Jmizz: Lamictal taper suggestions

[Altostrata]

Sounds like you are getting this in hand, Jmizz.

 

Could be you could do with slightly lower doses, such as 18mg. As you've made a change less than 2 weeks ago, I would wait perhaps a week or two -- see how you're doing -- to make this reduction.

[Jmizz]

Yes I think I should hold tight now into the new year. The physical symptoms are all so crazy it’s hard to tell what’s what. I’m sure a lot of it was from the cuts I made but still some is probably bc of too much lamotrigene, the activation got better with the drops and i can manage how I’m feeling now, so I’ll go slow. But one interesting thing I noticed is that my mood got low 10-12 days after reducing to 40 and this most recent reduction the pattern was the same. I’m on day 13 since dropping to 37.5 and my moods have been low the past couple days. I’m hoping this stabilizes quick  The pattern was the same as I cut the lexapro too fast. Days 10-15 the depression would hit after cuts. It was way worse than what im feeling now. But I was just noticing the pattern. 

 

 

[Jmizz]

@Altostrata

 

so I think I fell into the trap again. The delayed withdrawal trap where you feel good until your brain realizes what’s happened. 

 

When I quit lexapro for good, after my 6 week joke of a taper, I had a week where I struggled with physical withdrawal but mentally was feeling the best I had in months. I know this is pretty standard for most people. My destabilization really hit hard around 17-21 days out.

 

so fast forward to now. I definitely think 50mg of lamotrigene was too much for my fragile CNS and too activating as the full dose hit early afternoon. I also think dosing once a day was causing issues as well. Spacing to morning and night was the right call. But it seems like maybe this is what happened. I went from 50mg dose in the am, my body was used to it, to only 25 as the spacing began. Nausea hit hard and it was hard to realize what was causing it. So we reduced to 20 and 20 bc it was feasible that it was caused by too much lamotrigene. Once I got the dosing spaced 12 hours I had a few days where it seemed like I was stabilizing. Then more nausea setbacks ( I now think this was my body still reacting to the dose drop). So I reduced again to 18.75 twice a day. My dose times were consistent so it wasn’t as bad, but I still experienced symptoms along the same timeline. It seems so much like the post lexapro timeline as well. Struggle for several days physically, mentally feeling great. Then about 12-14 days out it begins to catch up.

 

so basically what I’m trying to say is I think the dose drops are starting to hit me these past few days. It’s been about 2 weeks since the last drop. The nausea hasn’t been as bad since the first few days after i dropped again, but it’s like I get passed the physical stuff and then the psychological stuff hits. Kind of fluctuating moods the past few days, going low at times. Feeling overwhelmed and hopeless at times again. It’s been a while since I’ve felt these things. Kind of had the akathesia type restlessness again. And the past few days it seems once I get into the afternoon my body is going nuts for its evening dose to hurry up and get here. And I can definitely tell a difference once I take it. I really don’t want to updose, I’m hoping maybe my body can get used to this soon bc I really want to just give my body a break and do something consistent for a while and be stable enough to change things slowly. Last week was such a tease. 

 

What do you think about all of this?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jmizz]

 

 

Sorry, I know it’s the holidays...but if any of y’all come on here, advice would be appreciated...please read my last post

 

this was so brutal...I finally thought I was beginning to stabilize on something

 

@Sassenach @manymoretodays 

 

Edit:

 

apologies sass, just saw you’re in the middle of your own issues at the moment. 

[Altostrata]

If what you're saying is that you've had a resurgence of symptoms, you're going to have to post daily drug and symptom reports. Cannot interpret symptoms out of context.

