Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Thought I would do a quick date on difficult child since I realized I never gave one after his psychiatrist weekend (at that point I was so upset with easy child's grades I forgot to post about difficult child) and had posted how manic and off he had been lately.

At the appointment. we decided to try one last thing at home. difficult child's psychiatrist said that there is research that temporarily backing off on Lamictal can help get the hypo mania calm down.

We went down to 400 mgs from 600 mgs. Along with that we made the decision that difficult child will be hospitalized on January 2nd if things are not improved.

I have to say I was skeptical the reduction would help but it does seem to be helping. He is far from perfect but not as hypomanic as he has been lately. (At one point last week he was very angry and threatened to punch me and was able to say out loud that no he wasn't going to do it and he just walked away.) We do have to be on his medications like clock work. As soon as it starts to get close to time he starts get more manic like.


I was quite pleasantly surprised at how well he did at my dad and his wife's on Sunday and this morning as well as how great he did with my mom. (Again not perfect but for difficult child we don't expect perfect.)

Don't know if this will last but it's a nice break from what has been recently. I also don't know if we'll be able to avoid hospitalization in January as he still seems on edge; still it is nice to have something that is somewhat positive to post.
 
M

ML

Guest
So glad to hear a snippet of good news. I'm praying that this season of miracles finds one for your family. Love, ML
 

crazymama30

Active Member
Good. I have heard that to some Lamictal can be stimulating, so that makes since. Smart psychiatrist. Let's hope for continued improvement that lasts a while
 

klmno

Active Member
I'm glad you updated- I had been thinking of you and wondering how things were going. It's tough to go thru these things and have so much up in the air thru the hoidays. It's good to hear that you were able to form a plan though, and so far this is working! I think lamictol helps the depressive side of BiPolar (BP) more and difficult child's psychiatrist had also said it could contribute to mania at times because of that. Have you tried other MS's- like lithium- instead of lamictol? (Not that you need to make a drastic change right now on top of everything else.)
 

Shari

IsItFridayYet?
Its amazing how these medications work...we did the same thing with wee's depakote, and both times, have seen good results. I'm glad its helping you, too.

Hopefully things will even out before January. Glad you got a breather, anyway.
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
Well any improvement is good at this point, Sharon. I'm glad for you!

My difficult child 2 is sensitive to dosing schedules as well. Although with our latest tweak of Seroquel he seems more stable overall. I hope yours can avoid the psychiatric hospital and find a medication level that's closer to optimum soon.
 

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Thank you everyone! I so appreciate the good thoughts. He had a relatively good day but a bit more difficult evening; still not as bad as 1 1/2 weeks ago.

K-Yep-we've tried just about every mood stabilizer out there for difficult child (or at least it seems that way-lol). The combo of the Topamax and Lamictal are the only ones that have helped difficult child. I did ask at his last appointment. if it is possible to go back to ones he didn't do well on when he was younger. For the most part the answer is no except possibly Depakote. I think if they decide to hospitalize in January it will be a complete medication wash type of thing.
 
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