Depakote and Lamictal (Together)

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I was just wondering if anyone has tried these two medications together (depakote and lamictal). My 17-year-old son has been taking lamictal for about 6 months now (200 mg./day), and the neurologist has just added 300 mg of depakote on top of this. When and why are they usually taken together? What have your experiences been?
 
Usually polytherapy is started if the single drug isn't fulling controlling the symptoms. To some extent it's a guessing game as to which meds to prescribe, though it may depend in part on what kinds of seizures the person is having, as well as other factors such as age and, if female, whether the person will be pregnant. In your son's case, you should contact his neurologist to get a full explanation for the add-on.

NOTE: Ordinarily, the Lamictal dose needs to be cut in half when Depakote is added. This is because Depakote interacts with the Lamictal by significantly increasing Lamictal plasma concentration. If the neurologist hasn't addressed this, he should -- definitely talk to him about this ASAP.
 
Thank you, Nakamova. My impression is that the neurologist purposely prescribed the second medication to strengthen the effect of the lamictal. It is a relatively small amount of depakote, so perhaps the lamictal only needs to be halved when a larger dose of depakote is prescribed. I do not know for sure, I am only speculating.
 
The best way to strengthen the Lamictal would be to increase the dose, rather than add another med -- especially because 200mg/day is relatively low.
 
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