[Jmizz]

Ok sorry @Altostrata

 

Im going to start keeping a daily log every couple hours on my phone and then just share it with you daily. Some of it is hard to pin point bc they are variable, so I’ll just chart how I feel every hour for a few days for you so it can be more precise. This is yesterday

 

 

12-22-19

 

6:30- wake

7:00-depression/mush brain/hard to focus/overwhelmed easy/moving slow

8:00am- 18.75mg lamotrigene in water with breakfast

9-12- depressed mood continues most of the morning and turns to more mood fluctuation as the day goes on up and down cycling...still hard to focus...still feel overwhelmed easy

12:00pm-lunch

12:00-4:00 anxiety/inner anxiety/mood fluctuations, mild head pressure 

4:00-7:00 burning type headache, some mild upper back and back of neck painbegins/stomach issues(possibly the pizza I ate) /feel really uncomfortable with a few hot flashes almost pre-panic type feelings 

7:00-dinner

7:40pm-18.75 mg lamotrigene in water with snack a little early bc my body seemed to be screaming for it

9:00-50mg traz 5mg melatonin 

sleep fine

 

today has followed yesterday pretty closely, I haven’t had the stomach issues, and I haven’t had the pre-panic hot flashes...but everything else has been similar as of 4:48pm. Headache started around 4 again.

 

will begin hourly log tomm...I wanted to get you something today at least since tomorrow is Xmas eve and then Xmas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Altostrata]

I think you're still doing better than a few weeks back.

 

How did you feel after taking the evening lamotrigine?

 

You may be a fast metabolizer of lamotrigine, while being very sensitive to its effects. You might move 1.5mg to noon, taking 18mg at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

 

This will keep more in your system in the afternoon.

 

You can do this with next day's doses. Would you like to try  this?

[Jmizz]

I am still doing better than I was a few weeks back. I guess I have to accept the fact that some of the bad days may still be waves from lexapro. The evening lamotrigene has seemed to provide relief each night. I will pay close attention tonight. I think the fast metabolizer thing has some merit. I think I metabolize everything fast. I know, even tho it was horrible, when I tried buspirone those 12 days, that stuff wore off in like 3 hours. I may keep things the same thru Christmas and then Thursday give it a shot taking a small dose in the middle of the day. 

 

There are just certain things ive patterned that are related to drops in medicine, it’s been this way with each one. 

 

1. Immediately usually within a day or two...huge increase in sexual desire, lasts around a week

2. The flush feeling on my face and jawline starts after a couple days.

3. Mentally ill feel good for a week or so

4. Towards the end of the second week physically I’m doing better but I’ll start getting depressed and a little more anxiety. 

 

I was just pointing out this pattern to you. I think my afternoons always being bad it prob bc I metabolize quick and that’s why spacing has helped me some. Maybe the 1.5 mid day will get me through the 4-7 funk.

 

ill update after Xmas. Thanks again 

 

[manymoretodays]

Hi Jmizz,

You'll get a good stretch going again soon I'm sure.    And there may be some further fine tuning that may help, so do post your dailies.

Sorry to hear that it get's so intense.  Ugha bugga!!!!

 

You could just be stabilizing a bit too, on the current Lamictal dosing.  Adjusting. 

 

Windows and waves, my friend.  They are like a tease.

 

Are you doing any magnesium yet?  That can be amazingly calming.  I like the Epsom salt baths for relax.  I've also used just a Mag Citrate complex in water and got good relief using it orally and sipping the water throughout the day.  It's basically calming for me, and other members as well.  Look at the link though, and see if something looks doable for you.

 

BASIC SUPPLEMENT TOOLKIT

King of supplements: Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil)

Magnesium, nature's calcium channel blocker

 

Once you try the magnesium, and start low, go slow........  then you could explore using omega-3's too.  To give your recovering nervous system some help. 

We just don't encourage having anyone early on in WD,  trying more than one new thing at a time.

 

Are you walking or back to work?  I imagine your work might be strenuous at times.  Get a bit of exercise daily and some fresh air.  Good food.  Good company helps too.

 

And I'll give you one of the main non-drug coping links too.  In the first post there is a whole list of indexed ideas for non-drug coping.

Non-drug techniques to cope with emotional symptoms

 

I'm off to find Barbie dolls and Legos now!  Got to laugh.......trying to help a friend out and have some fun.

