I was diagnosed with Bipolar in 1994 and have been on Zoloft and Carbatrol for 14 yrs. Yes, my short term memory is shot, but I would rather deal with a bunch of sticky notes than being suicidal. Anyway, my daughter was diagnosed with Bipolar in 2005 and is on Lamictal. She has never really taken it faithfully but now has come to terms with the fact that she must have it. My oldest son will be 22 in July. Over the years, since he was about 13, I noticed an increasingly amount of periods of anger and rage occuring and over the last 3 yrs it has been alot worse. I learned that he had been self medicating with cannabis. After totally loosing it a breaking his hand he agreed to see a Dr. He was diagnosed with a "Mood Disorder" and has been on Lamictal for 4 weeks now. He is a big buff guy and soon to be on 100mg/day. My daughter is 95# and on 500mg/day. I don't see the Lamictal really making a difference for my son and he has gone back to smoking pot while being on the medication. (he hadn't smoked for over 10wks). I am an RN and I know my anatomy and physiology and all the importance of the brain chemicals and such, but I'm not a pharmacist. I really don't think that mixing the 2 is a good idea, but I need to know if it is truely harmful to him. Can anyone tell me? I love my children, they are my everything and I want them healthy and safe.
Thank you.