[widgets]

I was on here a few months ago and saw this mentioned a lot, i started it yesterday, 50mg but will be 150 within a month and now i cant find really any info on it.
Could anyone share stories and experiences, good, bad, ugly, neutral! i dont mind!! Just want to know how its affected others!
so far, i've only taken it twice, so obviously wont have really got anything out of it, all i know is when i started seroquel and prozac and mirtazapine i really knew about. this feels more like citalopram, can lamictal cause mania or hypo mania?
i've been feeling 'timeless,' and 'immortal,' i cant explain it well, but things feel more in focus but less real, and i feel myself talking and laughing with people, but not really sure what about!
Obviously all of this could be completely nothing to do with lamictal!

[Forgive77]

Originally Posted by widgets

I was on here a few months ago and saw this mentioned a lot, i started it yesterday, 50mg but will be 150 within a month and now i cant find really any info on it.
Could anyone share stories and experiences, good, bad, ugly, neutral! i dont mind!! Just want to know how its affected others!
so far, i've only taken it twice, so obviously wont have really got anything out of it, all i know is when i started seroquel and prozac and mirtazapine i really knew about. this feels more like citalopram, can lamictal cause mania or hypo mania?
i've been feeling 'timeless,' and 'immortal,' i cant explain it well, but things feel more in focus but less real, and i feel myself talking and laughing with people, but not really sure what about!
Obviously all of this could be completely nothing to do with lamictal!

You just might not be on enough yet that's all. I like it, and it helps me with no side effects.

[palemoss]

my roommate has been on Lamictal for over a year now i think. it's worked for her. somewhat. she still gets depressed and can easily get drunk but she is not manic anymore - occasionally she will get very anxious but takes buspar for that.

i think she's better now just bc she knows herself more these days...when she was diagnosed it was right after junior of college so...crazy times.

[dragonfly2]

Lamictal, in rare cases, can cause mania or agitation. My daughter is one of these cases. She and I are both on it and for me it has been a wonderful med. Certainly not the only thing I need, but it has helped with the cycling immensely. I still get breakthrough depressions and take Wellbutrin to help with that. I am on 300mg and have been on it for 9 years. My daughter has been on it for about a year, but reacts badly to higher dosages.

Do you chart your moods? Now would be a good time to start if you don't already. You can find some good mood charts online. How many hours a night are you sleeping? Are you coming out of a depression or have you been cycling for a while? If you feel like you're beginning to ramp up, let your doctor know. You could be one of those people who gets manic on Lamictal. I hope things even out for you soon.

[BlackPup]

it helped my depression....

[SmilingMask]

I have recently started taking it as well; right now only 25 mg- next week 50mg and eventually up to 150mg; Pdoc is doing it slow. So far I like it; it has gotten me up and cleaning and socializing somewhat. I did have some drinks the 3rd day I took it and I didn't like how I felt the next day but I don't drink all that often so it doesn't matter if I give it up.
Im paranoid over the rash...apparently a VERY small portion of the population can have a reaction that is a dangerous rash. I understand that if you don't see it by week 3-4 and your dose is upped you will be ok.
I found alot about it on webmd and just by googling it.

[Hope-Full]

I actually got the "lamictal rash" and was only on it for about 8 days. The rash is pretty rare, but can be dangerous, so it was checked off the med list before I really felt any benefits at all.

[BNLsMOM]

I had a reaction that led my lymph nodes to swell up all over my body. I tried it twice with several months between and I got the lymph nodes both times. My pdoc called it an allergy and said that it is related to the rash eventhough I never got the rash itself.

[mgran]

When I first went on it, I went manic for maybe the first week, in which time I wrote a novel. Whether the novel is any good or not, doesn't matter... the fact is I was completely manic.

Of course, I still think it was a reasonably good novel.

Since my body got used to it, it seems to have stabilised me. And when I got a rash, it turned out to be shingles, not the med.

[katertot]

i'm on 400mgs a day. i like it. it's never given me any trouble. it helped stabilise my mood quite a bit. i occasionally, if stressed greatly, get depressed or a little hypomanic, but i have to have a good reason to get that way, like the death of a loved one or someone being in an accident. i think in that case it's inevitable no matter what meds i'm on. it took about a month to get stabilised on it, so you need to give it time. good luck!

[yagalada]

Once I got to 300 I started having headaches that felt like electric zaps, I got very dizzy and started seeing spots.
I had to go off and now take seroquel xr.

[SerenityNow1981]

I'm still adjusting to it, but I like it a lot. It helped me lose some of the negative thoughts, and it made me slightly manic, which I of course love. I have headaches still and was dizzy when I got up to 100mg a dose, but that is gone and the headaches are a small price to pay for not wanting to cut or kill myself.

Nothing I am worried about, but I took it in the AM to start with and it made me groggy, so I take it at bedtime and I have the most horrible dreams. But, like I said, I'm willing to live with that over the alternative. I have a feeling that I might have to add something for anxiety here soon.

[SingDanceRunLife]

I was on Lamictal for 2 months...

At first, the only noticeable effect was that it made me sleep. This was great because I hadn't been sleeping well.