Hang in, hang on.  Hoping you find a nice place, balance, and enough stability, to just sit tight with your current drugs for a good long stretch.  And then in 6 mos. or so, we can get you tapering......maybe even off the Trazodone, before the mini-Lamictal.   Time will tell.  Your nervous system took quite the hit before you arrived.  Sending healing, quick healing for you now.

 

Love, peace, healing, and growth,

mmt, the elf this evening

[Jmizz]

Thanks for the kind words @manymoretodays. I haven’t tried any supplements as of yet other than melatonin which I thought was harmless before I found you guys. I’m really terrified of everything at this point haha. These supplements won’t require any tapering? I’ve heard magnesium can mess with the stomach? And as my stomach is one of the main reasons I got into this mess that has made me leery. But maybe at a low dose I could see how I do. You said mag citrate is the one you recommend? I’ll take a look at the link. 

 

I’m back at work, the past few shifts have been decent bc I was feeling better. I take my son on walks daily when I’m off, and I pretty much stay outside bc I’m incapable of going inside and relaxing 96% of the time bc I just focus on how I feel. I eat decent most of the time, my snacking gets me in trouble, I need to do better there. 

 

You are completely drug free now?

 

edit: I just browsed some of the magnesium thread. Gave me a headache haha. How in the world can there be that many options, my head is spinning.

[bottlehalffull]

I think magnesium has been helping my lamotrigine side effects. I upped my magnesium dose a lot the past couple days and don't seem to have any akathisia. Less headachey feeling, too. Maybe the nausea has gone down a bit. But all that might also be from adjusting to my lower dose.

 

In case you wanted another magnesium opinion: 😜 If you're worried about it affecting your stomach, you can use epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) or magnesium chloride (sometimes called "magnesium oil") on your skin. Baths are a good way, or you can just mix it with water and put it on your skin. I've done epsom salts as baths and concentrated mag. chloride solution directly on my skin, I'm assuming you can do the same thing with epsom salt. It does leave a kind of residue that feels a little weird. Like a film. It's harder to know your dosage if you do it that way because you won't know exactly how much is absorbing, but both of those forms absorb pretty well. It's also great for muscle cramps and tension headaches!

 

Magnesium citrate is easy because it absorbs ok (not the best, not the worst) and I think most of the magnesium fizzy drinks are citrate. They're good for experimenting with dose if you want to try doing it oral because you can do smaller, more spread out doses. The laxative effects are generally from too much at once, so if you put the day's dosage in a water bottle and swig it throughout the day like manymoretodays you're less likely to have a problem.

 

Personally I drink magnesium chloride in water and don't have any issues with it acting like a laxative (probably because I'm doing very small amounts per dose). Where I live, it's also the cheapest magnesium I could find. It does make my throat and stomach feel weird for a little while if I don't dilute it enough though.

[bottlehalffull]

By the way, I think lamotrigine does some weird stuff to mineral/electrolyte balance. I'm trying to figure out exactly what it might be doing, so far I've found reports of hyponatremia and conflicting reports on whether or not it affects serum calcium. Didn't see anything one way or another about magnesium but I'm looking......

[manymoretodays]

On 12/23/2019 at 9:20 PM, Jmizz said:

You said mag citrate is the one you recommend? I’ll take a look at the link. 

 

That's just what I have used.  Many seem to like the glycinate form too.  Just make sure you don't get a magnesium calcium form.  The calcium negates the effect of the magnesium.

 

Good that you are back to work Jmizz too.  Does that effect the timing of your trazodone dosing at all?  I know you mentioned 24 hour shift work.

 

And yes, I am,  off all of the drugs now.  3 years!  5 since the Lexapro.  Different history than yours, and keep in mind we all vary a bit, and are unique.  I do need to get my stuff all summarized and over into the Success Story Forum soon.  Got hit with the dreaded "stress" just lately I think......so a bit of a late wavishness myself right now.   Happens.   In any case, it's all manageable.   I've got lot's of non-drug coping skills to tap on into.  Thanks for asking.  Upbeat and positive!

I'll try and get you some good non-drug coping skills links soon enough.  One can never have too many........

