Hi, I'm KR

August 28, 2026··

I've been on various different kinds and combos of psych meds for about 35 years. They have been for anxiety, panic attacks, and depression due to CPTSD. I've had balance problems for the past year and am tapering from Lamotrigine to see if it was a side effect. I've been tapering from 175 mg to currently 125 mg over 6 weeks now, reducing by 25 mg every 2 weeks. At the end of the 2nd week on 125 mg, I started getting mania, anxiety, restlessness, irritability, and now night time panic attacks (to the point of very brief suicidal ideation). My current psych med manager says to keep tapering at 25 mg every 2-3 weeks. No suggestions for how to manage the side effects. I'm thinking tapering at an even slower rate, but immediately go back up from 125 mg to go back up by 12.5 mg to 137.5 mg until stable then taper more slowly after that. How do I do that when the lowest tablet dose available is 25 mg? Any suggestions? Thanks!

Lamictal | Cymbalta | Wellbutrin | Vistaril / Atarax — 175 mg — 3 years — actively tapering

3 Replies

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Catina21d ago

Community AnchorEffexor

Hi @KR, welcome to Taper Community! Lamotrigine can definitely cause balance issues. That's a listed side effect. Your doctor - although well meaning - is tapering you entirely too fast. You need to have a discussion with him about tapering more slowly. Tapers should always be patient-led and tailored to what is best tolerated for each person. Everyone is different. To get doses under 25 mg you would need to cut/crush and weigh the tablets with a digital scale. We can assist you with this. https://taper.community/thread/dbb2cdbb-bb3d-4bb9-93ab-b33de4a3fd0b https://taper.community/resources/blog/how-to-talk-to-your-doctor-about-tapering Feel free to familiarize yourself with our community site. There is lots of helpful information that can assist you so you can safely taper off your drug. If you have any questions or further concerns, reach out anytime and one of our members will be glad to assist! Catina 🌸

Venlafaxine (tapering) - Current dose 17.92 mg
Trazodone - 50 mg
Levothyroxine - 25 mcg

“Your brain and body know how to heal. Trust the process and keep going.”

Please Note: I am not a healthcare professional. Any advice given is based on personal experience and that of others in the lay withdrawal community.

Azul21d ago

NavigatorKlonopin · active

Hi @KR sorry to hear you are having a hard time tapering. You need a scale and a razor to cut the pill and taper a % of the former dose. I'm familiar just with liquid tapering I use a pippete to do it. In YouTube you can find videos of people doing dry tapering. I follow The YT channel Psyq Sanctuary from Emma, she has made successfully tapering of benzos and now she's tapering Mirtazapine. Have a look, maybe it resonates with you and you find some valuable information.

Klonopin — 1,75mg — 6 months — actively tapering

KR12d ago

WelcomerLamictal

Thanks for those tips. I'm going to be trying to just decrease by 12.5mg every 2-3 weeks. I went back up from 125 to 137.5 to get stabilized again, and I'll be staying on that for 2-3 weeks before trying to decrease to 125 again. If that's too much of a drop, I'll probably have to go to using razor cutting to get a % decrease.

Lamictal | Cymbalta | Wellbutrin | Vistaril / Atarax — 175 mg — 3 years — actively tapering

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