What factors affect lamotrigine dosing?

Simple explanation of Lamictal® or lamotrigine dosing is that it is based on age and size, with the greatest differences in pediatric and adult populations, treated conditions and patient reactions. This matter is significantly complicated when adding additional drugs. Carbamazepine (Tegretol®), Valproate (Depakote®), Phenytoin (Dilantin®), Phenobarbital and Primidone (Mysolin®) - which can be used to treat seizure disorders and/or bipolar disorders - in different ways, change. In addition, lamotrigine requires an initiation period that means that the drug is initiated at a low dose and gradually increases to the therapeutic range.

Lamotrigine dose for pediatric patients depends on their weight and age. Children who are treated for epilepsy between two and 12 years begin with doses of two to five milligrams that could be increased to 200 mg, although the dose may be used with other drugs against SMUD, with the exception of valproate. Using Depakote® almost always overwhelmsputs in a lower dose of Lamictal®. A lower dose may also be suitable if the seizures are adequately controlled.

Adults have different lamotrigine dosing scheme, which again depends on the condition, reaction and other medicines. People over 12 with bipolar disorders taking Lamictal® start only at a dose of 25 mg for one and two weeks, increase to 50 mg for three and four weeks, and in the next four weeks double the dose of two to 200 mg. Some patients may take a little more, even if there is little clinical evidence that greater than 200 mg is more effective.

dose of 200 mg monotherapy is the same in seizure disorders. The dosage can rise more slowly and it takes several weeks to achieve the therapeutic range. As already mentioned, lamotrigine does not have to be the best monotherapy for some seizure disorders and to treat these conditions or bipolar disorders could be required more than onemedicine.

With additional medicines, the dosing of lamotrigine may be necessary to titrate up or down. In people with seizures or bipolar disorders who take carbamazepine, phenytoin, phenyarbital and primidone, the initial dose is usually higher and starts at 50 mg. The target dose is 400 mg. On the other hand, those who take valproat begin to use 25 mg every other day and climbing at a target of 100 mg for several weeks.

One drug used in bipolar disorder, which is not mentioned in lamotrigine dosing, is anti-manic drugs, lithium. It is quite possible to combine lithium and lamictal®. Although lithium has a significant number of drug interactions, it tends to not affect or be affected by lamotrigine. Expected doses for these two could remain the same at 900-1200 mg for lithium and 200 mg for lamotrigine. Both drugs are effective as monotherapy of bipolar disorders for a substantial percentage of people and are definitely not always combined.