 

Okay best.  L, P, H, and G,

mmt

Hope your holidays have been nice.

Edited December 25, 2019 by manymoretodays
clarity

[Jmizz]

I take my trazodone at 9pm every night, we work 24 hours but we can sleep as long as we don’t have incidents to respond to. Some nights are tough.most aren’t that bad.

 

i have been back at work for about a month, feeling decent but I think i was in a honeymoon phase from my lamotrigene drops and it’s getting ugly now 17 days out from the last drop...pretty much the same timeline as lexapro dose drops and cold turkey. I expected Christmas would

be tough already. Horrible timing, merry Xmas to me!

 

12-24-19

Wake 7am

18.75 mg lamotrigene dose-8am 

8-3pm depression and little more akathesia than the baseline I’ve had/hard to focus/overwhelmed

4-depression seems to lift... headache, little dry mouth, little nausea 

430-neck and upper back pain

4:30-7:30 akathesia feelings/restlessness worsens

8-take dose 18.75mg lamotrigene

8-9 seems to help some of the symptoms like headache but mood kinda dips again bc I’m in such a funk over these feelings coming back

9pm- trazodone50 and melatonin 5

 

12-25-19

 

ill give the full day later but so far

4:45 wake headache productive cough

7:00am finally get out of bed after tossing and turning, wake up feeling flu-like...horrible cough and headache...akathesia/low mood

8:00- take 18.75mg

8:00-10:30 symptoms don’t change...take 0.5 ativan at 10:45 for the first time in weeks to get thru Christmas party 

12-4 at Christmas party...akathesia, cough, headache, back and neck pain/back of head...mood doesn’t seem as low but miserable bc I can’t relax and feel awful 

 

Honeymoons over I guess, I wish it was a window I was going thru the past week or so but doesn’t seem that way...seems like deja vu with this timeline

 

Hope you guys had a merry Christmas 

@Altostrata

@manymoretodays

 

 

[Jmizz]

@bottlehalffull

how long did it take you to adjust to your lower dose of lamotrigene, I only dropped from about 50 to 37.5 in about 3 weeks bc 50 was too much and I’m in the thick of it right now. Also how long after you drop dose would it take to hit you, for me physically it’s pretty quick but then psychologically it’s around mid week 2 into week 3...days 12-16.

 

 

im definitely going to try magnesium something, haven’t figured it out yet, I’ll prob get some bath stuff and the citrate and just baby dose it to see how I do. Hopefully that will at least take the edge off and I can use it in times I feel like I need ativan, I’m over that ****, had to take one today and I’m pissed...Christmas was just too much for too many days and the dose drops seeming to hit me right at Christmas didn’t help.

[Jmizz]

@manymoretodays

 

glad to hear you made it, I’m sure you don’t mind dealing with a wave or too here and there compared to where you’ve been. Man I’d give anything to be in your spot. 

 

When you say your story is different from mine. Is that because from what I’ve read my situation is prob the worst one to be in? Adverse reaction and fought it for 3 months.

 

Looking back on all of this, so many things I wish I’d known. But I’m wondering if the fact that I took sertraline for 6 months and tapered in about 2 weeks had something to do with how horrible I reacted to it about 15 months later. Even tho I had zero issues with the med or coming off the first time, I’m wondering if brain wise it acted the same as a too far out reinstatement.  

 

I switched to lexapro and had a good week or two on 10mg and I’m pretty sure I screwed that up by drinking a few nights in a row and destabilizing. This was interpreted as anxiety and I was upped to 20mg and after 12 days on it struggling, I had the most beautiful week. Appetite was back, felt so calm and relaxed, could take the med and never feel it...then once again I drank several days and it’s been downhill ever since. I never restabilized on lexapro and didn’t give the dose drops enough of a chance. Never warned about drinking. However I might have had that reaction either way alcohol was coincidental. Who knows, I’m just trying to get out of this mess now....one day

[manymoretodays]

12 hours ago, Jmizz said:

When you say your story is different from mine. Is that because from what I’ve read my situation is prob the worst one to be in? Adverse reaction and fought it for 3 months.

