Lamictal

Good? Bad? Ugly?

My new p-doc calls it "one of the big guns."

It was either that or Lithium. I wanted a lower maintenance, less toxic drug.

I think lamictal worked pretty well for me. I say think because I was taking in a cocktail of meds and I have a bad tendency to go off and on meds.

It's worked really well for me so far. I've been up to dosage (200 mg for me) for 3 weeks now, and it's evened me out considerably. Took the nice slow titration route (like their "starter packs" have, though I didn't have one of those) and experienced no troubles with side effects (I had a couple days of achey muscles, no biggie) My biggest trouble is with the depression side of things and it's definitely reduced the invasive thoughts in a big way. And taken away that.... visceral level of despair that comes with a bad depression.

I still have some up and down, but not nearly what it was.

(As an added bonus, it's taken away my desire to "self-medicate" with drinking! I know that was a bad thing to do, but let's face it, a lot of folks do, so it's a good thing to know. In fact, I just got back from a bar, where everyone was drinking. I had soda water and a bowl of and it didn't bother me in the least. Ha, at least till people started repeating themselves, then I went home!)

(Just peeked in the other thread... glad to hear your appt. went well, BNSsMOM!)
Good luck with the Lamictal!!!

Lamictal seems like a placebo for me. I had it for a month of severe depression with no change. When I came off of Seroquel, and still on it, I went into a manic episode for more than 2 months. Since the ever-changing anti-psychs and starting to crash from lack of sleep (early October), I've been in a mixed or depressive mood. And after getting up to 200mg Lamictal, I've had a dose between that and 300. It's shown no effect that I can tell.

But I hear it works wonders for other people. Maybe it did stoke my hypo/mania, but my body just adjusted to it.

I'm on both Lamictal and lithium. Not sure what they're doing for me even though I just had a blood test that said I was in the "therapeutic range" for lith.

Everyone's different and hope is always the important thing. If Geodon doesn't work for me, I think I may give up on meds. I feel like a freak.

Sorry. Wishing you the best of luck.

I've been on Lamictal for about 5 years now. Varying doses and a few times off it. It seems to spread things out quite a bit, but I see where it takes some time for it to fully kick in. I was off meds for a couple of weeks, and when I realized that wasn't working so well, my doc started me stair stepping back on it. At first I thought it wasn't working, but it's been about 6wks to 2 months since I started back and now I'm noticing my swings are slower, and not quite as harsh. My side effects aren't too unbearable. I overheat and sweat alot, but taking black cohosh suppliments seems to help. It also seems to make my fatigue worse, but the Vyvanse helps combat that. I worry that it's the source of my memory fog, but so many of the meds I have taken or could switch too have that as a possible side effect. Since mood wise it seems to help, I guess I'll just have to live with becoming the crazy old lady who tells the same stories over and over again, even tho I'm 26, :P

I just went up 100mg in dose and I don't see any change in mood right now, but I was severe before.

I tried lamatical 2x and couldn't do it. The side affects were severe and lithium I could get past the headaches as we increased the dosage. I take cymbalta and Geodone now. Im finding we have to increase and decrease the geodone depending on my sleep and mood cycles. But this seems to be working.

I have been on Lamictal for several years now. I am taking 200 mg at bedtime and it has been wonderful for me. It really helps keep me stable. I was on Lithium quite a while back and it caused me to have thyroid issues, so I was taken off of the medication. ( I also take Seroquel XR and Klonopin )I don't have any side effects from it any longer. Good luck and I hope it works well for you.
((((hugs))))
~beautiful madness~

I have been on lamictal for 4 years now and it is the only drug or combo of drugs that has worked for me. 300mg. It really just made my mind clear itself out and got rid of the terrible overwhelming insights/voice in my head. My memory is shot, but it helped me forget a lot of the bad times.

Lithium failed to stop the mania for me, but it works for my mom (I'm a third generation bipolar - the force is strong in our family The swings have definitely been muted, but i still have minor swings, which are manageable though. I do feel some anxiety here and there, but I think that is just me and not the meds.

I tried Lamictal but it just didn't do the trick. :-(
I am on Lithium and have been for fifteen years. Blood test a couple of times a year---that's all.

Thanks everyone, I took my first 25mg dose the night before yesterday. I think this is a coincidence, but I woke up with a killer headache this morning. I had about a thousand images per second flashing through my head, as if someone was flipping a book of photos and lights behind my eyelids. It was exhausting. I took some ibuprofen and the pain is gone, but I am wiped out because I was partially awake all night with head and back pain.

I am not going to judge the Lamictal based on one dose, but I am definitely going to keep track of how I feel each day before I see p-doc on Dec. 4.

I got horrendous migraines when I first started lamictal, but they went away in a few weeks. Lamictal worked really well for me. I felt a bit dumb,but I was the happiest stable dummy ever LOL