Saturday, May 2, 2015

When less is more... more or less

I am down on my lithium from 900mg to 600mg. Earlier I had lowered my Zonegran from 300mg to 200mg- after doing some research about Zonegran vs Lamictal, and reading about all the cognitive side effects from Zonegran. Well, I really had read those before, but reading them again I just had to lower it.

I feel better on the lower doses. With both decreases I had a couple of bad day- in the past I might have given in and gone back up but this time I didn't. And I feel fine now. I feel a little less paralyzed, which is what I wanted.

Unfortunately I am still up to 7.5mg of the Zyprexa. I'd rather be at 5mg. I think I will try maybe next week to do it again. This week is too soon after coming down from the lithium- coming off of lithium got me in trouble in the past- although that was being taken off of it cold turkey due to lithium toxicity. But I feel like I want to figure it out- is it 7.5mg or 5mg, before I see my psychiatrist in a week and a half. If for no other reason than to know what prescription to get.

What I want to ask him is if he thinks I could go off of Zonegran eventually- do I need to be on an anticonvulsant due to the seizure I had from meds in my 20's. I don't think that I'd be a seizure risk off of meds- but I know that Effexor can cause it- a study just came out showing that the SSRI's and SNRI's at therapeutic doses raise seizure risk. I don't know what my Provigil or Zyprexa do- they might too.

And then I wonder- if you have been on an anticonvulsant for over half of your life- does it change your brain? Could you start to need it and have seizures without it?

If I can get down to 5mg I will stay with the Zyprexa. If my mood is not good there- maybe I will think about switching to something else. I have thought about Latuda, but I think I'd have too much insomnia on it. Every time I try to go off of Zyprexa, or switch to another antipsychotic, I have intractable insomnia. I think Seroquel might be the only option because of this.


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