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overmedicating

Hello all ,
  I have been dealing with severe depression for nearly 4 years , on top of that about a year ago i started having severe mood swings ..My Psych put me on 25mgs of lamictal..Recently on  another psych visit , I informed him that lamictal was working great , as I have only been have mood swings about 1 time a month..So his new prescription was for 100mgs of lamictal , as he said that 25 was not enough...Since take this now for 3 days , I am an emotional roller coaster ..one minute up , one minute so low I want to cry , next thinking life isnt worth ..Am I being over medicated?
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Avatar universal
I had been taking 25 mgs for about 8 months , then when i went back to the doc , he just decided to up the dose right to 100mgs ..I also think I am going through a midlife crisis at the moment ..Being a male 43 years old and having accomplished much of nothing in my life other than managing to become disabled and in debt is a hard thing to deal with ..I have a small computer business , but lately no one has been calling ..work always help my mind and soul..But I still think 100 mgs is too much to fast .I actually think what I really need to get over my depression and mood swings is a life ..
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Avatar universal
From the web:
The number of tablets that you take depends on the strength of the medicine.

For oral dosage forms (tablets):
For treatment of bipolar disorder:
Adults not taking valproic acid (e.g., Depakote) and not taking carbamazepine (e.g., Tegretol), phenobarbital (e.g., Luminal), phenytoin (e.g., Dilantin), and/or primidone (e.g., Mysoline)—At first, 25 milligrams (mg) of lamotrigine once a day for two weeks, then a total of 50 each day for two weeks. After this, your doctor may increase the dose gradually if needed. However, the dose is usually not more than 200 mg a day.

Sounds like you were increased too quickly--way too quickly.
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Avatar universal
hi,

did the doc just push you from 25 right to 100?  that seems fast to me, as my doc gave me a starter kit for lamictal that increased the dose to 100mg over 5 weeks.  but, maybe because you were already on 25 and tolerating it, he didn't see the need to go up slowly.  i've been working up to 200mg (which i start tonight).

i was diagnosed as bipolar II - so you have like hypomania - depression w/ "ups" that show as irritability/pissed off instead of "happy."  at least that's me.  so my therapist explained that the lamictal alone is only going to take care of the MOODS; i am also on wellbutrin xl 150mg, which is working on the depression.  

my point is that you may need an antidepressant with this, or merely give the new dosage a while to adjust.  my doc said it takes about 7 days to feel a new dose of lamictal.  hang in there, k?
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