A couple weeks in, my best friend and counselor said that I seemed more mellow and less irritable.

After I increased to 50mg, I got the worst headaches of my life...literally nothing helped them, and they lasted for about a week. After that, I started to notice that I was doing better...becoming more functional. After a few weeks at 50mg though, I realized that the dose wasn't high enough, so my pdoc increased me to 100mg. That's where the problems started.

100mg made me insanely itchy, and gave me a rash. The nausea I had as a side effect the entire time also worsened. I was a lot more stable, but the itching was out of control. The rash also worried me. I got it checked out and was told that it was benign, but since I wasn't feeling as stable as I knew I could be, I decided to talk to my pdoc. At first he said that we should increase the Lamictal, but I was completely against that because the side effects at 100mg were almost unbearable, so I didn't even want to think about what they would be like at a higher dose.

Overall my experience with Lamictal wasn't bad...it just wasn't really good either.

One of my best friends is on it and he absolutely loves it. I literally cannot tell you the number of times I've heard him say that he loves it and how great it is etc. Just shows that everyone is different.

I'm now on Zyprexa, and I love it. Other than making me gain some weight, I've had zero side effects, and I'm feeling so much more stable and happy. It's a great drug for me!

[widgets]

Thanks for you're info guys!! Made me feel a lot less worried now i know a few things about it!
I havent got any rashes, but my whole body has been itching ALOT!
i'm on 50 mg, for 2 weeks, then 100 mg for a week, then 150 for a further week, i feel doctors always give me such high doses of stuff, when i see other peoples doses!
so far, i've been on it since Thursday, and have been tracking everything as well as just my moods. I've had nausea in the mornings, but have been sleeping really well at night and having very VIVID dreams.
My moods been cycling during the day, but its not extreme, i go from fine and happy, then i'll be pissed off and snappy for a bit, its not mania, hypo mania or depression.
I've been cycling for a long time now, i havent been depressed for a few months, but the doctor said its like a prevention rather than cure thing, and even though i havent been depressed i've still been extremely anxious and needy and have extreme catastrophic thinking.
The itching is annoying me alot? is there anything that can help with this?

[dragonfly2]

First, I'd let your doctor know about the itching. Sometimes Benedryl (diphenhydramine) can help with allergic itching, as this does sound like it may be an allergic reaction. Again, check with your doctor first. Benedryl can make you feel sleepy, so be cautious with it.

As for your dosage, 150 mg really isn't that high. I think 200 mg is a common target dose, and I have been on up to 350mg before. That's about as high as they recommend for bipolar disorder, though they sometimes go higher in epileptics.

[SingDanceRunLife]

Originally Posted by widgets

Thanks for you're info guys!! Made me feel a lot less worried now i know a few things about it!
I havent got any rashes, but my whole body has been itching ALOT!
i'm on 50 mg, for 2 weeks, then 100 mg for a week, then 150 for a further week, i feel doctors always give me such high doses of stuff, when i see other peoples doses!
so far, i've been on it since Thursday, and have been tracking everything as well as just my moods. I've had nausea in the mornings, but have been sleeping really well at night and having very VIVID dreams.
My moods been cycling during the day, but its not extreme, i go from fine and happy, then i'll be pissed off and snappy for a bit, its not mania, hypo mania or depression.
I've been cycling for a long time now, i havent been depressed for a few months, but the doctor said its like a prevention rather than cure thing, and even though i havent been depressed i've still been extremely anxious and needy and have extreme catastrophic thinking.
The itching is annoying me alot? is there anything that can help with this?

Talk to your doctor about the itching, and in all likelihood they will say take some Benadryl.

Your experience sounds a lot like mine with the itching, really good sleep and morning nausea, but I hope it turns out better!

[xp1155]

I was on Lamictal years ago and it helped with the depression but made my mania stronger. The only side effect I had was dry mouth. I was bumped up to 300mg and was frustrated with my p-doc, so I went off and didn't take anything else for a long time.

I am now on it again and it worked well with Seroquel, but doesn't seem to be doing anything now that I am off Seroquel. I think I simply need to get up to a higher dose and find something that plays nice with it and my body. Just as last time, my only side effect is dry mouth.

I think, for Bipolar, it is a good option if used with something else or if you are depressed more than manic (at least that's what I was told). I will keep taking it and see how it works when I bump up the dose.

[Skeeter89]

i was on lamictal and prozac a few years back when i could afford medication for my bipolar disorder i never found any problems with taking lamictal it took a while to stabilize me but once i was i was able to actually function well at my job without having racing thoughts and going a mile a minutes all night long. Taking the prozac helped me from getting into my extreme lows i've been put on many different meds for bipolar lamictal was the best one for me being without it now i can definitely see the difference it made in my every day life

[widgets]

I was on Prozac for 2 weeks, it was the worst 2 weeks of my entire life. I look back on it now and barely remember, but i was totally off the wall on that, too paranoid to go out, but like a bull in a china shop in my house.
I'm not really feeling any effects i can put my finger on right now with the lamictal, but i'm only on 50mg right now.