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Lavi: Lamictal and Risperidone


Lavi

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Hi, i don't know were to start. first of all,my main language isn't english so i may be a bit awkward with words but i honestly don't know who to ask help.

 

i've been on lamotrigine and risperidone for two months one of them was really...bad i'm being careful with the word choice ,i know most of you have gone through hell.well, the most terrible days weren't that mch in number but were followed by a really weird and unconfortable sensation on the chest ,i couldn't enjoy anything and was anxious,now i'm pretty stable,or rather the same as before the meds because i don't see any difference i get irritable and depressed the same way

 

but now i'm trying to get off these meds since i've read so many things. i was put on these because my psychiatric doctor thought i was "on the bipolar spectrum" i'veb een diagnosed with depression before i was actually 2 years of my teen years holled up in my room and developed some social anxiety and was kind of desintetized i also felt all the time sleepy,tired and with fuzzy head ,like my front lobe was asleep.

 

i was getting better now,since last year .this year was pretty good,i started college and it was kind of hard to fit in but it was good,really i hadn't been that good since years ago, but i thought i could be better and  wanted to be more "normal" like my college clsasmates i really wanted to be able to get excited over the things they did,enjoy things more,their jokes,remember the words i wanted to say,not feel tired all the time,etc so i went to the medical service on my college and saw a psychologist ,i was really honest and talked about my passive suicidal thoghts i told her i knew i wasnt to act on them thought since i  have pretty good control over myself since young ,still she send me to the psychiatrist i told her i was ok with meds,because i was pretty naive i guess

 

but then two weeks on the meds i started to feel even worse than before (i actually was having troubles and i guess i overreact to everything and get violent and cry a lot so this event on my life felt way more terrible that it was and i was thinking on dropping out ,etc) but on meds i felt terrible and realized how ok i was doing ,i was really getting better without the help of any meds,now i realize that.i started to look up why i was feeling so terrible,the headaches and the not-so pasive suicidal thoughts every 5 minutes ,i almost acted upon them ,and the fact i coudn't stop crying for a week i found out a lot of things about meds and how they make people ill.

 

i'm really scared right now i feel like it would be better if i stop now because i feel i would end up stopping anyway ,i know myself i will e obsessing over everything i've read on meds.but i don't know how to do it,my doctor has told me to stop worrying that i should trust him and if i really want to tapper that i do it in three weeks 50% tapper and i would be ok and i shoudn't belive internet folks

 

he also told me to take the risperidone on altenated days since i was taking such a low dose (0.5) i tappered from 1mg succesfully before,i don't know what should i do he is the only person i can count on since i don't have money to go to another doctor (this one is free) he told me to come back in  month because he couldn't help me if i wasnt gonna follow what the told me, i went yesterday again to ask for the other med i'm on since he only gave instructions of how to tapper one of them and he told me to stop worrying again,that i wasn't gonna have any kind of bad reaction like i've read.i really wanted to trust him but i'm sort of decided to start tappering off

 

i just need someone to guide me ,i'm pretty ignorant and scared ,i want to be able to go to college next year again and be able to help  my family in the future ,i don't want to end up having such a terrible withdrawal that will affect my cognitive functions so much (like they affected me when i was getting on the meds) i know my situation is not bad and i'm sorry if i am coming to the wrong place but i need to understand what i'm going to do before doing it because i don't want to regret it.

 

right now i'm at 75mg of lamotrigine(because i was feeling terrible and told my doctor i didnt want to up my dose yet ...i stil haven't because i planned to get off meds some weeks ago ) and 0.5 of risperidone (i was on 1mg before) i've been on them for a moth ,if anyone can please help me on how i can do this and why,about the meds interactions and the tapper of such a low dose like risperidone,wich should i do first?

 

i'm sorry i ask so many things but  i'm pretty ignorant and i sometimes don't understand everything since my english isn't that good(understanding) that,if i need to write anything please tell me.

i hope you are all doing better,i wish you the best on journey to recovery,really.

Edited by Petu
added paragraphs for readability

2014

Lamotrigine : 75mg

Risperidone:1mg......(first week of july 2014) 0.5mg

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  • Moderator Emeritus

Just to be clear:

You are taking 75 mg of lamotrigine right now and 0.5 mg of risperidone. 

