Family & Friends of Bipolar Support Group

This community is dedicated to parents, siblings, grandparents, other relatives and friends of someone who is Bipolar. The purpose of this community is to help families and friends develop greater patience and understanding, as well as maintain a positive, caring relationships with those diagnosed as Bipolar.

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Mental Health
/ Family & Friends of Bipolar Support Group

Lamictal

ShivIT
ShivIT
My wife has been on Lamictal for 4 years and take 400mg. She is going to stop taking them. What should I expect? We will be talking to her Dr. on Tue.
Community Leaderacuriousfish
acuriousfish
Why will she be stopping? What is she going on to?
Community Leaderacuriousfish
acuriousfish
ok longer answer...if she is just stopping and not taking anything else it can be a problem.

Episodes can be worse and more difficult to control. It's a classic BP mistake "I feel stable, I'll stop taking the meds".

I don't know why she is giving them up, the only reason I've heard doctors being okish with is where someone is pregnant..we have a few in the BP community that are like that. I suppose they are under close scrutiny by their doctors.
ShivIT
ShivIT
We have been talking and we think that she is over medicated. She is already on Lithium.
deleted_user
deleted_user
I think should talk to doc............................................
Community Leaderacuriousfish
acuriousfish
Depending on the issue it might be the lithium that gets reduced. Lithium tends to have a greater fogging/fatigue effect

But, yes, this has to be discussed with the doctor..doing anything on your own could lead to a disaster.
deleted_user
deleted_user
Why would she stop taking it? NOT A GOOD IDEA!!! If it is stabilizing her that she feels like herself again THAT IS WHEN YOU NEVER STOP TAKING THE MEDICATION. If there are other issues with the drug, that would be different. It can be very dangerous for her to stop at all and she MUST do it by the Dr.'s instructions. Is she going to be transitioned onto something else? PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL!
ShivIT
ShivIT
She's not stable. Summer are her good time of the year. But this year she has strugled. She can't sleep her eating is off. We had no plans of going off the meds without the Dr.
Community Leaderacuriousfish
acuriousfish
surely if she's not stable she is undermedicated? The two mood stabilizers won't make you unstable.

But yes, talk to the doctor, lithium left me fogged AND it didn't keep me stable so she probably needs a new cocktail.
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