Question: I took my first dose of Trileptal (trying to replace lamictal for mood/borderline/trauma symptoms) early last evening when I felt myself starting to feel hypomanic and slightly of control. Some of the impulsive thoughts continued but the visceral feeling of being amped up reduced a lot.

I felt less excitable, somewhat blunted, and yet I felt a weird hint of my emotional defenses and alienation slipping away. A bit of my typical late-day confusion/trouble concentrating dropped. A wasn't fighting in my head or feeling accusations being hurled at me from everywhere. I didn't feel the whole world watching and judging my every move.

Before bed I took the other half of the 300 mg trileptal -- along with half of my nighttime lamictal dose--and fell asleep easily. It was a little tough waking but I spent a few hours very zoned out and somewhat blunted sitting in bed staring at things. I felt kind of useless but my mood was ok

I figured my morning meds (half an effexor xr which I have been weaning off from) might get me going but 30 mins after effexor I was in the worst sense of despair and depression. I took my morning Lamictal, no better; not even ritalin lifted me up.

Intense sadness lasted a while, along with a fog, and abated in the late afternoon.

Now I'm not sure if I should continue the Trileptal at all. Strangely the mood didn't deteriorate until the effexor, although the drop in lamictal might have some of the blame. I remember something very similar happening years ago when I added depakote to Prozac and also lithium with either Celexa or Zoloft.

Would that suggest that what I consider normal/ok feeling is really a constant hypomania and that the awful despair is "baseline" achieved through the mood stabilizer? In some of the cases I did feel much more in terms of subtle emotions and less shame.

Can you shed any light here please?
Thank you