 

It sounds like you started at 1 mg of risperidone and then you cut down to 0.5 mg. When did you cut that down to 0.5 mg?

 

In one place you say you have been taking them for two months and in another place you say you have been taking them for one month. Please be very clear and let us know exactly what started taking when and at what dose, and exactly when you changed doses, and exactly how much you are taking now and at what dose.

 

Also, if you have ever taken a psychiatric medication before your current lamotrigine and risperdal, please tell us about that too. 

 

Please put your drug history into your signature line, like this explains:http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/893-please-put-your-withdrawal-history-in-your-signature/

 

We do not recommend alternating doses from one day to the next. People seem to get in trouble doing that. People seem to do better taking the same dose at about the same time every day, and then slowly lowering that amount.

Started on Prozac and Xanax in 1992 for PTSD after an assault. One drug led to more, the usual story. Got sicker and sicker, but believed I needed the drugs for my "underlying disease". Long story...lost everything. Life savings, home, physical and mental health, relationships, friendships, ability to work, everything. Amitryptiline, Prozac, bupropion, buspirone, flurazepam, diazepam, alprazolam, Paxil, citalopram, lamotrigine, gabapentin...probably more I've forgotten. 

Started multidrug taper in Feb 2010.  Doing a very slow microtaper, down to low doses now and feeling SO much better, getting my old personality and my brain back! Able to work full time, have a full social life, and cope with stress better than ever. Not perfect, but much better. After 23 lost years. Big Pharma has a lot to answer for. And "medicine for profit" is just not a great idea.

 

Feb 15 2010:  300 mg Neurontin  200 Lamictal   10 Celexa      0.65 Xanax   and 5 mg Ambien 

Feb 10 2014:   62 Lamictal    1.1 Celexa         0.135 Xanax    1.8 Valium

Feb 10 2015:   50 Lamictal      0.875 Celexa    0.11 Xanax      1.5 Valium

Feb 15 2016:   47.5 Lamictal   0.75 Celexa      0.0875 Xanax    1.42 Valium    

2/12/20             12                       0.045               0.007                   1 

May 2021            7                       0.01                  0.0037                1

Feb 2022            6                      0!!!                     0.00167               0.98                2.5 mg Ambien

Oct 2022       4.5 mg Lamictal    (off Celexa, off Xanax)   0.95 Valium    Ambien, 1/4 to 1/2 of a 5 mg tablet 

 

I'm not a doctor. Any advice I give is just my civilian opinion.

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Hi

 

Please don't call yourself ignorant. The world of medication is so confusing even the "doctors" don't understand it. 

 

You will find a ton of information, resources, and most of all support here. People who have a much clearer understanding of medications will be able to help you so I will leave it to them. I do think that your psychiatrist is being too aggressive with the taper suggestion. 

 

Don't give up. It gets better. 

Current:

Lorazapam2mg: 4/9/152mg - 1.5mg: already sick/nothing noticed. No changes in sleep noted after illness.  

Lamictal: 7/27/13 - 8/6/13: 400mg - 500mg(dr order) mouth sores, headache, cognitive/balance, heart palp...8/7/13 - 8/23/13: 500mg - 400mg; symptoms↓...10/10/13: 350mg; fever/flu-like <2-weeks...12/30/13: 325mg; fever/flu-like symptoms <1-week...2/10/17: 300mg; no significant changes noted. 

 

Discontinued:

Omeprazole: 09/2103 40mg...5/1/14: 20mg... 8/21/14 = 0

Wellbutrin: 11/22/13: 300mg – 225mg...12/6/13 delayed reaction- mood swings, weight↓, heart palp/chest pain, alerting...12/14/13: 187mg; physical symptoms↓, neuro emotions ↑, weight stable...12/20/13: 225mg; physical symptoms return, emotions stable <1-week, weight↓...4/21/14: 187mg; weight↑...5/17/14 (neurologist ordered discontinue asap):168mg; headache, mood swings, ↑weight, sleep flux...5/24/14: 150mg; headache, mood swings, ↓cognitive/balance...6/2/14: 112mg; see above, weight stable, <3-weeks... 6/28/14: 100mg; moody...7/25/14: 87.5mg; family troubles... 8/4/14: 75mg; headaches; moody... 8/9/1450mg headaches... 8/12/14: 37.5mg; 8/17/14: 25mg...8/26/14 = 0

Hydroxyzine; 10mg: 5/20/15 *prn 4/5 times then dc'd. Mood changes/rage 

Buspirone: 7.5mg: 5/20/15 *prn 4/5 times then dc'd. No changes.

