I am taking Depakote er now and my psychiatrist has decided to add Lamictal. I am taking a very low dose of Lamictal that will gradually be increased. Eventually as I am reaching a therapeutic level, my psychiatrist will be decreasing my Depakote er dosage. I wanted to get off Depakote er so I can begin losing some weight again. Depakote er causes weight gain. My psychiatrist says that Lamictal does not cause weight gain. Does anyone have a favorable view of Lamictal vs. taking Depakote er?

[MyBestKids2]

Hi jersey_joe_in_fl

I have been taking Lamictal for about a year now. I was so very happy when the medicaton went to generic. I am very happy with the results, and have had no side effects. Of course, I am only speaking for myself.
I had taken Depakote for 2 years, and do think the Lamictal is doing a much better job, without the weight gain.

Good Luck,

Dee

Thanks for the imput Dee! I cannot wait until I get off of Depakote. My psychiatrist says it will take 3 months to complete the entire transition to Lamictal. I am on the starter sample kit for those taking Depakote. I just hope that I don't get a rash which is rare but can be serious. If I don't get a rash by the end of the month, I will fill my prescription and get the generic.

Joe

quote=MyBestKids2;997914]Hi jersey_joe_in_fl

I have been taking Lamictal for about a year now. I was so very happy when the medicaton went to generic. I am very happy with the results, and have had no side effects. Of course, I am only speaking for myself.
I had taken Depakote for 2 years, and do think the Lamictal is doing a much better job, without the weight gain.

Good Luck,

Dee[/quote]

[Crazynurse]

Joe....I suppose you want the good reviews along with the bad...I too took Depakote and within months looked like a big ole pig....in the past 6 months I was tried on Lamictal...I was wide open manic when we started the titration and as you know, with the wide open manic comes irritability which is also one of the side effects of Lamictal...well by the time I reached 100mg, I was in a state of what they called "lamictal induced RAGE"....I was firing everybody, my Internist of 14 yrs, my Pdoc and even my husband (my Internist and husband refused to be fired thank goodness). Needless to say, the lamictal was stopped. Just something you may want to watch for along with the more publized rash.

Good luck...

[gravyyy]

Hi Joe... I have been taking Lamictal for about a year now. I'm also on several different meds so it's hard for me to say what works and what doesn't. I can tell you that the Lamictal didn't cause me any great side effects. I don't know that it worked tremendously well but it didn't create any problems for me either. I'm working all my meds around now and the pdoc says the final result will be Lithium and Lamictal. I know he loves the drug and again, I can't say anything negative about it but I don't know what good it's doing since I'm on a few meds... can't single one out. I hope it works well for you. Depakote for me was not a good drug. Take care!!

[mvanessa]

I took depakote once and it made me sick. ;( I am on lamictal now, and so far, so good.

I have been taking depakote for a year and four months. Only weight gain and a constant craving for carboydrates happened to me. I hope that Lamictal will work for me.

Originally Posted by mvanessa

I took depakote once and it made me sick. ;( I am on lamictal now, and so far, so good.

[suze999]

I don't know about depakote, but I've been taking Lamictal for five years and the only side effect for me is some really annoying constipation. Oh, and pocket book pain, over $200 a month for 300 mg daily, and that's the recent generic. No weight gain -- in fact I've lost 40 lbs (dieting, not a side effect) since starting. That's got more to do with getting depression under control. I think it works very well, but I've never been on another mood stabilizer so nothing to compare it to.