Posted by Chaston on March 12, 2001, at 16:21:55
In reply to Re: Neurontin as a mood stabilizer » Chaston, posted by Cece on March 12, 2001, at 13:25:39
Thanks, CeCe. I will give some more thought to combining the two at lower doses, at least for awhile. I always prefer to be on fewer meds if possible, but whatever works best, right? I mean, it beats the alternatives.
Take care.
> My problems are very much like yours.
> I don't take Neurontin as my only mood stabilizer, but find it to be of tremendous benefit as a calming one (different than a true anti-anxiety med like xanax, which I also take). I find that 900mg in 3 daily doses is right for me- more than that doesn't give me any extra benefit and does give me unwanted sedation.
> I also take Depakote- I used to take as much as 1000mg/day, but that gave me sedation, slow cognition, and weight gain. With experimentation, I found that I could get my therapeutic benefit from as little as 250mg/day (way below the official therapeutic dose).
> I take these in combo with Nortriptyline, a better AD for me than SSRI's.
> Also last year, I added Lamictal, which has helped with mood and activation.
> Not mono-therapy, but I hope that this is helpful.
> Good luck,
> Cece
>
>
>
> > Has anyone had any success over a period of time using Neurontin as the sole mood stabilizer, in conjunction with an SSRI, to treat recurrent depression and Bipolar II (?? the one with periodic depressions, mild ups exacerbated by anti-depressants)?
> > My P-doc put me on Neurontin almost a year ago. It had a calming effect. I ramped up to 1200 mg (all at bedtime, his recommendation), but felt too stupid (literally) in the morning to go up more. I have not had hypomania since then, but my P-doc put me on Depakote last December (now at 1250 mg/day).
> > He says that the consensus seems to be that Depakote is better at mood stabilization. Since I would like to eliminate at least one of these drugs, my P-doc is having me taper off the Neurontin. I wondered if I am elimanting the wrong med.
> > Thanks for your input!
poster:Chaston
thread:56289
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010310/msgs/56304.html