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Rhi.i am sorry if what i wrote was confusing i did it last night ,i am not very good at writting too long in english since  i get often confused myself,forget what i'm writting and in general it lacks of cohesion,so excuse me for that..

 yes,i've been taking risperidone  and lamotrigine for  two months it was the last week of march i'm sure, it was with half a 50 mg tab of lamotrigine ( wich i stopped tritating because i felt like crap and read a lot on lamictal at that time and so i am still at 75mg)  and an entire 1mg risperidone thought im not so sure on this one) but i lowered my dose of risperidone like a month or a little more than half a month ago,because my doctor said that was the reason i was so anxious and distressed. it was back then when i was suicidal and crying every time i opened my mouth i felt pretty horrible to be honest ,so i went to the doctor very confused the next time i had an appointment as for why was i feeling like that, and  i lowered it in half as he said. i don't remember having noticed anything much of a change when i did but i think i got calmer but also, i started to not feel anything and well,i had hard time explaining this to my psychologist but i didn't enjoy anything at all not even the things i usually did to cheer me up i was like  zombie,and there was a weird unconfortable sensation on my chest that didn't go away ,kind with fuzzy head and headaches nearly all day long but that only lasted a week or so .And as i said right now i feel almost the same as before the meds.

About what other meds i was on before ,i don't remember the name, i never did want to take them but i did take them for some short time since i was really down,crying and irritable in bed all day and my family was worried .it was an antidepresant wich i stopped taking from a day to another because i got sick of  taking it,i was on them when i was around 14-15 y/o i rememer i got very dizzy when  i didn't take them on time and for some days after i stopped taking them but that's all, after that i had a good year thanks to my friends support, but we moved with my family  to a  city we didnt know anyone  and i got more depressed than ever and my relatinship with my family was horrible so i didn't have support and only got worse then  we moved again to the city where my grandmother lives and it's a more familiar place to me where i used to live and had friends when i was little so it was nicer  ¿and i finally  finished high school and this year i started college.

i will write my drug history,i will ask my doctor about it too since i wasn't really tracking it,i know i was being irresponsible but i've learnt.

about the dose , how do you reccomend i should do the risperdal tappering? maybe a liquid solution? i was looking at one last time i was at my grandmother house since my grandfather seems to be taking it too but i didn't understand how to use it thought i think i will read the package when i go again. and  i'm sorry i if i need to tell you anything else please do tell me.

 

Mattinsmom: thank you,yes it is very confusing, and we're told we should trust our doctors whatever is they say ,i hope i find the help i need here  too, and i have a lot of hope  in general too,after those two weeks i had feeling terrible i realized how lucky  i was to be starting to stand on my own again before the meds,even with my cognitive problems  and the general low mood i wasn't feeling like that and it made me think that maybe psychiatric drugs weren't so miraculous as i thought (i really dont know what i expected)and that i could try another way to make myself feel better that wasn't so invasive as drugs.

2014

Lamotrigine : 75mg

Risperidone:1mg......(first week of july 2014) 0.5mg

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  • Moderator Emeritus

If you started risperidone in the last week of March, you took it April, May, and June at 1 mg, which is three months. Then at the beginning of July you reduced it to 0.5 mg. Is that correct?

 

At what point in time did you get up to 75 mg of lamotrigine?

 

How are you feeling now? It sounds like you are saying that you are feeling okay now, about the same as you felt before you started the drugs. If you are feeling stable and okay, you could begin to taper the risperidone slowly. We recommend tapering by 10% of your current dose, so your next cut would be from 0.5 mg to 0.45 mg.

