Ptsd

[N.E.wguy]

it was this part of your post #88

"
(* personally once i am in a manic state i isolate myself, some people lose control and say or do things that may hurt others unknowingly in a episode. Best thing to do if you feel someone close to you is like this just give them space.. Trying to help a this point in time will more make you a possible outlet for this, which neither involved want.)"

That part really rings true on how my wife is sometimes due to her bipolarity.

Thanks for pointing that out. There are alot of little things that can be said to me to go off like a fire cracker like jekel/hyde but just on a word level my defensive words are like little razor blade comments that's when i usually separate and calm down or it will ramp up and last days weeks who knows

 

[N.E.wguy]

:clap: :clap: :clap: :dancing: :ciao: :ciao: Just had our 420th viewer of the thread ! missed the pic op tho already at 422 gogogo

 

[SmokinMom]

Hi guys,
I recently made a post about Lamictal(lamotrigine), but this one is more on the serious side. I have been taking Lamictal for about 4 days now, at 50 mg's. I am experiencing the most lucid and vivid nightmares that I haven't experienced since I was a little kid. I mean, I'm talking so frightening and unsettling that I am afraid to go to sleep. 2 nights ago, I had a dream that I could hear my dog growling in the middle of the night- very unusual for her. So immediately, I knew something was wrong. I crept downstairs to discover my mother sleeping on the couch. My dog was growling in the direction of the front door, where stand this huge, tall, man/monster looking thing staring at my mother as she slept. I ran to the door to lock it, but the thing had already opened the door and was pushing its way inside. Thankfully, I then woke up, screaming so loud that the actual dog that was in the dream came running upstairs to see if I was okay. It was a cross between a nightmare and a night terror, as I was not fully convinced it was a dream after I had awoken. Has anyone else experienced dreams this horrifying while taking Lamictal, or any other drug? If so, do you have any suggestions for alleviating and preventing these awful occurrences? The Lamictal is already starting to lift my mood, but the nightmares are a colossal drawback. If there are any suggestions other than quitting the medicine, please tell me. I am not interested in taking addictives like Xanax or Ambien to help me sleep. Thanks,
William
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Posted 1/30/2011 8:51 PM (GMT -6)
i have been on lamotrigine 25 mg since last wednesday...soo for about a week now.u
my ideal dosage is 100 mg my dr said, but im going to start slow and up the dose every two weeks....
i have been having really intense dreams as well but i didnt even think it was related to the medication, but now that you mention it i think i am going to write down my dreams as soon as i wake up so that i can discuss it with my dr. ive notced that ive been having such REAL LIFELIKE dreams that ive made comments to my roommates about things that they say have never happened..... scary to think that its possible that im not going to be able to differentiate between my dreams and reality.

I've been skimming this thread as I know several people who suffer and try to learn what I can. There's also issues going on with me that I'm not quite comfortable bringing up just yet, I do appreciate all thr responses and personal stories and I hope no one minds me jumping in.

I'm on lamictal but for epilepsy. My dr also started me off slow and titrated me up to 150'mg in about 6 weeks. Immediately I started having the very vivid dreams, sometimes even several a night but for the most part they were just odd and not necessarily nightmares. It's funny, before I began lamictal I maybe remembered 1 or 2 dreams a year. I also had hair loss and blurry vision. I was very fatigued but it kept my seizures away. These types of brain meds are serious business. It's been 3.5 yrs since I started lamictal and while the vision and hair loss issues have lessened, I'm sorry to say the dreams are still here. I sleep a lot and actually look forward to the little movies in my head each night. A gal on a sz site I help moderate says her bizarre dreams have gone away so there might be hope for you yet.

The lamictal xr 200 mg really hasn't done anything for my mental state, if anything it's made matters worse. I'm not the same girl I was a few yrs ago. Is it depression? Is it epilepsy? Is it side effects from the meds or a combo of all 3...who knows.

As long as it keeps my tonic clonics at bay I guess I should be happy. It truly is a miracle drug for some and I hope it works for you. Good luck with the med, feel free to pm if you have any questions.

oh crap, I just saw this thread was from 2011, my bad. I had done a search for lamictal and it popped up. My apologies.

 

[N.E.wguy]

ya i didn't finish reading and started typing i used to dream once in 10yrs before triggered. the lamictal is def imo a bad pill for some

glad you chimed in and just the quote you are referencing is from '11 I just recently started thread glad it;s coming up in searches

 

[N.E.wguy]

was told to only post links from now on i guess..


