# Lamotrigine withdrawal !?!!



## sputnik (Oct 18, 2009)

Hi,

Has anyone here an experience to share about stopping Lamotrigine ? How fast, symptoms, etc.

Lamotrigine has worked quite well for me for almost a decade but I really would like to be med free now. I'd like to get rid of those pills which make me feel I'm hopelessly mental, condemned for life...

My DP/DR started at around 16. It reached a brutal peak after an unprecedented panic attack with flashbacks of pre-teen sex abuse, being let down by my parents etc, when I was 25. For the first time then, I went to the psychiatrist and tried a number of meds before Lamotrigine, the first one to have noticeable benefits with virtually no side effects. I believe I could have broken down totally, lost my job and ended up socially isolated and suicidal back then were it not for the Lamotrigine.

As far as the psychotherapy goes, I believe many things have improved. But I think (analytical) therapy has now reached its limits. Even the therapists agree with me that making sense of the past was a very necessary thing (and largely a success) but it did not cure some symptoms like my DP/DR, which reappeared the two times I tried stopping Lamotrigine.

I mentioned a recent attempt at stopping Lamotrigine to my psychiatrist today and we talked about the workings of the brain, how it supports cognition and emotions, etc. When I said that it would have been unbearable to go faster than -25mg every 3 weeks, and that 150mg was hardly bearable even after weeks, he replied with two remarks. (1) two brains may be very different but two experiments with the same brain (in adulthood) will be very similar (2) brains have slow and limited plasticity in adulthood and a condition acquired earlier in life may leave traces for life (even if not psychosis). Now, before I give up on the idea that I will be medicated for the rest of my days, I'd like to try alternative ways to sustainably stop Lamotrigine.

Any account of stopping Lamotrigine? Which other meds easier to stop worked well for you as a replacement? Wellbutrin? Any idea?

Cheers!

Sputnik


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## Ginglymus (Aug 19, 2013)

Hi! Since it's an antiepileptic drug, you might caught a seizure ir you're epileptic. Otherwise, no. Būt there are some FDA reports about tapering, which i dont believe. Otherwise, all CNS affecting drugs requiring tapering. Do Shell.


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## Ginglymus (Aug 19, 2013)

[quote name="Ginglymus" post="303574" timestamp="1378524222"]Hi! Since it's an antiepileptic drug, you might caught a seizure ir you're epileptic. Otherwise, no. Būt there are some FDA reports about tapering, which i dont believe. Otherwise, all CNS affecting drugs requiring tapering. Do well.


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## Doberg (Sep 12, 2013)

Hi, I use to be on Lamictal when I was younger but stopped it cold turkey no problem. However due to my derealization, ptsd and anxiety the doc wants me back on it. Does Lamictal help with depersonalization and derealization? I didn't have derealization when I was taking it as a teen.


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## sputnik (Oct 18, 2009)

Doberg said:


> Hi, I use to be on Lamictal when I was younger but stopped it cold turkey no problem. However due to my derealization, ptsd and anxiety the doc wants me back on it. Does Lamictal help with depersonalization and derealization? I didn't have derealization when I was taking it as a teen.


Hi, Lamotrigine (Lamictal) was a life-saver for me. My DP/DR subsided and almost went away for years. I can't attribute it all to Lamotrigine (been on Zoloft later replaced by Effexor in the first two years of the treatment, and then there was of course the talk therapy). So, for the past 7 years or so, I've been on Lamotrigine only, plus small doses of benzos "on-demand" (clonazepam, alprazolam).

Now, everybody is different and will not react (exactly) the same to some medication. Quitting Lamictal cold turkey is definitely impossible for me and also Lamictal may not work for you.

One thing I noticed, which has been unfortunately almost overlooked by researchers, is that nicotine (and other common meds or foods) influences the metabolism of Lamictal. Given that many psychiatric patients are smokers, this is hardly understandable that so little attention was paid to this. I noticed it during a attempt at quitting cigs because the sort of anxiety and skin rash that suddenly appeared and went sky-rocketing looked very much like Lamictal side-effects, not nicotine withdrawal. Otherwise said, if you consume (or inhale) stuff which acts on the same protein in the liver in charge of Lamotrigine metabolisation, especially if the consumption pattern changes, dosing may very well have to be adapted. My psychiatrist didn't know about it but said it made a lot of sense from what he knew about the hepatic function.

Hope this answers your question. Take care!


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