 

I think the liquid solution would be a good way to taper the risperidone. 

Started on Prozac and Xanax in 1992 for PTSD after an assault. One drug led to more, the usual story. Got sicker and sicker, but believed I needed the drugs for my "underlying disease". Long story...lost everything. Life savings, home, physical and mental health, relationships, friendships, ability to work, everything. Amitryptiline, Prozac, bupropion, buspirone, flurazepam, diazepam, alprazolam, Paxil, citalopram, lamotrigine, gabapentin...probably more I've forgotten. 

Started multidrug taper in Feb 2010.  Doing a very slow microtaper, down to low doses now and feeling SO much better, getting my old personality and my brain back! Able to work full time, have a full social life, and cope with stress better than ever. Not perfect, but much better. After 23 lost years. Big Pharma has a lot to answer for. And "medicine for profit" is just not a great idea.

 

Feb 15 2010:  300 mg Neurontin  200 Lamictal   10 Celexa      0.65 Xanax   and 5 mg Ambien 

Feb 10 2014:   62 Lamictal    1.1 Celexa         0.135 Xanax    1.8 Valium

Feb 10 2015:   50 Lamictal      0.875 Celexa    0.11 Xanax      1.5 Valium

Feb 15 2016:   47.5 Lamictal   0.75 Celexa      0.0875 Xanax    1.42 Valium    

2/12/20             12                       0.045               0.007                   1 

May 2021            7                       0.01                  0.0037                1

Feb 2022            6                      0!!!                     0.00167               0.98                2.5 mg Ambien

Oct 2022       4.5 mg Lamictal    (off Celexa, off Xanax)   0.95 Valium    Ambien, 1/4 to 1/2 of a 5 mg tablet 

 

I'm not a doctor. Any advice I give is just my civilian opinion.

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i'm sorry i meant may not march,i mistook the months names , excuse me for being so confusing again.

yes, i got up to 75 mg of lamotrigine between the first week of july and last week of june. i will ask my psychologist (who works with the psychiatric doctor) about it this friday when i see her  if she can look at the inform to tell me about it , i'm sure the doctor wrote all that down since i'm not very sure myself, but the tritation was really slow at first  so i think i was on 25mg for two weeks (and probably a whole month on 75mg when this month ends) ,also  i remember when i upped my dose to 50mg of lmotrigine was the time i wasn't too good, thought my doctor said it was because i changed the laboratory of the risperidone and that was why i was feeling like that since that was the only change i noticed that could affect the way i was feeling but i ignored the fact that i upped my dose because i wasn't aware that coud be the cause too.

 

and yes,i am feeling ok  right now , i will try tappering down as you said.that is for a whole week, right? until  i feel stable again ?.

i'm very thankful for you and this site(ive read a little ),i already feel support ,i was really at lost on what to do since my doctor didn't seem to care anymore.i'm also trying to get into a mental health program that the municipal hospital has in wich they give me free meds ,etc  and maybe be  little calmer about the money since the meds are kinda expensive for me already.

 

i still have a question though,since i'm with my family now and talk to them about these things (i just did) my mom  thought that maybe the liquid solution its different from the tablets and was worried about  if i can just change from one to another. that and also,my question now,  should i do this tappering alone first or start the lamictal  weanning off along it too? thanks a whole lot again for your time.

2014

Lamotrigine : 75mg

Risperidone:1mg......(first week of july 2014) 0.5mg

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  • Moderator Emeritus

We recommend you taper only one medication at a time. 

 

Some people have trouble when they change to the liquid form, but for most people it's not a problem. You might absorb the liquid faster than you absorb a pill so that might make it feel different. It's the same drug though and is formulated to be the same amount of drug. In order to taper you will need to use a liquid, so I would try it and see how it goes for you.

 

Start by changing from 0.5 of risperdal in pill form to 0.5 of risperdal in liquid form, and wait a week or two to make sure that is going to work for you.

 

Then reduce to 0.45 of risperdal in the liquid form and wait three to four weeks until you are sure you're feeling well and stable.

 

We recommend going slow like this at first so that you can learn how your body is going to respond to reductions. Once you have made two or three slow cuts in this way, you can speed up to what your body can tolerate.

