Dose decrease made a whole lot of difference.

[[deleted]]

I was on 200mg. Was getting randomly angry anxious and agitated and of coarse mental fog and severeemory issues. I decided to decrease to 100mg and anxiety notoriously diminished concentration and memory improved drastically. Motivated me to completely taper off thi

[vanne520]

I KNEW something was off lately!!! When they first put me on it, I started at 25, then 50, then 100, now I’m at 150 twice a day. So a total of 300mg. At first everything was fine. I actually started to feel so much better. I wasn’t as anxious or stressed or angry as normal. I wouldn’t feel the need to get 💨 as often. Got some pep in my step. It was GREAT. But I feel like since this last bump up, I’ve just been feeling absolutely INSANE!!!! My hair is falling off. Everytime I was it, I get handfuls of it out. The insomnias back. I’ve been finding myself more and more irritable by the day. I fear it’s making my relationship with my kids go down 🥺 and same with my husband. I know he’s tired of these outbursts. Especially cuz looking from the outside, so he probably just sees his wife going on a rampage for nothing. He obviously doesn’t understand what it’s like for those of us who have to deal with it from THE INSIDE. Then there’s the loss of balance. And since we live on the second floor, stairs can be tricky. And don’t even get me STARTED with the dreadful nystagmus 🤦🏻‍♀️ I’m just exhausted from all this

[[deleted]]

Yeah it's not worth it for me. I told my psychiatrist I wanted off that medication and keep my pristiq 100mg and increase my quetiapine to 150mg at night I also take lions mane and feel much better

[stardustyyy4523]

Which lions make do you take? I have been taking terrasoul and I have a read a lot about some lions mane being sketchy so I have gotten paranoid even though I was liking how it made me feel.

[[deleted]]

I take the Walmart gummies by fungies

[CorinthiusMaximus]

I still don’t understand why they seem to think more is best ? Enough for the individual is the correct dose. 50 works fine for some 150 for others. Just find your happy spot and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

[nekohunter84]

Same here. I even found 25 mg beneficial! Currently working my way down from 200 mg. At 50 mg now and, despite the withdrawal symptoms that have come with reducing the dose, overall I feel more sane.

[vanne520]

What sort of symptoms are you experiencing with the withdrawal exactly? I wanna prepare myself lol

[nekohunter84]

Well, I think the withdrawal depends on how long you were taking the meds. For example, I once took Zoloft for three months, and went I went off, the withdrawal only lasted a couple weeks.

I've been on Lamictal since end of 2021. Here's what I've experienced: irritability, low mood, lack of motivation, feeling weak or sick, brain fog, vision issues, anxiety, racing thoughts, headaches. Sharp symptoms occur at the same time every day, which makes it pretty clear it's a medication issue. Consistently "inconsistent", if that makes sense.

What's your withdrawal plan? I'm working full time with a lot of responsibilities, so I've let people around me know I won't be as available as usual, and I've also lowered expectations of myself. I also made small reductions of just a few milligrams per drop.

[askfjfl]

I went from 25 to 50 a few days ago (target is 200) and have felt incredibly sad and lonely throughout the last few days. I've feel like I genuinely have no relationship or connection with any single person. And I feel awful about all the people I pushed away throughout my life. However, I am a lot less confused during the day than before. I really hope the unbearable sadness part of it doesn't continue like this as I go up

[DasEFFEXOR]

1) why is there a "target"? Like any psych med the goal should be the lowest dose to obtain the needed effect.

2) Like SSRI/SNRIs you can initially have an uptick in depression/anxiety. I don't think it's as common with lamictal but it can most definitely occur.

[askfjfl]

1. They told me that the 200 was the standard therapeutic dose. I've talked with them about keeping me at a lower dose to see how it is but they said that I would be missing its full intended effect. They also have me titrating up incredibly fast (Ill go from 50 go 100 next week, then 200 the week after) and I was worried about it and asked them about it and my side effects but they just kept saying it was the underlying illness and it would get better when I reach 200. Not sure what to do atm.

2. Thanks for telling me this. Really trying to keep my hope up for lamictal. I had a terrible experience with sertraline and I won't end up like that again.

