So, without telling my life story, which I've subjected way too many people to: I was diagnosed with GAD/panic disorder in my early twenties and did well with SSRIs (taken off and on over the years), now the anxiety/agitation have gone out of control. I'm taking 75 mg of zoloft and considering going back to my low dose of paxil, gabapentin 600 mg at bedtime, ativan 1/2 mg twice a day and 1 mg at night. Even with all that, the anxiety and agitation are always there. I think I've developed a tolerance to the ativan but the psychiatrist doesn't want me to wean off right now because we're still adjusting other things. I can't take gabapentin during the day because it makes me dopey, then crabby.

Recently, the psychiatrist wrote for a start up dose of generic lamictal (25 mg every other day). I'd taken up to 100 mg/day before and didn't feel any difference at all. This time, every time I took it, I felt more restless and irritable. The second time I took it, I had terrible insomnia and spent the next day feeling like c***. I haven't officially been diagnosed with bipolar, but I have two close relatives with it and it's the only thing I can think of that would explain my sudden, terrible agitation with all the SSRI's and even a TCA. So now the psych. wants me to quit the lamictal and try trileptal which is supposed to be better for bipolar folks with lots of anxiety/agitation/irritability, which have definately been my defining characteristics for as long as I can remember.

So, my question is, has anyone been given lamictal for irritability only to have it get worse?

Anyone with these characteristics been on trileptal with good results? It's been almost a year now and I'm beginning to lose hope that I'll ever feel like myself again.

Thanks
Ali