help with serotonin, etc... She said they don't know how it works... Anyway, so many unknowns. I would rather try another SSRI, but not sure if I would react well to another. Has anyone tried lamoTRIgine (LaMICtal) for anxiety, panic and depression? Does it help?
Thanks.
coeus:
Lamotrigine is typically prescribed for individuals who suffer from bipolar disorder and epileptic symptoms. There are no official indications that the medication can be used for anxiety disorders and unipolar depression/major depressive disorder.
A systematic review conducted by Amann, Born, Crespo, Pomarol-Clotet and McKenna (2010) highlighted that there was no support for Lamotrigine as means for treating unipolar depression. They examined three unpublished studies that didn't show significant improvement in symptoms for those diagnosed with unipolar depression.
As for studies regarding the efficacy of Lamotrigine towards anxiety and panic - there's very limited articles demonstrating whether it can be effective for treating anxiety and panic symptomology. One study (Masdrakis et al., 2010) showed that an administration of Lamotrigine (200mg/day) was associated with one patient's reduction in agoraphobic avoidances and decreases in panic symptoms.
Bear in mind that these studies can be narrowly focused and only gives you a small picture of the evidence for Lamotrigine.
I have never used Lamotrigine and wouldn't advise the use of it given that it's a mood stabiliser. The psychiatric nurse practitioner is right in saying that the mechanism is unknown as to how it may help with changing the serotonin in your brain. I would suggest for you to consult your MD, GP or another psychiatrist before using Lamotrigine. Be well informed before you make any decision.
Good luck.
Soccer_Dude:
Thank you for the info. I wasn't so sure after only a 30 minute meeting that this was the right choice for me. She just said that it would help calm the brain down, but not sure if that is true or what. I tried one tablet Friday night. I felt really low all day Saturday. I don't think it made me feel very good. But, there's always the start up side-effects you have to deal with. Anyway, I'm just trying to find the right thing to help with my brain that seems to be over active and easily gets anxious. As I mentioned in previous posts, this was never an issue until one day it just hit me. Now I'm sensitive to stress about anything. I seem not to do well with meds so I'm not sure what will work. Should I try a 3rd SSRI like Lexapro, or.....I'm trying a natural approach again, at least until I can figure out another way. I will definately talk to my MD on Monday and hopefully connect up with a true Psychiatrist who will spend more than 30 minutes with me to determine the best way to go about this. I'm also waiting for test results to come back from my Endocrinologist, who's testing for some specific things, and maybe something will turn up that needs adjusting that will make all the difference. We'll see. Again, thanks for your post.
Soccer Dude
coeus:
No problems.
One day of the medication won't show any promise in highlighting whether you can cope with the medication or if it's the right one for you. Medication is a personal choice for people and it should remain as a sole decision for the person opting to take it or not.
There are certainly natural and helpful methods in supporting your anxiety management. Physical exercise is a fantastic way to help you cope with the sensations and symptoms of anxiety. Therapy can be of enormous benefit in helping you examine your turbulent thoughts and how to deal with your condition. Don't overlook natural exercises as a way to complement your recovery.
If you choose to continue to take medication, integrate complementary methods to help your recovery. There are heaps of posts on this forum describing many beneficial ideas on how to help yourself recover.
Good luck.
Irishmanwrites:
Soccer Dude: I mean this with the greatest respect, but I don't think you are giving the SSRI's sufficient time..
Would you accept this?
You should really try six weeks.
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