Reader Question: Lamictal doses

Hi Julie,

You’ve mentioned taking Lamictal at 500mg a day a couple of times in your blog. Recently my psychiatrist has increase my dosage of Lamictal from 200mg to 300 mg and lately 400mg.The depression and anxiety are still taking a toll. I was wondering what type of relief you get from your dosage of Lamictal.

Does it take away the depression and anxiety or does it just keep it at a manageable level? I’ve been on the 400mg for a week now and the depression and anxiety are worse than ever. I’m facing going out on disability for awhile and I’m hoping its only going to be a couple weeks until we can get this under control with the new medication levels.

Thanks for your time.

Hi R., Here is some good news! – You haven’t been on the new dose of Lamictal nearly long enough to get full relief from your symptoms. It took me three months to see a lot of changes and it has gotten much better over the years. A friend of mine has a psychiatrist who says that Lamictal actually works better and better for years after the first dose. There is no question that 3 ½ years into my treatment the Lamictal is going strong. You have to give this time.

The dose is also all over the charts for people- I have friends who take less than 100mg and as you know, I’m at 500mg. I’m glad your doctor is working with you on this. Regarding symptom relief, when combined with my Health Cards, Lamictal reduces my depression, anxiety, psychosis, OCD and rapid cycling significantly.

Meds take time to work. Now is the time to focus 100% on treatments you can do on your own. Get it Done When You’re Depressed can help a lot as it’s all about doing things when you don’t feel you can do things. The whole goal is to have your personal treatments meet your medication treatments to create stability. It is 100% possible to do this. I’m proof. My depression is still quite bad, but I’ve learned to live life to the best of my ability. Life gets better every day and it can be the same for you.

Julie