Hello all! Meds, Mindfulness, Hope (Lamictal content inside)

Hello all!

Glad to have found this forum. I've had a pretty rough first half of 2014 and I'm hoping for a better second half. The short of the long: 37yo male, writer, over-educated, too much debt, living in NYC with very little peace. Lifelong struggle with depression and anxiety. 8 years sober. Last year, after working with my therapist, I finally stepped down off of my meds (3 years on 20mg Lexapro, 1mg Ativan daily.) In January I started losing my hearing in my right ear and was finally diagnosed with Meniere's Disease after six weeks of panic. It threw off any work I had been doing on meditation.

Went back on Lexapro and had a severe reaction, lost 22lbs in 3 weeks, put on Risperidone and Remeron for a few weeks, things improved, taken off of the Risperidone and all hell broke loose. Psychiatrist (who I adore and trust) thought that Haldol may be a better choice but I ended up in the ER with sudden extreme blood pressure. So now I'm tapering off of the Remeron (which hasn't seemed to do much from the get go) and starting Lamictal (with Valium thrown in for the transitional period).

I've heard a lot of good things about this medication though I've never been diagnosed with bi-polar disorder. More depressive, with bouts of anxiety/panic attacks. My question for those using/having used Lamictal, I've never tolerated the emotional blunting of SSRIs. Do you find that Lamictal has less of that. I'm working with a new therapist who uses mindfulness, and my writing has tended to suffer in the past when I was on SSRIs.

Any thoughts on Lamictal, or general encouragement is appreciated.

Hi Gala,

Welcome to the forum. I am glad you found us.

I do hear that lamictal is a good medication. give it a fair try.

I take abilify but it is very expensive. Luckily my insurance approves it.

I believe that these are mood stabilizers. I could be wrong about the lamictal. But mood stabilizers really help me a lot... And are used for bipolar. I like hat abilify as it is an as needed medication. It seemed to work faster.

Hugs, Karen

Me too Galas,

I hope that it works for you. I think (think) that it would work rather quickly for you to know, not the eight weeks that antidepressants take. I think...

I hope that you are having a good day.

Hugs, Karen...

Also a little lemon in the water, I think heated is the best. It detoxifies the liver.

Glad you mentioned water Trina, I had forgotten about the hot lemon water...

Have a good day all.

Hugs, Karen...

Thanks so much for all your advice/support. Even though I have a loving and supporting partner, I feel like I'm on an island when it comes to this med stabilization (its very difficult to comfort someone when they've never gone through this type of constant adjustment).

I must add in the midst off this my therapist who has been very anti-medication (though treated me for 3 years while I was on Lexapro) has been so hard to deal with. I'm seeking another mindfulness-trained therapist with a bit more realistic understanding of my current state of being. Having everyone in your life recognize the need for mood stabilizers to work towards meditation besides your therapist (who many of us trust more than others) can be difficult. I think she is truly pushing me towards relying on inner strength, but whenever life crises come along whether it be financial, medical and others my reaction is so far from a healthy persons senss of sadness, of grief so I become paralyzed by these situations, depression roles in deep and anxiety/panic escalates.

I would love one day to be drug free, but hell, I'd love to be Meniere's Disease fee, or debt free but these all take time.

Thanks again for you responses.

Hey all -

Just checking in. Thanks for all your kind words since my original post. Its been a rough few days, still at my 25mg of Lamictal, can't bump up for another week. Taking just 2.5mg valium in the AM and 15mg of remeron in the evening - so sluggish. I'm eager to be off of the remeron, that's been so useless.

So much instability in my life these days is not being helped by this med change. Deadlines, landlord threatening to sell the building in the next year, medical stuff. While I wouldn't consider myself unsafe around myself, I just want to sleep and wake up to a different life. That's a hard thing to try to explain to a partner who loves you, and family that supports you. I guess this would be the definition of depression.

I also wish I lived in a quieter part of town (NYC). I can't believe I chose to move here seven years ago and all I want now is the country.

my mantra in life and on the forums here is:

'slow and steady wins the race'.

take cae of you.