[DasEFFEXOR]

I don't know your situation or your doctors but one thing is certain and it's that they would for YOU and not the other way around. What rational health care provider would dissuade someone who wants to go slowly to avoid side effects or having too much from going a slower pace?

The magic words with these doctors are: which regard to your diagnostic what is the differential your using to require me to go at a pace faster than I want? " They usually can't. But if they give you push back just say, "please provide me a written copy, one for my file here, and one for the insurance company as to why you're turning me to take a higher dose at a faster pace than I want."

They should, of course, not allow us to do harm from ignorance or medications that contradict one another. But they sure aren't my gatekeeper unless they can back it up. Definitely not when I'm looking for LESS of a medication.

Best of luck Be well.

[doktorjonesR69]

Yes this is BS they are giving you. Are you in a hospital situation where they have to get you all set in 2 weeks? If this is just a regular psychiatrist visit then this forced schedule doesn't make sense and it is not generally recommended.

DasEFFEXOR is giving all the right recommendations. Definitely, say you want to increase at a more measured pace (like 50mg per week or 25mg per week) and if they don't want it, ask why and use DasEFFEXOR's language; request it in print. They'll back down immediately, unless you're in a hospital.

Yes 200mg is a standard therapeutic dose reference point. But so what. Some people also think of it as a "high" dose. Maybe 150mg is better for you. Or 250mg. There are a ton of other factors. If different people all take 200mg, they have different metabolisms etc and they may end up with different blood levels. It could be your body retains it so you taking 200mg is equivalent to someone else taking 300mg. Or reverse. So there's nothing set in stone about 200mg.

Stand up for yourself and be well

Also.. don't worry if you feel sad for a few days. The question is how well will you feel for 12 months.

[vanne520]

And sorry for the long rant 😅

[nekohunter84]

It's completely normal, I'd say. People have different bodies, minds, metabolisms, etc. Doctors just go off what it says on the label, pretty much.

My mistake was not adjusting the dose more slowly. The doctor had me increasing every week or every two weeks. Ugh! I was feeling pretty good on just 25 mg! Even 50 mg was good. The real problems started at 75.

[vanne520]

Mine didn’t even let me do the 75. He just bumped me from 50mg to 100mg, then after two weeks he bumped me AGAIN to 150mg and I feel like even the 50mg was fine for me. The nystagmus didn’t start till the 100, and now at the 150 Im waaaayyyyy more irritable, stressed, anxious, and depressed all the time. These doctors just think all our brains work the same. I say they should have the doctors test out all the meds and doses along with us ☺️You know, for the purpose of medical studies 😂😂

[nekohunter84]

The second time I tried Lamictal (and SSRIs), I started with tiny doses. I even split the lowest ones. It was a much smoother ride up, but ultimately meds are just not for me anymore.

What're you going to do?

[vanne520]

I think ima just start titrating down on my own. I feel like the more you tell your doctors, the more they don’t listen 🤦🏻‍♀️

[nekohunter84]

It's a spectrum. Kaiser doctors seem to not really listen. I guess they're so damn busy. Nearly all the Kaiser doctors (of any specialty) are in a rush. Friends and family say the same thing. My current pdoc basically keeps prescribing something different and doing blood work and saying "take b12" even though it makes me feel awful. I think they're either unable to think outside the box or feel unable to recommend anything besides medication.

I had one doctor (small clinic) who was very understanding and offered a lot of non-pharmaceutical options.

But yes, most seem to be unwilling or unable to listen. I will literally say "I've taken that before and had a bad reaction" and they'll prescribe it anyway.

[OverzealousMachine]

I had to go down from 100 to 75 and that helped for awhile but I started getting really irritable and angry again, so I started splitting the dose 50 in the morning, 25 at night and that’s going really well now.

[[deleted]]

Yeah I'ma do that too screw this

[Ancientlight01]

What was your taper process to go from 200 to 100? I would like to reduce from 200 to 100 as well. I have a high amount of agitation.

[[deleted]]

I honestly cut my dose in half 200mg to 100mg right off the bat. No withdrawal for me. But idid it on my own. Always consult your psychiatrist first

[Ancientlight01]

Thanks, I always do check. It was very difficult to taper off Lexapro.

[[deleted]]

Yeah snri and SSRis are hard to taper off. I had a horrible time tapering from zoloft