Colorado Petitioners Seek Medical Marijuana Access for PTSD Patients

hxxp://www.mpp.org/states/colorado/co/colorado-petitioners-seek.html

 

[N.E.wguy]

Arizona Refuses to Approve Medical Marijuana for PTSD
By: Jon Walker Friday July 20, 2012 11:00 am

hxxp://justsaynow.firedoglake.com/2012/07/20/arizona-refuses-to-approve-medical-marijuana-for-ptsd/

 

[N.E.wguy]

New Mexico: Campaign Launched To Improve Veterans' Access to Medical Marijuana for PTSD
Submitted by steveelliott on Mon, 07/08/2013

http://www.hemp.org/news/content/ne...mprove-veterans-access-medical-marijuana-ptsd

 

[N.E.wguy]

Why Veterans Struggling with PTSD Want Access to Medical Marijuana
A new campaign aims to educate the public about PTSD and marijuana's potential to treat it.


hxxp://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/why-veterans-struggling-ptsd-want-access-medical-marijuana

 

[N.E.wguy]

hxxp://www.thedailychronic.net/2013/24336/
Maine Medical Cannabis Program Expanded to Include PTSD, Other Debilitating Conditions

Daniel Haszard • 16 days ago
---

hahahaha
−

Bravo our Veterans!
Current drug pharmaceutical PTSD treatment for Veterans found ineffective.

Eli Lilly made $70 billion on the Zyprexa franchise.Lilly was fined $1.4 billion for Zyprexa fraud!
The atypical antipsychotics (Zyprexa,Risperdal,Seroquel) are like a 'synthetic' Thorazine,only they cost ten times more than the old fashioned typical antipsychotics.
These newer generation drugs still pack their list of side effects like diabetes for the user.All these drugs work as so called 'major tranquilizers'.This can be a contradiction with PTSD suffers as we are hyper vigilant and feel uncomfortable with a drug that puts you to sleep and makes you sluggish.
That's why drugs like Zyprexa don't work for PTSD survivors like myself.
-- Daniel Haszard Bangor Maine

 

[N.E.wguy]

Private Equity Firms Investing in the Future of Legal Marijuana Sales SEATTLE, WA —



hxxp://www.thedailychronic.net/2013/24664/private-equity-firms-investing-in-the-future-of-legal-marijuana-sales/

 

[YYZ Skinhead]

If one has a sense of humor, joking about one's own PTSD can be useful -- I would never joke about anyone else's (unless I were in a crowd of other PTSD survivors), but I joke about mine all the time. E.g. I gave my shrink a glow-in-the-dark painting of a quetiapine (Seroquel) molecule.



No, really.

 

[N.E.wguy]

ooh man i have my shrinks laughing all the time, I honestly get a bit insulted even tho i cause it, hard to pay someone to laugh at you,. I tell them this is note a joke or a movie it's my life.

 

[YYZ Skinhead]

If they are laughing at you, they aren't real shrinks, they are quacks. Shriinks are paid to heal sick people, not make them feel worse.

 

[N.E.wguy]

honestly stopped going to one and am currently iso a real one that understands my situation not just my copay

 

[YYZ Skinhead]

When I said I was "unipolar" as opposed to bipolar I was joking and thought I had made up the term, but apparently major depressive disorder is actually called that :huh: : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unipolar_disorder

 

[N.E.wguy]

hxxp://www.kjzz.org/content/1307/arizona-nurses-petition-treat-ptsd-medical-marijuana

Arizona Nurses Petition To Treat PTSD With Medical Marijuana
By: Peter O'Dowd on 07/26/2013

A group of nurses is asking the state health department to add post-traumatic stress disorder to the list of ailments that can be treated with medical marijuana. A similar effort failed last year. The health department considers new petitions every six months. In 2012, the agency did not to approve medical pot for PTSD because it said the research was not convincing enough. Medical experts were also concerned marijuana would lead to further substance abuse in people with traumatic stress, but now the Arizona Cannabis Nurses Association will try again.

Josh Miller helped the group write the latest petition.

"A lot of these people with PTSD are veterans. They contract their PTSD while they are fighting for our freedoms back home, and then they return home, and they don’t even have the freedom to chose how to treat their PTSD," Miller said.

A handful of states, like Oregon and Maine, do give PTSD patients the right to use medical marijuana. Miller said his group’s petition will use research from other countries to prove pot is an effective alternative.

 

[N.E.wguy]

If one has a sense of humor, joking about one's own PTSD can be useful -- I would never joke about anyone else's (unless I were in a crowd of other PTSD survivors), but I joke about mine all the time. E.g. I gave my shrink a glow-in-the-dark painting of a quetiapine (Seroquel) molecule.



No, really.

lol, wish i could see that, i stopped taking it... like a week ago had to take one last night cause had an episode of the usual bedtime mix in my head


side note supposed to go up to 100mg of lamictal tomorrow from 25 to 50 now up to 100mg really hope for no increased nightmares

 

[7greeneyes]

thats kinda weird in a coincidental sort a way.

Erin takes some sort of anti-nightmare drug but it's efficacy is starting to wear out.

Do those nighmare pills help you, N.E.Wguy?

 

[YYZ Skinhead]

I am curious too, I take damn propranolol to wipe out nightmares and (presumably) to forget possble triggers and I still have nightmares.

Propranolol scares the hell out of me since it nearly killed me last year. Fortunately my shrink reduced my dose. If you are an asthmatic and are prescribed propranolol/other beta blockers, you may want to ask your MD if they are safe, because beta blockers are contraindicated in asthmatics (at least some of us).

 

[7greeneyes]

holy sheet!

The wifey has breathing problems due to COPD and takes like three different breathers. thanks for the warning YYZ!