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Lamictal: Time to get off lamictal.


Lamictal

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Hello, I have been on antidepressants for the last 10 years. 3 years ago I cold turkeyed celexa. I have been in severe withdrawal since with many mental symptoms. At the time, my Dr tried a few different meds because he thought I was bipolar, which I now knew was a joke. He tried serowuel lithium, trazedone and lamictal. All thr othrrs i had a severe reaction right away besides lamictal 50 mg. Lamictal felt like a sugar pill to me. I know it is obviously affecting my brain and body and i want to be totally med free.

The one thing i am scared of that it is hindering my healing from the withdrawal of antidepressants. I have become obsessive on it.

I would like to start tapering and have bought syringes and cylinders. I dont know where to begin. I am on 50 mg 2 tablets of 25 mg of lamitrogine so i didnt know if they were water soluable or if i would have to crush and measure them? Also i am pretty scared to disrupt my body even more, it is very sensitive still to anything. But i do feel the need to come off because i am paranoid that it could ve hindering me. Any advice or suggestions about how to taper and if anyone else took lamictal in cold turkey and didnt feel affected? Thank you!

Edited by scallywag
tags added

Celexa from 2006 to 2012, 40 mg. Cold Turkey.

Lamictal 50 mg August 2012.

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  • Moderator Emeritus

Hello Lamictal -- Welcome to Surviving Antidepressants (SA)
 
I hope you'll find the information in the SA forums helpful for your situation. I'm sorry that you are in the position that you need the information, but am glad that you found us.

A request:

Would you summarize your history in a signature -- drugs, doses, dates, and discontinuations & reinstatements, in the last 12-18 months particularly? Any drugs prior to that can just be listed with start and stop years. This topic explains how to do that:

Please put your withdrawal history in signature

 
 
You mention that you notice having "become obsessive" on Lamictal. What other symptoms, if any, do you experience now?
Glenmullen’s withdrawal symptom list  

What is withdrawal syndrome


 
 
Cold turkey off an SSRI such as Celexa? Ouch!!! No wonder you had difficult and protracted withdrawal . I'm sorry you went through that. The theory that seems to support what we've observed about withdrawal is described in this topic:

How your brain responds to psychiatric drugs - aka "Brain remodeling"

 

We suggest a slow, gradual taper: reducing dose by less than 10% each time, and making reductions only once every 4-6 weeks. The intent of this slower pace -- slower than most doctors suggest -- is to minimize the risk of withdrawal symptoms.
Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

Read this topic for information about Lamictal, including whether it is soluble.
Tips for tapering off Lamictal (lamotrigine)

 

 

Two tips:

  1. You may way want to follow this topic so that you get notifications when someone posts in your thread.  Click the gray "Follow this topic" button. A dialog box appears:  select one of the notify options, then click follow this topic in the dialog box.
     
  2. Setting this web page as a bookmark or favorite in your browser will help you navigate back to it.

 

Please read the topics I've linked above.  If you have any questions, please post them here in your introduction so that all your information stays in one place.

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.
1997-1999 Effexor; 2002-2005 Effexor XR 37.5 mg linear taper, dropping same #beads/week with bad results

Cymbalta 60 mg 2012 - 2015; 2016: 20 mg to 7 mg exact doses and dates in this post; 2017: 6.3 mg to  0.0 mg  Aug. 12; details here


scallywag's Introduction
Online spreadsheet for dose taper calculations and nz11's THE WORKS spreadsheet

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Ok I'm on my phone so I will post here if that's OK, it won't let me out a signature. I was on many antidepressants from 2006 until 2013 when j cold turkeyed the celexa. I am only on lamictal now and I don't think that it's making me obsessive but I've gotten to a point in my healing that I want to come off and be led free for once in years!

Celexa from 2006 to 2012, 40 mg. Cold Turkey.

Lamictal 50 mg August 2012.

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  • Moderator Emeritus

Here are 2 consecutive posts in the thread I linked above that give instructions on creating a signature while using a mobile device:

 

Post #8

Post #9

 

You need to view the full version of the site, not the mobile version.  The button to change that is at the bottom of your screen.

 

We do need you to create a signature to assist you.  Being able to see your current drug(s) and dose(s) as well as your taper history in one glance means that we don't have to read your entire thread to get the full picture. I hope you'll find either the time to get this done on your phone or a desktop/laptop on which it's a bit easier.

