Need advice: Add antipsychotic or discontinue med?
Posted By atorturedsoul on November 11, 2009
I need advice from someone about adding an antipsychotic and continuing the maintenance drug I am currently taking.
At the moment, I am taking 200 milligrams of Lamictal (lamotrigine) a day. I feel like it controls most of my symptoms, but it doesn’t help with psychosis. I went through this same issue with lithium. I discontinued lithium to take the lamictal and I am pretty much right back where I started.
If lamotrigine is controlling some of my symptoms, should I really ditch it in favor of another drug? I did that with lithium. Again, it controls most of the symptoms but it doesn’t do much to prevent psychosis. I’m thinking that I need to stick with the lamotrigine and add and antipsychotic to control the one symptom that isn’t being controlled.
I would like to point out that I have been dealing with anxiety and depression but I really think it is related to the return of psychosis and not a shortcoming of the medication I am currently taking. Would it be wise to continue taking lamotrigine and ask for an antipsychotic as well?
I also want to point out that I haven’t been suicidal (still not seriously suicidal, just ideation) while on this medication until very recently, but I noticed that this began right after psychosis returned. I know how psychosis can push you over the edge because I have been there several times. I still don’t think the lamotrigine isn’t working. I know it isn’t an antipsychotic and I am pretty sure everything I am dealing with at the moment is caused by the psychotic episodes I am experiencing.
Let me explain my situation a bit more so you can understand what is going on so maybe someone can point me in the right direction.
I have been seeing shadows for a while now and hearing whispering again. I went to my doctor and he added in Seroquel. I took one and refuse to take any more. (Being comatose isn’t living-it’s merely existing, so what’s the point of that?) Everything seemed to be manageable at that point so we decided to wait and watch things.
Last night, it escalated. I was sitting at my desk and I suddenly saw myself violently banging my head on my desk until I was covered in blood. When it first happened, I tried to put it out of my mind because I knew it was psychosis. I kept seeing this over and over for more than an hour and my head was telling me that if I just did it and got it over with it would stop. The voices are very convincing at times and I was tempted for a brief moment, as it temporarily convinced me that this would make the hallucination stop. Luckily, I came to my senses.
Now I know that the voices and hallucinations can convince me to do things I wouldn’t normally do. I know this. I also know that lamotrigine is not an antipsychotic and can’t control psychosis. I believe that it has other symptoms under control and adding in an antipsychotic would be the answer.
My question is this: Do I need to keep taking the lamotrigine and add an antipsychotic or am I wrong in thinking it is still working? All of my symptoms seem to coincide with the onset of psychosis. I’m not sure I am making any sense. Is the lamotrigine really working or am I tricking myself into believing it is? Is it really related to the return of psychosis and would taking the lamotrigine and adding in a second medication to control it be the answer?
I really hope someone understands what I am trying to say and can offer some advice.
Related posts:
- Lamictal Withdrawals Day 2 of no medication. Let the Lamictal (lamotrigine) withdrawals...
- Does stress cause the symptoms of bipolar disorder? The symptoms of bipolar disorder are not caused by stress,...
- Psychotic episodes in bipolar disorder worsen prognosis A Turkish study indicates that patients with bipolar disorder that...
- All About Bipolar: Brand can affect a meds effectiveness Do you know that changing the brand of medication that...
- We’re going down! Abandon ship! As I continue my downward spiral into the depths of...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
About the author
Need advice: Add antipsychotic or discontinue med? http://bit.ly/2hXMBK
you are thinking along the same lines as i would. i’d see about adding an antipsychotic, but stay on what you’re on. you know yourself best. hang in there.
Need advice: Add antipsychotic or discontinue med? http://bit.ly/2hXMBK
Need advice: Add antipsychotic or discontinue med? http://bit.ly/2hXMBK
Finding it hard to know your situation in its entirety, I can tell you what’s been working for me. I too take Lamotrigine (150 milligrams) and Ablify (20 milligrams). The Abilify helps with my paranoia — thinking that people are talking about me behind my back constantly, thinking that people hate me when really they probably aren’t even thinking about me, thinking that strangers on the street are staring at me and can see straight into my mind and read what’s there.
So, the Abilify helps enormously in this regard. In fact, I reduced my dose by only 5 milligrams a few weeks ago and felt a resurgence of the symptoms immediately.
I think you should seriously consider Abilify. Seroquel didn’t work out for me, either.
Best of luck.
Thanks, Diane! I think that is what I am going to do.
In the past, I have been prescribed Abilify and Symbyax and both are so expensive. I can manage most of the year, but my insurance has a bridge amount and it pays nothing until that bridge is met. Trying to plop out four or five hundred at once is more than I can do.
I think you should go to expert doctor to get perfect advice about the intake of the drug.