 

Hi Jmizz,

No.  You might be still feeling overwhelmed by what you are reading.  And shifting into negative thinking around your case.  I think you are in a really good spot for healing and recovery.  Due to your short time frame, overall, with these drugs so far.  I had many adverse reactions too.  Many of us have. 

 

I know it's tough right now.  Upbeat and positive!  You can punch me for that.......virtually.

 

L, P, H, and G,

mmt

[Jmizz]

Thank you @manymoretodays

You are so right. i accidentally got off track from the magnesium thread the other day, I dove off into some stuff that really really got me down. Attitude is everything, I’m learning that, when I get down, everything is worse. I won’t be reading off my thread again, ever...unless it’s a specific link y’all give me like the magnesium thing. 
Then with it being my favorite time of year, and my kid being at the age where it was his first Christmas to “get it” and me just being mentally checked out and trying so hard to be there for every moment, I think I just stress crashed myself. I also think I’m adjusting to my recent dose changes too, and dealing with a upper respiratory illness. It was a hard few days. 
 

There are so many things I want to ask you guys at times but I’m sort of scared of the answers.

 

 

[Altostrata]

You're doing pretty well, Jmizz. Sounds like you might be coming down with a bug.

 

Lamotrigine seems to be causing low mood, but wearing off in about 8 hours. Perhaps move 5mg to 2 p.m.? Doses would be 15mg, 5mg, 17.5mg.

 

What was the problem with the 5mg tablets? Did your doctor refuse to prescribe them? Emma got them:

 

[Emma7855]

@Jmizz yes you should be able to get 5mg chewable tablets. I didn't have any problem with getting my insurance to cover them. It only took a day for my pharmacy to get them in stock. Hope that helps.

[Jmizz]

@Emma7855 how many 5mg do you take in a day?

 

my brother can prescribe. i can get the 5mg chewable tablets, but the amount I would need for the month is why the cost was high. The way it was explained to me was that once it got over 60 pills the insurance didn’t cover...so a prescription for 240 for the month cost 107. If it would have been just 60 pills it probably would have been a couple dollars.

 

@Altostrata

im confused as to why the low mood happened out of nowhere though. if it was lamotrigene it seems it would have been that way from the start? This same sort of thing happened with lexapro too. I never really felt the low depression until i started cutting and it was always around 10-14 days after the adjustment.

[Jmizz]

@Emma7855 @Shep @Altostrata 

I was just reading through some of Emma’s stuff. Did you guys ever determine if it’s lamictal decreases or klonopin causing her issues? Or is the jury still out

 

i can get 5mg dispersible. I will just likely be able to only get 60 a month to be affordable. I thought I had read somewhere that the dispersibles seem to hit a little different than tablets and figured mixing them wouldn’t be good. But I guess that’s more for if you were gonna liquify it. If I took the morning and evening doses in water and then the full 5 at 2pm, would that work?

 

[Jmizz]

Guys, 

 

ive ridiculously cut my caffeine intake throughout this process, any thoughts on smokeless tobacco. If I did a really slow step down just like anything else, too risky at this point or possibly helpful?

 

@Altostrata

@manymoretodays
 

[Emma7855]

I believe my symptoms are caused by withdrawing from a combo of Klonopin and Lamictal. What are yours? I haven't taken any of the 5 mg yet, but I'm about to start taking 2/day along with a standard 25 mg tablet. I can let you know how my experience with the chewables goes, if you'd like.

[Jmizz]

@Emma7855

I would appreciate it if you would let me know how taking those and the tablets goes for you.

 

how long were you on klonopin? And how long after stopping was it that you noticed your symptoms. I imagine it’s tough to tell since you were doing both at the same time.
 

I think I’m going to post a timeline that includes the ativan use I had in the beginning. The bulk of my issues started about 17-21 days after I stopped lexapro, but I’m wondering if there was ativan related issues also.

