Hi, I'm NikkiWhit

Hi @NikkiWhit! Welcome.... I have a good friend who lives in Victoria, so that's not too far from you! Have you ever tried a Ketogenic diet for your epilepsy? Just wondering..... Why is your tapering schedule so tight? Also, are they trying to cross-taper you from Sertraline onto Lamotrigine? Are you having issues with the Sertraline? Normally it's best to taper one drug at a time. You can read about Hyperbolic tapering in the Resources section. We'll be happy to support you the best we can during your taper! Catina ❤️

Wow Catina, thank you so much for your reply!! I didn’t realise you had replied - I’m new haha. Yes Victoria is very close! I think it snowballed into being so tight because my neurologist prescribed my lamotrigine with quite a quick taper (although he said it was slow). That was to get me to 100mg of lamotrigine twice a day in 10 weeks (25mg for 2 weeks, 50mg for 2 weeks, 60mg twice daily for 2 weeks, 75mg twice daily for 2 weeks, then 100mg twice daily for 2 months. Then I assume I get 100mg tablets as I think 100mg twice daily is the normal dose). The cross tapering is kind of incidental because I’m having side effect issues with Keppra, so I need to come off that anyway and so lamotrigine was recommended. As lamotrigine is a mood stabilizer, and I’ve wanted to come off sertraline for a long time now, it makes sense to just use lamotrigine to tackle both issues. I heard of the keto diet for epilepsy, I just haven’t tried it as I learnt about it when I was already on meds and had little kids. My neuro is happy for me to try no epilepsy meds once my kids are older and would be ok if I happened to have a seizure. So my end goal is to not be on meds for epilepsy itll just be a while till I can try that I think. But also incidentally I was trying the keto diet for cancer and it was very hard to do and I lost too much weight unfortunately. Def worth trying again one day but not looking forward to it haha. But I have heard great things in terms of epilepsy! Yes I was thinking I should maybe start with sertraline only? But unfortunately all 3 separate doctors I have on this all think it’s ok to do it all at the same time. I feel very stuck! I am very grateful for your support and any further advice for me right now! Thanks so much, Nikki

"Wow Catina, thank you so much for your reply!! I didn’t realise you had replied - I’m new haha." — @NikkiWhit

You're welcome! Sorry you didn't see my reply, but no worries at all. 😊

"Yes I was thinking I should maybe start with sertraline only? But unfortunately all 3 separate doctors I have on this all think it’s ok to do it all at the same time. I feel very stuck!" — @NikkiWhit

Tapering more than one drug at once is not recommended in the withdrawal community. If you have issues, you won't know what is causing what. Dealing with one drug at a time is much easier on your brain. Unfortunately, most doctors do not understand how to safely deprescribe psychiatric drugs or recognize withdrawal symptoms. If you need some suggestions on how to approach the subject with your doctors, here is some information that should help: https://taper.community/thread/dbb2cdbb-bb3d-4bb9-93ab-b33de4a3fd0b https://taper.community/resources/blog/how-to-talk-to-your-doctor-about-tapering