Started on Prozac and Xanax in 1992 for PTSD after an assault. One drug led to more, the usual story. Got sicker and sicker, but believed I needed the drugs for my "underlying disease". Long story...lost everything. Life savings, home, physical and mental health, relationships, friendships, ability to work, everything. Amitryptiline, Prozac, bupropion, buspirone, flurazepam, diazepam, alprazolam, Paxil, citalopram, lamotrigine, gabapentin...probably more I've forgotten. 

Started multidrug taper in Feb 2010.  Doing a very slow microtaper, down to low doses now and feeling SO much better, getting my old personality and my brain back! Able to work full time, have a full social life, and cope with stress better than ever. Not perfect, but much better. After 23 lost years. Big Pharma has a lot to answer for. And "medicine for profit" is just not a great idea.

 

Feb 15 2010:  300 mg Neurontin  200 Lamictal   10 Celexa      0.65 Xanax   and 5 mg Ambien 

Feb 10 2014:   62 Lamictal    1.1 Celexa         0.135 Xanax    1.8 Valium

Feb 10 2015:   50 Lamictal      0.875 Celexa    0.11 Xanax      1.5 Valium

Feb 15 2016:   47.5 Lamictal   0.75 Celexa      0.0875 Xanax    1.42 Valium    

2/12/20             12                       0.045               0.007                   1 

May 2021            7                       0.01                  0.0037                1

Feb 2022            6                      0!!!                     0.00167               0.98                2.5 mg Ambien

Oct 2022       4.5 mg Lamictal    (off Celexa, off Xanax)   0.95 Valium    Ambien, 1/4 to 1/2 of a 5 mg tablet 

 

I'm not a doctor. Any advice I give is just my civilian opinion.

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  • Administrator

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

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thank you Altostrata i'll check the link.And Rhi,i started doing it before reading yor answer but i'm good so far ,i only have an headache that comes and go but it's more annoyng than anything.

i actually am worrying about a possible rash,i am not sure if this is even a "rash" but i'm getting bumps on my skin since two weeks ago more or less. it was probably two little bumps at first so i wasn't paying much attention(or rather was told i was paranoid so i  tried to relax)and it still isn't much like the pictures on  google but i don't know if it starts this way at first.I am not seeying any psychiatrist right now to ask them but  was thinking on asking the college doctor but then again he also told me to take risperdal every other day so,i don't know,he also told me i didn't need to know about the rash since it " actually never happened" when i confronted him about not telling me ...yeah i don't trust him much now.What do you know about this? what do psychiatrists over there normally  say on these cases? i will try to get a doctor in any case but for the moment i would want to know what to do in case more bumps appear or become bigger,etc if i still don't have an appointment.

2014

Lamotrigine : 75mg

Risperidone:1mg......(first week of july 2014) 0.5mg

Link to comment
  • Administrator

Where are these bumps? Are they itchy?

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi again.these bumps are different from the ones before ,the other dissapeared and i got relaxed about it to be honest ,that's why i didn't answer before.  These new bumps  are in my extremities and yes they itch,at least the ones on my arms wich look different to the ones in my legs wich  i just have a couple of weird red bumps but the ones on my arms are very little bumps that are the same color as my skin and they itch i also have two pinkish bumps, wich its why i'm going to the dermatologist this thursday also since i don't know if spending the money i don't have on going to a new psychiatrist would help with this, but  these bumps have been going on for almost two weeks and have started to itch a lot lately too and in general,i've had issues with my skin that weren't there before,like  acne and a little redness too .

 Also, i'm curious about  if is there some kind of medical exam ( hope that is the english word)that the doctor can ask me to do to know the cause of the itchy bumps because i think i've read something about a blood test?? can that help to know what's going on? maybe you know something about it,Thanks!

2014

Lamotrigine : 75mg

Risperidone:1mg......(first week of july 2014) 0.5mg

Link to comment
  • Administrator

A dermatologist should be able to tell if this is an adverse effect of drugs. Be sure to tell the dermatologist about the drugs you're taking.

 

It could be a reaction to soap or skin cream, or bug bites, or heat rash.

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

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