[Emma7855]

Sure, happy to do that. And yes, it's hard to say -- my symptoms also got worse after smoking weed and drinking alcohol (both of which I was fine with before I started messing with my meds). I didn't start having issues until I was halfway through my Lamictal taper, so around 75 mg, and after I had been off the Klonopin for ~six weeks. I had only been taking Klonopin for 6 months or so (and not everyday) when I decided to CT it. 

[Jmizz]

@Emma7855

 

Gotcha, yeah I think alcohol prob played a big part in my issues. I was never warned and actually told it’s just a warning they put on the bottle to cover themselves. But I had been on sertraline once and had no issues at all living my completely normal life. For me it went like this:

 

i had an immediate bad reaction to 50mg sertraline. Took for 12 days and switched to lexapro at 20mg. Way too much was horrible. Was put on trazodone during this time. I took a week off of all the other meds but my pre med anxiety was still bad so I tried lexapro again at 10mg. It worked good until I drank on it, could be coincidence or the alcohol destabilized me. I was then upped to 20mg of lexapro and after 10-12 days I had a good week until I drank again all weekend for my birthday. Again could be a coincidence but both times I destabilized on lexapro was after drinking. After that I was completely destabilized. Took 20mg for 3 more weeks after to try to get back to feeling good and I was just getting worse. Fast taper 6 weeks. All hell broke loose 3 weeks off. 
 

as far as ativan goes:

 

I prob took it at 0.5mg for about 12 straight days end of May, a couple of those days I took 1mg. I stopped bc I was scared of tolerance.

 

stayed off prob 4 weeks and after my birthday destabilization I took it prob 7-8 days in a row again. Then stopped. Stayed off til 3 weeks after my taper/CT ended. I used it very here and there from then until I got to 50mg of lamictal at the end of October. 
 

so ativan use:

-end of may 12 straight days 

-end of June 7-8 straight days

-end October til early December maybe 8-10 times during that period..felt like like maybe I was beginning to have kindling possibly so I stopped early December.

 

I’m hoping I never took it enough to cause me issues. All my problems started with the lexapro taper and CT. I’m steering clear of the ativan and mad at myself for taking it yesterday as it had been 3 weeks, but Christmas overwhelmed me.

 

maybe @Shep can take a look at the ativan aspect of this!

 

 

[bottlehalffull]

It's really hard for me to say what's from my crash lamictal taper (I didn't take good notes, but I basically went from 100 mg to 25 mg in... 2 weeks?) and what's from my hormones, even before going on any of this I would have waves of good periods and intervals of brain fog and anxiety and depression, some times seemingly tied to my menstrual/hormonal cycle, sometimes not.

 

I think I'm almost two weeks into being stable on 25 mg, but I don't know if I'm in a good phase or if it's all about to crash since it sounds like sometimes it takes a couple weeks for the cut to catch up to you. When I started posting on this site, I was having a real crap time and it was about 10 days after the first cut. Actually it felt like I was getting the flu, but it went away in something like 36 hours. But just to complicate things, it was also at a point in my hormonal cycle where I expect to feel kind of crappy because of an estrogen dip, and I also increased my sertraline for a few days after that.

 

But yeah, the past few days have been pretty good at least. Mild symptoms right after my dose that last for a couple hours: dull back of head headache, some nausea, some increased anxiety and restlessness, a little fatigue. Any other badness going on it's hard to say is definitely from the lamotrigine and not something else. I've started taking 100 mg magnesium with my dose for the past few days, not sure if that reduced the immediate symptoms or if it's a coincidence and I'm just getting used to them. I also started dissolving my tablet fragment in water and mixing it with chia gel to make a suspension (because I have it already in the house and don't feel like finding Oraplus), maybe that helps the nausea too. I think it slows down the absorption a little.

 

I really need to read more about kindling. But this site is a little scary to explore unaccompanied!

[Jmizz]

@bottlehalffull yeah I’m done exploring, I’ve done it like twice. Not venturing out again unless it’s a suggested link such as the magnesium thread MMT had me look at the other night.
 

your symptoms from the drop seem to align with what I experienced. Did you have like allergy like runny nose and itchy eyes etc when you felt like you had the flu?

