Does Lamictal make anyone else hypomanic / energetic?

I am prescribed 300 mg Lamictal / day, mostly to treat bipolar depression.

It really makes me wired sometimes – almost like the effects of Adderall but without the intense anxiety / comedown. It even seems to help my concentration and focus.

Basically, I really feel hypomanic on it – again, without some of the more negative aspects – flight of ideas, too, and less sleep.

Is this a common side effect, and has anyone else experienced it?

I should add – Lamictal is the best drug I have ever tried to control my depressive episodes – and I have been on lithium, Depakote, Abilify, Seroquel, Geodon, and some SSRIs, and had multiple psych admits before I learned how to manage my illness.

I can't give you a good answer. I'm only a couple weeks in with taking it, but what you describe sounds pretty darn attractive to me! So far all I have noticed is that I sleep very well after taking it and that my thoughts have slowed down. I am looking forward to seeing where things stand when I get up to a therapeutic range.

It takes away the hypomania for me.

My doc told me after 250mg that he sees mania. He only told me this because I had symptoms of mania on 25 mg. idk if this is just his opinion or what maybe something to talk to your doc about

lamital is one of my favorites. and i took it during the morning it really helped me wake up.

I take 200 mg of Lamictal daily. I was on Celexa when I started this whole process, which didn't cause any trouble until I ramped up the Lamictal from 150 to 200. Then HELLO! I went into a full-blown manic episode. That's when I was put on Zyprexa, which took care of the mania and brought me down to a very comfortable mood level.

Well, I didn't have any intention of staying on an antipsychotic, but it's almost 2 months later and I'm still taking it because I tried coming off the Celexa and it threw me into a mixed episode. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll need the antimanic properties for some time to come because the Lamictal isn't enough to contain the mania, nor is it enough to prevent the mixed episodes. However, it does help mellow me out, and I no longer have much anxiety; it also has had no side effects except for some daytime drowsiness in the early going. I expect I'll be on it for life, as long as there's some room to go up on it when I need to and it keeps working.

It didn't seem to affect me that way. I think generally it's considered a mood stabilizer, but, then, different drugs affect people differently.

I've come to look at my bipolar treatment as a three-legged stool: the Celexa to keep depression away, Zyprexa to prevent manic episodes, and Lamictal to hold everything together. And of course, some Ativan for sleep!

My problem with anti-psychotics is the sleepiness. During one psych admit for depression, they put me on 300mg of Seroquel and told me that the sleepiness would eventually fade. It never did, and it just made it easier to do nothing with my days beyond laying in bed and sleeping.

And actually, Geodon was worse. I would be in bed 16 hours at a time and physically unable to get up.

I sure wish Lamictal gave me energy! But no it doesn't. I have to take all of my meds at night because they make me sleepy. Good luck to you.

It gives me headaches too -- but not always.

But it's really been the most effective drug I have ever been on.

And Depakote was really effective at stopping my obsessive thinking ... ok I am going off on a tangent now. :-)

Yes, it threw me into minor hypomanic episodes even at 100 mg. I had to drop back to 15 mg. once daily in order to maintain stability. Then, I developed some acne from it---that's all over the internet now from folks having problems with that.

You can see how very, very sensitive we can all be to various medications prescribed.

I use 10 mg Prozac once a day now with 7.5 mg Deplin (the form of concentrated folic acid converted to folate which can cross the blood-brain barrier and is very helpful to me for calmness). I really appreciate my psychiatrist adding Deplin.

(For more information on it, check Deplin.com)

I thought Lamictal was one of the best medications on the market for those who could take it. It had fewer side effectis initially than any other medication I had been prescribed, besides Depakote (but that made my fair fall out!!) and was told that it would after I had been on it for several months. So that one was out.

Genetic