I only had side effects with lamictal when I first started it (sort of a flu feeling). However, with each dose increase (increased 25mg per week), the side effects lessened. By the time I hit 75mg, I had no side effects at all. That's important to know because you may feel more side effects starting lamictal but they probably will subside within a few weeks as your dose increases strangely enough.

I took my lamictal in the mornings. I don't think it really mattered when I took it; it didn't make me tired or nauseous.

SJS is extremely rare. It wasn't something that was ever an issue for me. At one point I had a rash, but my doctor felt pretty certain it was just a coincidental rash from something else and didn't panic too much about it. Sure enough, the rash went away within a day or so with no further problems. SJS rash, on those rare occasions that it does occur, is usually accompanied by other symptoms, not just a basic rash.

I never had any problem tapering off of lamictal.

My husband had to taper off lamictal because he was having memory issues at doses above 75 mgs. (The taper was not a problem for him either.) Honestly, the memory problem side effect is probably much more common than SJS and gets very little exposure; SJS is dramatic and very dangerous, so that is the side effect you hear most about when in actuality it affects only a very small portion of people on lamictal. But, again, even the memory problems only affect certain people. I never had any memory problems on lamictal and I was on a higher dose than my husband ever was. You just have to know yourself and know when things aren't feeling right. Oh, and my husband's memory issues reversed themselves once he got off lamictal, so no permanent damage.

Alcohol? As in all things when taking meds, moderation is the key. I'm not much of a drinker, so it was pretty much a non-issue, but when I do drink, I limit myself to one or two drinks.