 

did anyone recommend the chia gel or did you just go for it?

 

feel free to ask me any questions you think may be related to lamictal fast taper. I’m figuring things out as I go also. I don’t want to say any of what I think might be or timelines bc I don’t want to put stuff in your head. But if you experience things and want to know, just ask.

[Altostrata]

Jmizz, for you it's looking like dosing 3 times a day might provide better coverage for that late afternoon surge in symptoms. How would you want to distribute your dosage? Any way to use 60 5mg lamotrigine tablets a month? You might as well get them to have on hand.

 

We probably need more daily notes to see if you are getting a slump shortly after taking lamotrigine, that's what your 12/24 notes show. Could be you have a cold coming on, though.

 

Depressed mood could still be an adverse effect that's not as bad and doesn't last as long as your adverse reactions to higher dosages.

[Jmizz]

thanks @Altostrata

 

i think I’m going to get 60 of the 5mg tabs from my brother. If I did this and took 15 off the 25 tab in water and 17.5 off the 25 tab in water at night, could I take 5mg chewable at 2pm, and should I mix it in water to stay consistent? Or is mixing dispersibles and tablets no good? I think @Emma7855 is trying it and going to let me know how it goes.

 

im going to provide daily notes for a few more days. There is a lot of things that could have caused this dip in mood and I’ll see if it sorts itself out over a few days. My first Christmas in withdrawal definitely contributed, I also had a lot of stress and places to go and be for a few days. And it seems like with every med thrown at me this past 8 months, every dose change or stoppage seemed to result in a mood dip around 2 weeks out. Here’s today:

 

5:30 wake (for work by alarm)

6-8 feel ok, little restless being at work after 4 days off

7:30-8 approaching dose time I got a little dry mouth and the feeling I needed it (not horrible or as bad as it has been at times)

8-dose 18.75mg

8-1045- some mind racing, mood tried to dip a few times but attitude plays a big part, I read a response from @manymoretodays that made me feel less hopeless about things and my mood seemed to get better and last most of the day, didn’t dip as low as I have been

10:45-had a 15-20 min period where I could feel the dose hitting, not terrible 

11-12 laid on couch, felt relatively relaxed but still can’t sleep, hyper alert awake if I get close, so I just rested

2-5 I had the usual afternoon funkiness, mild head sensations, faint nausea, maybe a mild headache that never evolved into much

5:30-dinner (I always feel a little better after I eat dinner)

7-8 start getting dosey again, 

8-dose 18.75mg

8-9- felt pretty good, had a nice long talk with my captain, felt more like myself 

9-traz50 and melatonin5

 

i think I’m going to give magnesium a shot. Maybe try 25mg at night? I was thinking chelate maybe?

 

[bottlehalffull]

Chia I did just based on intuition. I think I remember when I was looking at Orasure or Oraplus or something similar it was some kind of cellulose gel (plus some other stuff), so thought chia gel would do something similar. And since lamotrigine absorption supposedly isn't affected by food, I figured it wouldn't stay bound to the gel once it hit the digestive tract. So far I'm not noticing anything like withdrawal so I don't think it's reducing the dose, at least noticibly. I'm sure Oraplus would be better but sometimes I'm lazy and don't feel like going to the pharmacy...........

 

I think the magnesium is a pretty important part of helping reduce the side effects. But even before taking it with magnesium I would only get my side effects for about an hour, maybe two, after dosing and then don't notice them until my next dose in 24 hours so I think I'm probably metabolizing it a lot different from you.

[Altostrata]

Jmizz, that's looking pretty good. I'd say you're stabilizing.

 

No, you wouldn't have to mix a 5mg chewable tab in water, just chew it (or swallow with water).

 

In a week or so, depending on how you feel, you might want to move to 15mg, 5mg at 2 p.m., 17.5mg.

[Jmizz]

Thanks a bunch @Altostrata will keep you posted!

