It was terribly disapppointing to have med after med not work on me. I know my Psych was tearing his hair out. I hated to visit him because I hated to disappoint him. My therapst has been a great help. It was she who suggested Lamictal, which I think is the drug that made me turn the corner.
The cat is there just because I love the fuzzy lttle terrorists. You can see that they're good mousers.
I also had a major turnaround with my depression after taking lamictal. It is used for depression, but also bi-polar and I think it's also used for anxiety. The difference in my quality of life was tremendous. All my adult life I was always diagnosed and treated for major depression. Sometimes it was better than other times, but the medications never worked effectively. I am talking about a lot of years here. After we moved, I needed to find a new psychiatrist, and his evaluation and recommendations were a little different than the past. He said I had a low level bi-polar element to me, almost like a minor "mixed state" where you are very depressed, but having racing thoughts and agitation. The tricky part was that I did not have manic episodes, just this racing and agitation. The lamictal was the answer. As the doctor described, it helps provide me with an "emotional shelf" so I don't drop into major depression. The racing is gone, and I still take some klonopin for anxiety and physical spasms.
Lamictal, generic name "lamotrigine" is actually an anti-siezure drug, but of course has shown outstanding results in the areas I mentioned. By the way, I have no side effects. Also, the doctor advised me to "stay out of other people's dramas", and I have never forgotten his statement!
I too have gone through the list of meds to try to find relief - the only difference - when we got to the Lamictal I took it for about a week and turned into a bright red itchy mess! I stayed on it for another 2 weeks hoping my body would adjust because it seemed to be helping but no luck
I just kept getting redder and itchier. 3 days after stopping the med I was back to "normal" (whatever that is)! As for being on so many meds, maybe you can try to come off of some while keeping the Lamictal. Try 1 at a time so you know which ones are helping and which are extras. Even if done by following directions for cutting back amounts Effexor was VERY hard to come off of. I'm glad you have found some relief - Good luck in the future! Angela
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So can you tell us more about this medication and how it helped you? It is cause for celebration when a drug can help so much.
Thank you for sharing your experience with us.
I can't say that the Mertazapine ever did very much. He started me on that. Then he kept me on the Mertazapine and put me on Pristiq right before the holidays. I cried through most of the holdays, curled up in my blanket on the sofa, eyes shut. Pristiq was a nightmare. Then came the Zprexa, and that was a no go, but he made me continue with it. My therapist suggested Lamictal, and he decided to throw that into the mix. Finally, he threw in Effexor for good measure. It's so hard to say which drug helped the most. I've never been on so many meds before, but then I've never had such a deep, intractable depression. I started to feel better just days after starting effexor, so it seems that the lamictal helped the most. I'm very concerned that I'm on so many different drugs, but if that's what it takes to feel this good.............and I do feel soo good after feeling soooo bad for so long.