I take a large dose of Tegretol XR, and have taken it for about 7 years, and have more hair than I want. Lamictal never caused me any hair loss. Neither did Depakote or Trileptal. I did experience a period of hair loss on Lithium, but that side effect did eventually ease and wasn't an issue in the beginning of my treatment. I have not experienced any hair loss from any antipsychotic I've ever taken.

I don't know how effective Tegretol XR is at curbing or easing depression. I have never considered it particularly for depression. From what I've read, it tends to be a bit more efficacious for the manic side of the illness, however, I have not had much depression at all (beyond situational depression) for many years. Of the medications in my mix, I consider Lamictal, Seroquel XR, and Latuda to be the ones helpful for keeping my depression away or taking off any "depression edge". But who knows. Maybe Tegretol XR is a true moodstabilizer for me in terms of keeping away depression, and I just haven't fully realized it.

I find Tegretol XR to be the most side effect friendly moodstabilizer I've ever been on. It is weight neutral for me. The ONLY side effect that I think I get from it is clumsiness. If I was a professional dancer or tight rope walker, that would be very problematic, but I'm not. I do break things frequently, but don't generally fall. I confess that I have not felt comfortable riding my bike in a long time. I'm sure I could, though, but I'd have to be very mindful about it. I must say that when I first started Tegretol XR, I experienced double and blurry vision bouts, but that ceased as I grew used to the medication, and was more freaky than problematic. Only years later did I have another brief bout of double vision. My psychiatrist lowered my Tegretol XR from 1400 to 1200, and that did the trick.