[Jmizz]

Somethings gone wrong @Altostrata

 

today was so bad

 

@brassmonkey could you take a look at this also. I read a piece you wrote on dose alterations down, up, tabs, liquid etcc. Does this seem like adjusting to a lower dose to you. It sure feels that way to me. I went 50-40 lamotrigene on November 19th bc of activation and 40 to 37.5 on December 9th bc of nausea and itching with I now think may have been symptoms from the first drop. So it’s been 18 days since the second drop and about 37 or so since the first. I always feel really good mentally (honeymoon?)for about 10-11 days after drops (lexapro and lamotrigene) and then it slowly builds to no bueno. 

 

5am-wake (headache)

6-8 depression zombie fog depression 

8:00-18.75mg 

8-10:30-depression continues, just life sucking depression I haven’t felt since a few weeks off lexapro and at the same time can’t sit still (akathisia?)

10:30-anxiety begins/some agoraphobia at target with wife...depression doesn’t seem as bad but everything is overwhelming

12:00 eat lunch, taking down Christmas decor and cleaning sons room, overwhelmed, just want to not do anything but I can’t bc akathisia makes me have to be doing something 

1-4 attempt to put sons Christmas racetrack toy together and im just mush brained and jittery anxiety trying to focus, but it gives me something to do so I do it anyway bc I can’t go relax somewhere anyway

4:00- go to store to browse magnesium bc in desperate to curb this akathisia, want to try chelate or glycinate bc they are supposed to be easy on stomach, can’t find it, will look online

4-7 nothing really change

7-8 normal dosey feelings 

8:00-18.75mg

8-9 dose seemed curbed the dosey feelings but I still just feel overwhelmed and mentally fried

9-traz 50 melatonin 2.5 (I think the morning headache I get at times is from too much melatonin, sometimes at work if I can’t fall back asleep after getting up for a call I’ll take 2.5 extra for 7.5 total and I think I’ve narrowed this down to causing restless sleep and morning headache, so I’ll try less)

 

notes:

-I’ve had akathisia throughout this entire process, sometimes it’s worse than other times, it was bad today 

 

-anhedonia is back in full force, some DP/DR too it seems

 

-the symptoms im experiencing are the same and have followed the exact same timeline as when I quit lexapro, i hope this is just me adjusting to a lower dose and it won’t take long to stabilize some 

 

-i also probably screwed up caving and taking ativan on Christmas, Everytime I Would take it before I stopped a few weeks back I’d do better symptom wise for the second half of that day and the next day. This explains probably why yesterday was pretty good.

 

-I want so badly to get this akathisia under control, I read somebody took magnesium and it helped, I’m going to try and find it again and see which type.

 

hoping tomorrow is much much better. Hopefully soon I won’t have to bug you as much.

 

 

[Shep]

On 12/26/2019 at 7:35 PM, Jmizz said:

so ativan use:

-end of may 12 straight days 

-end of June 7-8 straight days

-end October til early December maybe 8-10 times during that period..felt like like maybe I was beginning to have kindling possibly so I stopped early December.

 

I’m hoping I never took it enough to cause me issues. All my problems started with the lexapro taper and CT. I’m steering clear of the ativan and mad at myself for taking it yesterday as it had been 3 weeks, but Christmas overwhelmed me.

 

maybe @Shep can take a look at the ativan aspect of this!

 

 

12 hours ago, Jmizz said:

-i also probably screwed up caving and taking ativan on Christmas,

 

Jmizz, I'm not sure there's anything I can add to what you've written, as you're already aware of the problem of dependency and kindling. 

 

If you were taking an Ativan, say, once or twice every month for emergencies, it likely wouldn't be a problem. But your history suggests seeing some benefit when you take it and then staying on it for a number of days in a row. This is where a lot of people run into problems. 

 

Because Ativan has such a short half-life and is notorious for rebound anxiety, you may find its simply not worth the risk. One reason you may be staying on it for a number of days in a row is because you're using it to control anxiety that's CAUSED by the benzo (that's the rebound effect). 

 

I wouldn't get mad at yourself for using Ativan at Christmas. The holidays are stressful for most of us going through withdrawal. Be kind to yourself.