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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 5 of 5. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by ClearSkies on August 30, 2005, at 12:40:04
I'm starting Campral today for helping with alcohol craving, and next week will be titrating up on Lamictal and ceasing Topamax.
Still will be maintaining 60mg of Cymbalta, 10mg of Ambien, and 1mg of Xanax as needed for anxiety.I think I saw something in the archives that the Campral and Lamictal might be a promising combination for my depressive bipolar2 condition - any thoughts on whether this might be sucessful? I'm getting kind of tired of the bait and switch routine.
I appreciate your time,
ClearSkies
Posted by Phillipa on August 30, 2005, at 17:57:12
In reply to SLS - your expertise, please!, posted by ClearSkies on August 30, 2005, at 12:40:04
Gonna E-mail you. And where is SLS? Has he been around lately? Fondly,Phillipa
Posted by ClearSkies on August 30, 2005, at 18:14:05
In reply to Re: SLS - your expertise, please! » ClearSkies, posted by Phillipa on August 30, 2005, at 17:57:12
> Gonna E-mail you. And where is SLS? Has he been around lately? Fondly,Phillipa
Good, my email is working again. I hadn't realized that Scott wasn't about. Yikes!
kookily, ClearSkies
Posted by SLS on August 31, 2005, at 7:20:24
In reply to SLS - your expertise, please!, posted by ClearSkies on August 30, 2005, at 12:40:04
Hi.
I apologize for not responding more promptly.
> I think I saw something in the archives that the Campral and Lamictal might be a promising combination for my depressive bipolar2 condition
Campral is on my list of things to try. I would be combining it with Lamictal. I suffer from a bipolar depression that is neither type I or type II. I never experience mania nor euthymia unless antidepressants are involved to provoke it. Both drugs might act synergistically to reduce the activity at NMDA receptors. Campral is a glutamate release inhibitor. Lamictal also reduces extracellular glutamate, albeit through an undescribed mechanism. Keep memantine in mind as an alternative if you experience a partial or transient response to Campral. It is a NMDA receptor antagonist (non-competitive). I did respond transiently to memantine.
> - any thoughts on whether this might be sucessful?
We both know that sometimes this question is only answerable by trial and error. I wish I could give you a more glowing report of using this combination. Suffice it to say that Lamictal and memantine in combination did not give me the persistent robust antidepressant response I was looking for. If Campral fails to elicit any kind of improvement, you might want to give Trileptal a try. Both Trileptal and Lamictal affect sodium channels. Lamictal does so particularly at the higher dosages. I was impressed with Trileptal. That I only respond to things for 3 days before relapsing is idiosyncratic to my biology, and I cannot extend my experience to other people's results to the same medication. In other words, my biology is pretty weird. That I only received 3 days of relief from Trileptal cannot be generalized to the general population of bipolar suffers. On the contrary, it might be an indication that it would work well for others.
> I'm getting kind of tired of the bait and switch routine.
I am confused what you mean by this.
I hope this post was helpful. I haven't thoroughly researched any adverse interactions there might be between Campral and Lamictal, but I don't recognize any at this point.
- Scott
Posted by ClearSkies on August 31, 2005, at 8:23:01
In reply to Re: SLS - your expertise, please! » ClearSkies, posted by SLS on August 31, 2005, at 7:20:24
Sorry, by bait and switch I meant that initially I respond really well to a medication, then I eventually switch back to my presenting symptoms. I get my hopes up and they erode away along with my self esteem :-(
I started the Campral yesterday and felt like I had been swilling martinis all afternoon. Very chilled out and did not feel skilled enough to handle heavy equipment of ANY kind. I'm presuming this reaction will subside after a while.
I start titrating the Lamictal next week; will keep you posted.Thanks for your response!
ClearSkies
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