Extreme irritability, what is causing this??

This week I have been a mess. Like straight up A HOT HOLY MESS. Which is why I've been posting so much, sorry :/

I've had 3 episodes so far this week, and each of them involve me going off on my boyfriend and then crying for hours. Irritability is extremely unusual for me.

I started Lamotrigine not last tuesday, but the tuesday before.
Started at 25mg
Up to 50 mg on Thursday
Went up to 75 mg this past Tuesday

Yesterday I dropped effexor from 37.5 to half that. I had been on 37.5 for two weeks with no real effects, def did not feel this irratable.

I'm also PMSing, but on recently put on hormonal birth control to "help that".

I feel like I am completely someone else. The way I'm acting is totally out of the blue. I am trying to schedule an ASAP tdoc appointment today because I feel so out of control. I just can't stop being angry.

Could this be the lamotrigine? or is it the effexor? Or am I just chronically a mess and should go ahead and tell everyone close to me that I'm more trouble than I'm worth?

Sounds like it could be a mixed episode (if you are bipolar) I'm not sure which medication would be triggering it. Hope you get to see your tdoc soon.

I hope it isn't the lamotrigine! For me it has been a life saver and has helped me with irritability. I imagine you are on a low dose for how long you said you have been on it. I hope it will start helping you, it took me nearly a month to notice relief. If I had to guess I would think the irritability is from coming off the effexor. From what I have read on these forums a lot of people experience copious problems with stopping it.

Effexor is supposed to be hard to wean off from, I had mood instability coming down from it, not as bad as some things I'd heard though. That could be the culprit in your difficulty now.

Thanks guys, I think it's probably what it is.

I haven't been able to stop crying since last night. Woke up crying. Saw the tdoc, called the pdoc but no response. Jesus this sucks.

I had a miserable time coming off Effexor. Panic attacks, anger etc. I actually ended up in the hospital. Not fun!

I've had 3 episodes so far this week, and each of them involve me going off on my boyfriend and then crying for hours. Irritability is extremely unusual for me.

Just to be clear, by episode, I assume you're referring to instances of anger within a larger episode (or simply, bouts of anger). Lamictal doesn't tend to be activating, but maybe going down on the Effexor is contributing.

Keep in mind, and I know I'm a broken record with this, not every time we have bouts of anger is necessarily the bipolar at the helm. We all have issues outside of bipolar episodes --if there's a possibility that this has something to do with your relationship with your boyfriend (and maybe it doesn't, or only peripherally), then sometimes illness can end up being a side show for a real issue in the relationship, which can be addressed separately. Just putting it out there as a possibility.

Only read the title. People cause it by telling you that something is wrong. Inflicting fear. It's not you, it's the others that are crazy.

Please consider it could be the recent birth control pills. I've been warned by pdoc to never do "the shot" type because it can have a bad interaction on bp women and you would then have no way to get it out of your system for months. So it could be a med or the pill & there are different ones you can try.

Your birth control could be causing the irritability and bouts of crying. When I was on birth control it made me manic and super aggressive. You should contact your doctor about this issue and hopefully figure out what could be causing this. I hope you will feel better soon

I hope that you feel better soon. I've also been on Lamictal and I've felt more irritated lately. I'm currently on 200MG and I feel like everything sets me off.

Wow, just came back to this. Thank you all so much.

I think, honestly, it might be the birth control. I was so irritable on the last two days of BC (when hormones are the highest) and then once I got to the placebos I was fine.

Thank you all for your support. Simply Divine, I hope you get some relief soon. Fortunately, I don't think the Lamictal is causing that reaction in me.

Yep, I agree, could definitely be the BC I remember how insane my moods were when I first started the injectable, I was a wack job for nearly 2 months, cried once because a friend offered to blowdry my hair (which meant she thought I looked horrid) and would also fly into a rage at the drop of a hat...

Thankfully after I adjusted to the new hormones being pumped into my body I haven't had any issues since and been on my BC since 2005.