ASD/ADHD & anxiety - Lamictal or Lithium

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From my experience, lithium was a really effective regulator but got all the side effects listed above and they didn't go away. The kidney damage wasn't severe but still happened pretty quickly. Lamictal has few side effects and has been great for anxiety. Take it at night and it helps with sleep. Not a psychiatrist, just part of a family of ADHD/depression/anxiety, but lamictal has worked well for everyone.

Op here. That’s interesting because my DD has had insomnia off and on for 3 weeks. She took the first dose of Lamictal last night and was up for 3 hours at 1am. Insomnia is a common side effect, and now she’s flat out refusing to continue.

OP no offense, but it doesn't seem like you have any control over your daughter. Medication is not a cure all esp in one day. Her flat out refusing a med based on one night when it's aleady a side effect she is having without the med? Do you THINK maybe her anxiety is in overdrive and the thought of a new medication is making her more anxious. What is she taking for insomnia? Does the doc who prescribed the Lamictal know she has insomnia? Because most people take Lamicatal at night but you can take it in the daytime. I would be more concerned with why she is refusing a med she tried once that takes 4-6 weeks to get to a therapeutic level. She needs more help and something to help her anxiety and sleep immediately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From my experience, lithium was a really effective regulator but got all the side effects listed above and they didn't go away. The kidney damage wasn't severe but still happened pretty quickly. Lamictal has few side effects and has been great for anxiety. Take it at night and it helps with sleep. Not a psychiatrist, just part of a family of ADHD/depression/anxiety, but lamictal has worked well for everyone.

Op here. That’s interesting because my DD has had insomnia off and on for 3 weeks. She took the first dose of Lamictal last night and was up for 3 hours at 1am. Insomnia is a common side effect, and now she’s flat out refusing to continue.

OP no offense, but it doesn't seem like you have any control over your daughter. Medication is not a cure all esp in one day. Her flat out refusing a med based on one night when it's aleady a side effect she is having without the med? Do you THINK maybe her anxiety is in overdrive and the thought of a new medication is making her more anxious. What is she taking for insomnia? Does the doc who prescribed the Lamictal know she has insomnia? Because most people take Lamicatal at night but you can take it in the daytime. I would be more concerned with why she is refusing a med she tried once that takes 4-6 weeks to get to a therapeutic level. She needs more help and something to help her anxiety and sleep immediately.

OP here and I completely agree. But honestly, I’m as anxious as she is about this. She’s been on 9 different ADHD stimulant medications and 4 SSRI’s/SNRI’s from age 6-16, and we had some horrible experiences from side effects. She’s incredibly sensitive. She’s been off all meds for a year - and in some ways is much better off of them. But the recent insomnia (she’s always been a good sleeper) and uptick in anxiety made us feel open to trying again. But she was very reluctant. So although sort of unreasonable I somewhat understand her insisting in the middle of the night when she could not fall back to sleep that she doesn’t want to do this anymore. FWIW, for years and years she insisted she HAD to be on medication to function, even though they weren’t working.

[Anonymous]

Picky eater? Along with all this other stuff?
We found out exactly what was going on with our kid's digestion on sequencing.com. No doctor was ever going to figure that one out.
If you can tango with the software, which is not easy, this sounds like a good puzzle for them. They use a cheek swab (follow instructions) and you just send it in the mail.

[Anonymous]

A 25mg starting dose of Lamictal does not cause insomnia. It's not even in her system. It's not like a stimulant that works immediately with a short half life. Lamictal takes weeks to get a good therapeutic level and once on it and tapered takes 10-14 days to leave.

Besides the rare side effect of rash (which is basically avoidable starting low and slowly titrating) the huge plus of Lamictal is the lack of side effects.

[Anonymous]

Lamictal is a godsend for me. It got rid of these horrible intrusive thoughts I was having, got rid of the suicidal ideations I had been experiencing daily for fifteen years, totally evened out my mood, etc. I was sort of a zombie for the first six weeks but I've been on it for over 10 years and I am so grateful for it. I hate to see her not make a good go of it.

Can she try something else for insomnia? Trazadone is a good option for that (for adults anyway)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Try a carnivore diet.

For extreme emotional dysregulation?? Interestingly she has sensory issues and eats only meat, potatoes, cheese and pasta.

Lose the potatoes, cheese, and pasta.

OP, I would not recommend carnivore diet for a child without looping in both a doctor amd a nutritionist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A 25mg starting dose of Lamictal does not cause insomnia. It's not even in her system. It's not like a stimulant that works immediately with a short half life. Lamictal takes weeks to get a good therapeutic level and once on it and tapered takes 10-14 days to leave.

Besides the rare side effect of rash (which is basically avoidable starting low and slowly titrating) the huge plus of Lamictal is the lack of side effects.

+1

This is 100% in her head. Fix the Insomnia first which is probably already triggering her anxiety more. School is coming back up. So the anxiety will start showing up in various forms. And now she's been sleep deprived probably up at night overthinking. Get this poor girl some Clonidine or Hydroxide at bedtime.