Lamictal questions

This is by no means me asking medical advice, but I wanted to reach out to other people who take/have taken Lamictal. I was just diagnosed as being on the Bipolar Spectrum (probably type II but my psychiatrist is still working on classification). I was prescribed Lamictal. 25 mg. for 2 weeks, then 50 mg. and so on.

How can you tell if Lamictal is working? How does it make you feel if it's working?

Also, will Lamictal help with my sleep problems? Should I take it in the morning or evening?

Thanks in advance!

I started on 25 mg when I was diagnosed with Bipolar II almost two weeks ago. On Monday, I will be starting 50 mg. Two weeks after that, I will then go to 100 mg and stay there. I heard that's the average process to make sure you don't have any side affects.

In all honesty, it's hard to say. I'm still working on my impulsiveness, as that hasn't gone away yet. I still have episodes of lows, but I haven't experienced any mania since. I think the 50 mg will show some results.

I was previously on Zoloft, which I started taking in February. I was always hyper-manic until I'd hit a wall and have to up my dosage.

Which is why it's hard for me to really pinpoint if the Lamictal is working because I'm not 24/7 overly happy like I was when starting Zoloft. I guess that is what the Lamictal is for, to regulate those highs and lows. I can admit though that I miss those highs. I felt on top of the world. However, I'd give that up to never experience my lowest of lows again.

Take your medicine first thing in the morning. I had trouble sleeping the first few days. It wasn't that I had a lot of energy, I just couldn't sleep.

I also felt a little dizzy the first week, but it went away.

I take mine first thing in the morning. I couldn't tell a difference until I was on 100 mg. I had a short stint of "good" on 50mg but then "plateaued". I could tell it was working because I felt calmer and clearer headed. My sleep patterns still aren't worked out but my doctor thinks that will happen when I get to 200 mg (I'm on 150 mg). She even tried me on a number of sleeping pills. The only one that worked was the one that my insurance won't cover (go figure). So, I would buy 6 pills at a time on cash. I tried Melatonin last night with mixed results. I was able to fall asleep fine, woke up around 1 am, then fell back asleep around 4 and slept until 6:30. That's good for me.

I hope you get to feeling bettter soon.

I noticed a difference at 50. It pulled me out of depression first but I was hypomanic (at a mostly manageable level) for weeks before I started evening out. I was on 100 for several months and pretty stable but still having a few highs and lows that needed help so I went to 200 and have been stable.

I take 200 mg twice a day. It has helped with my temper and has kept me out of depression since I started it about 3 years ago. It has been my miracle drug.

Thanks for the great responses!

I'm on Day 3 and I feel more mellow and even-keeled. I'm not sure if this is a placebo effect, since I haven't been on lamictal long, or if it's truly the drug. Could it really work that fast?

It seems too help stabillze my depression and help with mixed episodes, but I don't think it helps me much with sleep. I take 400 mg, 200 mg in the morning, 200 mg at night. I have had bad sleep problems since I was little. I remember being 3 or 4 and unable to fall asleep. I think it's the Seroquel & Clonidine that knock me out at night, especially the Seroquel.

I've never felt any side effects from Lamictal, and I've been taking it for some 13 years. I was on 150mg all that time (except when I was originally titrating) and it never made me tired. Now when I went up to 400 mg, a specialist in BP told me that, at that dose, it 'may' make me sleepy, so now I take it at night. I couldn't tell you if at 400mg it makes me sleepy or not because I also take something else at night for sleep. Good luck on your journey!

I have the EXACT same sleep problems. I've had insomnia as far back as I can remember. When I was in elementary school, I was always the last one up at sleepovers. If I even slept at all.

My sleep problems have worsened over the years and are partly why I sought treatment. This spring, I went for two weeks only sleeping 2 hours/night. It was hell. And rarely do non-prescription sleep aids help. Tylenol PM, Benadryl, NyQuil all do nothing. Codeine keeps me awake. I had a short dose of Ambien once and that worked, but I couldn't take it on consecutive days or it had a rebound effect.

If I ask my psychiatrist, will she prescribe sleep aids or am I just supposed to hope the regular bipolar meds will help?

Kind of unusual with Lamictal, still, I think you could feel some positive effect after 3 days.

I know Lamictal is helping me because I don't feel angry all the time, I feel more objective, and I'm able to control my emotions and reactions much more easily.


As for sleep...hmm. I don't think Lamictal does much for sleep.

Lamictal is probably one of the best bipolar medications. It works on serotonin, glutamate, and gaba. It helps with anxiety, depression, and is a good mood stabilizer. It's better at preventing depressive episodes than manic or hypomanic episodes. Some studies have found that it's not very effective in preventing mania. But it's great for depression. Some people with unipolar depression are prescribed lamictal for treatment resistant depression.

It’s a seizure medication actually but it was found off label to work mainly on the depressive end of Bipolar.

Whatever doctor that took the risk of trying it needs an award.

I’m happy to be on it

I was up to 150mg twice a day. I was more hypomanic than anything. But everyone is different.

Lamictal didn’t help me until I got up to 100mg for a few days. Then it pulled me out of a pretty bad depression. I’ve been MOSTLY stable with a few blips here and there since May. I’m hoping it will keep me stable as I start working again. I know I have room to go up on it though.

Edited to add: I use depakote for the manic side of things.

I have Bipolar Type 1.
I was on a total of 200mg Lamictal almost 3 years ago.
Unfortunately in my case, I was very manic at the time and Lamictal didn’t even touch the sides.
I was put onto Lithium pretty quick, which worked.

It took me until I hit 125 mg before Lamictal did much for me. After that the depression got better fast, and a side benefit was that it took away my desire to overeat compulsively. I did have to go higher on it over time. I don't think it does much for the manic side of things, but a big bump up from 300 to 400 mg in the hospital really helped with my suicidal depression and it's never been that bad since then.

When I took Lamictal it made me so tired that I once fell asleep while standing up. I would fall asleep at work, and had to get off of it.
I am now on Epical (depakote) and find it much better