Mood stabilizers

Hello! Today my psychiatrist recommended I start lamotrigine alongside Zoloft and I’m really looking for some advice. For a bit of background, I’ve been on Zoloft for almost three months now. Most of that time I’ve been on a starting dose of 25mg daily, but that has now been upped to 50mg daily. I haven’t really felt that much different, and the little difference I do experience are from the strategies I have learned from my weekly therapy sessions. But my obsessions are still rampant and I still fall victim to my thoughts and compulsions pretty much daily. I really don’t feel like the Zoloft has had too much of an effect, but I’ve only been on 50mg for a short amount of time so I just thought that was the reason I wasn’t feeling that much of a change yet. Today I had my second session with my psychiatrist and told him I haven’t felt much different. He immediately recommended a mood stabilizer alongside the Zoloft, but I’m feeling very hesitant. I feel like it’s too soon to tell if the 50mg is or isn’t working, so adding a mood stabilizer seems like a big jump. Has anybody tried a mood stabilizer alongside an ssri, specifically lamotrigine with Zoloft? How was your experience? Did it reduce ocd symptoms? I’m really feeling a little lost right now. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Tea and Honey

Date posted: 24d

You know yourself best. I had a psychiatrist put me on too high a dose of Prozac. I didn't like it. And then he got mad at me when I shifted down. I think it's okay to be cautious when it comes to drugs. Having said that, medication is important for OCD, so I think we need to be on something. But sometimes doctors prescribe medication as quick fix--and it may or may not work for you. I don't know anything about mood stabilizers. But there are lots of natural things you could use as a supplement too. I take NAC as a supplement to Prozac, but it's totally natural. Maybe this mood stabilizer will help you. And maybe it won't. I don't know. But I think it's fair for you to question what you are putting in your body.

Jstwannafeel...

Date posted: 24d

Back 2 years ago when I was on meds, I was on both ssri’s and mood stabilizers at the same time. I can’t recall really how it was as lol I was on so many at once, but I do remember mood stabilizers did help me some

Anonymous

Date posted: 24d

I currently take lamotrigine because most SSRIs don’t work for me and make me sick. Lamotrigine is a pretty mellow mood stabilizer, I don’t have too many side effects at the beginning and it was slowly titrated up to prevent a rash so it felt like I was eased into it. I wouldn’t be too nervous about trying that one specifically

Buttons B

Date posted: 23d

Lamotragine is nbd! Been on it for years.

bryn

Date posted: 6d

Did you start it? How do you feel?

Yazzyjazz

Date posted: 6d

@bryn Hello! No, I did not start lamotrigine. My psychiatrist and I both decided it would be better to instead continue with my current dose of sertraline, 50mg. When he suggested lamotrigine I was only taking 50mg of sertraline for about a week and I thought it was too soon to determine whether or not I needed anything alongside it. I am feeling better a couple weeks on this dose though and feel like my body has adjusted well now! I was advised that in the future, if I feel my symptoms are worsening, I will most likely just increase the sertraline dose but lamotrigine is always on the table. Sorry if you’re looking for advice regarding lamotrigine, but hope this helped some.☺️

Mood stabilizers

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