Lamotrigine not working for my cyclothymia anymore

I take 125mg of lamotrigine for my cyclothymia, when I first got on it, it was life changing, I felt like I could function and be normal finally. About a year ago I feel like it stopped working. It calms down the hypomania still, but not as much as it used to, and I noticed it doesn't really work for my depressive episodes anymore. They started me on 50mg, and have been upping my dose since it would get less effective.... Do I just need to increase it again? I've been having major trouble focusing though which I'm pretty sure is a side effect of this

Your answer

esh

2y ago

So I also take lamotrigine and my doctor actually had me get blood work done so she could look at the lamotrigine levels in my body. This helped her come up with the right dose because there is a therapeutic level of the medication and getting the blood work shows you exactly how much you need to benefit from it. I definitely recommend doing that because it completely fixed it for me and the medication works really well now. I’m currently on 250mg :)

ThatOneNerd

2y ago

You might also want to ask about an antipsychotic - they can help with mood stability, and really helped my anxiety too. Xypraxa really helped (just watch out for dystonia side effects - if that happens, get off right away)

ThatOneNerd

2y ago

I’m at 200mg lamotrigine. I also have cyclothymia and used to be super hyper in the mornings and really depressed in the afternoon. That has mostly gone away. I think you need a higher does.

LovelyDarkness

2y ago

I take lamotrigine for my bipolar 2 & it definitely helped with my hypomania & the impulsive behaviors I was experiencing but I also take escitalopram (lexapro) for anxiety and depression. There's a possibility that ur provider might want to add another medication to help balance things out if the lamotrigine alone isn't helping. Just be sure to let them know what ur experiencing and go from there.

LovelyDarkness

2y ago

I agree it's always best to check with ur provider first and to carefully communicate everything that u have been feeling.

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