LauraBaby: Lamotrigine and paroxetine , no improvement after 1.5 years

[LauraBaby]

Hello

I have been on Lamotrigine 100mg and paroxetine 30 mg since summer 2013. I think the medication is hurting me, still depressed, no improvement after two years

Lower back pain, constipation.

I should start group analytic therapy soon and I want to stop medication.

I think lamotrigine will be hard as whenever I tried to lower down I felt awful.

 

I was extremely happy on Citalopram 10mg and Lamotrigine 25 mg in 2002-2004, now I think the dosage is too high and not helping.

I hate medication as my mom was bipolar and after 30 years of being medicated she committed suicide 25 years ago.

Thanks for any ideas how to start weaning off

Laura

[Petunia]

Hi Laura and welcome to SA.

 

I'm glad you found us, we will be able to help you safely come off your medications, which is a good idea if they are not helping.  Why were you put on these drugs?

 

First, could I ask you to fill out your signature.  Putting a short version of your drug and tapering history in your signature helps people understand your context, it appears below each of your posts.  Here are instructions for how to do it:

 

http://survivinganti...your-signature/

 

We recommend only tapering one drug at a time and in your situation, I suggest starting with the paroxetine, for more information about this please see:

 

Taking multiple psych drugs? Taper the antidepressant first!

 

When it comes to tapering, we suggest reducing by no more than 10% of the current dose every 4 weeks, this reduces the risk of withdrawal symptoms arising.  Please read through this which will explain why:

  

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?  (The general philosophy of gradual tapering)

 

Here is our topic with tips for tapering off paroxetine

 

Tips for tapering off Paxil (paroxetine)

 

You can use this thread as your ongoing journal to track progress and communicate with the community, add to it whenever you want, you will find a lot of friendly help and support here.

 

Petu.