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.
1997-1999 Effexor; 2002-2005 Effexor XR 37.5 mg linear taper, dropping same #beads/week with bad results

Cymbalta 60 mg 2012 - 2015; 2016: 20 mg to 7 mg exact doses and dates in this post; 2017: 6.3 mg to  0.0 mg  Aug. 12; details here


scallywag's Introduction
Online spreadsheet for dose taper calculations and nz11's THE WORKS spreadsheet

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Ok I did so thank u! Would u advise me to stay on the lamictal until I am completely healed from the cold Turkey of celexa?

Celexa from 2006 to 2012, 40 mg. Cold Turkey.

Lamictal 50 mg August 2012.

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  • Moderator Emeritus

What are your symptoms?  Which do you attribute to withdrawal from Celexa?

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.
1997-1999 Effexor; 2002-2005 Effexor XR 37.5 mg linear taper, dropping same #beads/week with bad results

Cymbalta 60 mg 2012 - 2015; 2016: 20 mg to 7 mg exact doses and dates in this post; 2017: 6.3 mg to  0.0 mg  Aug. 12; details here


scallywag's Introduction
Online spreadsheet for dose taper calculations and nz11's THE WORKS spreadsheet

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All of my symptoms I attribute to celexa, intrusive thoughts, rage, anxiety, paranoia, they have lessened quite a bit but are still there.

Celexa from 2006 to 2012, 40 mg. Cold Turkey.

Lamictal 50 mg August 2012.

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  • Moderator Emeritus

L - it's a good sign that your symptoms are improving. 

 

When you are still symptomatic from discontinuing one drug, the best guideline for when to taper the next one is wait until your symptoms are stable.  Stability doesn't mean no symptoms. It means that there are no wild swings of your symptoms and that there is no continuing trend of symptoms getting worse. It's important, therefore, to take notes on paper of your symptoms.

 

I've found it helpful to rate as well as record my symptoms. You might want to check out 2 topics on tracking symptoms:
Glenmullen’s withdrawal symptom list
Rate symptoms daily

 

Also, because you still have withdrawal symptoms, you would be wise to take smaller dose reductions than 10% to prevent further destabilization of your CNS (central nervous system).

This topic will also be relevant:
The Windows and Waves pattern of stabilization

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.
1997-1999 Effexor; 2002-2005 Effexor XR 37.5 mg linear taper, dropping same #beads/week with bad results

Cymbalta 60 mg 2012 - 2015; 2016: 20 mg to 7 mg exact doses and dates in this post; 2017: 6.3 mg to  0.0 mg  Aug. 12; details here


scallywag's Introduction
Online spreadsheet for dose taper calculations and nz11's THE WORKS spreadsheet

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi, I am new to the site and just trying to find people to relate with... I did a search on lamictal since that's what I'm tapering from, and found your post:). I am on 50mg now, and going to go down by 12.5 every 2 wks until I'm off

I am currently on 50mg lamictal and 2mg abilify. I started my lamictal taper on 3-11-16, cutting by 12.5mg every two weeks or longer if I'm not feeling ready for the next cut. It's hard, but looking back I'm actually doing amazing to be at 50mg. I had tried a lamictal taper before, starting 1-20-16 but I went from 200 to 150 and had to go back up to 175 by 2-2-16 and to full amount 200mg by 2-10-16. I did make it off Cymbalta - going from 60 to 40 to 20 to 0 in 6 weeks (10-19-15 to 11-30-15). That was brutal. At the time I had a county psychiatrist who refused to even give me 30's, so I opened capsules and estimated 40 and 20.

 

I went off abilify for several months in winter 2014-15. I felt I needed to go back on. I have mostly been on a cocktail of lamictal, abilify and cymbalta for 5 yrs. 5 yrs ago I stopped breastfeeding and went on lexapro. It made me high and they called me bipolar and started the cocktail. I've also been on provigil, hydroxyzine and topomax at various times pretty short. I was 32 when I went on lexapro, between teenager (first med Prozac) and 32 I've been on and off antidepressants mostly. Abilify and lamictal were only since 5yrs ago.

 

Primarily I have severe social and other anxiety, trouble functioning/overwhelm/fear, depression, sleepiness and fatigue despite sleep. Skin picking. It gets very bad at times but I'm not sure meds have helped, mayb they have harmed. They're a wonder in the beginning then they don't work and caused weight gain.

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