At what rate did you up your Lamictal dose?

[forward2007]

I currently take 200 mg in the AM and 50 mg in the PM. I am debating to up the dose 50 mg every one week or every two weeks until I reach 200 mg AM/200 mg PM. I am feeling the 50 mg effect my sleep already but I am wondering if raising it every two weeks instead of every week will help the body get used to it better and hopefully be able to sleep better.

[Nakamova]

I say low and slow can't hurt (unless you are having intolerable issues with seizure control). It took me 4 months to get to 250mgs/day. At times I was razoring a 25 mg pill in half so I could go up in 12mg increments.

I did still have sleep issues, but only for about a month-and-a-half. I was super-perky during the day, and super-restless at night. I was bummed to think that I would never have a decent night's sleep, but then that side effect faded, and I sleep a solid 8 hours a night these days.

[Rae1889]

First, you say that YOU are debating on upping your dose. I sure hope you discussed this with your neurologist first. If not then you should. If you did, and you feel uncomfortable going as fast as he wants tells him you want to go slower.

I took one 25mg pill every second day for a week, then one 25mg everyday for. Week, then 25 mg pill twice a day every second day with the other stay still at one. I added one pill a day for a week. I got to 175mg twice a day and got the rash.

[forward2007]

First, you say that YOU are debating on upping your dose. I sure hope you discussed this with your neurologist first. If not then you should. If you did, and you feel uncomfortable going as fast as he wants tells him you want to go slower.

I took one 25mg pill every second day for a week, then one 25mg everyday for. Week, then 25 mg pill twice a day every second day with the other stay still at one. I added one pill a day for a week. I got to 175mg twice a day and got the rash.

Yes the Dr. knows. I've done the 200 mg/200 mg dose in the past. It didn't give me the rash. I lowered the night dose at the time because of the insomnia side effect. This was as much as three years ago. I am trying to see if it is possible to get around the insomnia by increasing the dose more slowly.

[Rae1889]

Hmmm... I found I was able to sleep really well one lamictal. It may have been because it was controlling seizures that happened while sleeping *which is the only kind I have now so sleeping it back to terrible* but I would have the most amazing dreams and they would be lucid at times. It was awesome how crystal clear thet were.

[Endless]

I had rash problems with lamictal (not SJS), so I went really slow. I went up by 12.5 mg / week for the first few weeks, then later by 25mg/wk for a few weeks, then towards the end up by 50mg/week.

[awakenharmony]

I now take 200mg in the morning and at night... up from only 100mg in the morning and night. My neurologist upped my dosage from 100mg to 200mg without a slow increase i just started taking 200mg pills instead of 100mg pills and i never had any side effects, i sleep fine and everything.. but everyone reacts to things differently... when i first started taking lamictal i definitly had insomnia but i've been taking it for almost 3 years and haven't had any struggles with sleep in about 2 years (i've been taking 200mg 2X a day for about a year). It happens every now and then but it's not something i worry about. Hope that's helpful?

[Zoofemme]

My doc titrated me slowly on lamictal and it made for a miserable summer for me I'd have to go back through my posts here to see how she did it because i don't really remember but it took from Feb thru July/Aug(?) I think to get me to where I am now which is 150mg x 2 a day. It is doing a decent job now but someitmes I wish I wasn't on it. If it is messed with at all I have breakthru seizures and I think being that sensitive to a med is not a good thing.

[Bee91]

hmm...I think I went up by 50s every other week...but I may be wrong. It's been a while.
If it helps I'm on 300 once a day now.
sorry.

[Mrs.Walker]

I'm on 400 mg. 200 in the morning and 200 at night. It's just fine. I sleep like a baby. I fall asleep at 10pm and wake up at 6am and feel refreshed.

They started me on 100 mg at first (my seizures are the evilest kind). About 3 months later I was on 200 mg. Then I had a stupid seizure and they put me on 300 mg 2 months ago. I had another stupid seizure last month and they bumped me up 100 mg more.

I say to try going up slowly and if you feel funky, then don't do it. I used to get an insomnia effect when I was on 300 mg of Phenobarbital. It really sucked and I hated everyone who could sleep. I know that everybody is different.

I talked to my old doctor about sleep issues and anxiety and she pushed medicine at me (which I did not take in fear that I would get seizures as a result of taking the medicine). My new doctor said to have a relaxing routine before bed and I use my fan as a white noise to get me to sleep.

[gr33nr0se]

i don't think you should do it. my neurologist didn't want me to leave the hospital full of seizures so he started me on 50 morning and night and then boosted me up to 100 a week later. now i have a rash. i had to go down to 25 after it got worse and my neurologist put me on prednizone and benadryl. and he is making me start banzel in the mean time. be really careful, the rash is miserable and if you don't catch it in time, it can turn into steven johnson syndrome

[Endless]

I started on 25mg/day for 2 weeks, then 50mg for two weeks, then 75mg for a week, then 100mg for a week, then 125 for a week.... you get the idea.

My neurologist went super slow with me because I got a rash the first time around. A second trial of the drug is not recommended after a rash, but I was running out of drugs so we tried it again. I got another rash, went through a process similar to gr33nr0se, but it also involved steroids and steroid creams. Eventually the rash went away and now I'm on Lamictal just fine.

[mockinbird]

I started Lamictal yesterday and similar to Endless, mine is 25mg for 2 weeks, 50 for 2 and 100 for one week. That is the contents of the titration packet to get started. I took my first one yesterday evening and didn't really notice anything except that it took me longer to fall asleep. I am usually out within minutes but last night it took about 30. Also, I felt like a train wreck when I woke up this morning but it went away quickly. Guess it's possible that it wasn't even Lamictal related.