LAMICTAL Reviews (LAMOTRIGINE)Average Rating: 3.4 (1917 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare LAMICTAL with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
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Results are sorted by Gender with females listed first (reviews with no gender reported listed before females). Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.) Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 |
More on LAMICTAL: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR LAMICTAL | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 5 | BI POLAR | I SEEM TO GET GITTERY AFTER TAKING IT FOR ABOUT 1 HOUR. I FIDIGET ALOT MORE. I HAVE ALSO HAD A CONSTANT HEADACHE. NO RASH THOUGH. MY MIND SEEMS A LITTLE FOGGY.***IT IS VERY EXPENSIVE!!!!!***** ( I DO NOT HAVE INSURENCE) | I TAKE LAMICTAL, EFFEXOR XR,OMEGA 3, B12, B6, AND FOLIC ACID. MY DOC SAYS THAT AN INCREASE OF FOLIC ACID WILL HELP WITH ENERGY. I AM FEELING A TON BETTER AND CAN CONTROL MY MOODS ALOT BETTER. I WAS DIAGNOSED BP 10 YEARS AGO BUT REFUSED TO ACCEPT IT. I WAS NOT CRAZY! WELL, AFTER 10 YEARS OF DRUG ABUSE, 2 BAD MARRIAGES, HOMELESSNESS, AND ON AND ON (ALL OF YOU WHO SUFFER KNOW EXACTLY WHAT EXTREAMS I AM TALKING ABOUT). MY LIFE HAS TURNED AROUND (AGAIN)BUT I COULD FEEL MYSELF SLIPPING,LIKE I ALWAYS DO. I DO NOT WANT TO HAVE TO ALWAYS PICK UP THE PIECES OF THE MESSES I HAVE MADE EVERY FEW MONTHS OR YEARS. SO NOW THAT MY LIFE IS STABLE I AM VERY GREATFUL FOR THESE MEDICATIONS. I NO LONGER "SELF MEDICATE",I HAVE BEEN SOBER FOR 2 YEARS NOW. MY LIFE IS STABLE WITH A GOOD MARRIAGE AND 4 CHILDREN. (4 KIDS IS ENOUGH TO MAKE ANYONE BP!). I DID ALOT OF RESEARCH ON BP AND ALL OF THE MEDICATION, I CHOOSE THIS ONE BECAUSE I FELT IT HAD THE MOST TOLERABLE SIDE EFFECTS. I HAVE BEEN ON MORE PILL | F | 24 | 1.5 days | 10/12/2007 | 5 | Bipolar | I don’t remember if I experienced any noticeable side effects when I first started the medicine, but I was aware what the minor side effects were and I think my body just got use to them. Never had acne/rash as a side effect. But, last July, I began having neurological problems (trigeminal/occupital neuralgia) and I pieced together problems that I’ve had since 2004, but they are getting worse. The side effects of Lamictal mimic symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis. Some of the similar symptoms include: Memory loss, confusion, hand tremors, feelings of exhaustion, loss of balance, intense itching, blurred vision (only my right eye though), etc. | Started with 100mg for first 3 years, but increased to 300mg per day... 100mg in morning and 200mg night. Has anyone else noticed additional side effects with long-term use? My other neurological symptoms include: Body stiffness, drift into a wall or object, unable to maintain body temperature (cold hands/feet), out of breath, sharp muscle pain, tripping over feet, tight/stiff wrists, stiff/sore joints, loss to hearing, changes in eyesight, electric-shock like pain on right side of face only., etc. The side effects/symptoms never occur simultaneously... one day I will have one problem and then the next day I will have another problem. Does this sound familiar? | F | 40 | 4 years | 4/24/2007 | 5 | SEIZURE? GP THINKS I JUST FAINTED | NAUSEA IN THE MORNING AFTER I TOOK MY PILL. IT WILL GO AWAY IF I EAT SOMETHING AFTER TAKING IT. I WAS ON PHENYTOIN AND LAMICTAL BUT AFTER CHANGING NEUROLOGIST WAS TAKEN OFF OF PHENYTOIN AND LEFT ON LAMICTAL. SHE SAYS IT IS A SAFTER MEDICINE TO TAKE. I AM CURRENTLY TAKING 100MG ONCE A DAY. | I HAD MY FIRST SEIZURE 15 MONTHS AGO. NO HEAD INJURIES OCCURED. HOWEVER I WAS UNDER A LOT OF STRESS AFTER MY MOTHER'S DEATH. MY FAMILY DOCTOR THINKS THAT I JUST FAINTED BECAUSE I JUST FELT FUNNY NO JERKING OR JUMPING OF ANY KIND. I JUST LEANED BACK AGAINST THE SEAT AND WHEN I WORK UP PARAMEDICS HAD LAID ME ON THE FLOOR AND I WAS ABLE TO ANSWER ALL THEIR QUESTIONS. ALL TESTS WERE NEGATIVE. BASICALLY VERY HEALTH AND ONLY ON BLOOD PRESSURE MEDICINE UNTIL THEN. SEIZURE OR FAINTING? I GUESS I WILL NEVER KNOW. | F | 57 | 15 months | 10/10/2007 | 5 | Borderline Personality Disorder | Dizziness if I miss medication. Trouble with memory loss, use of words, and loss of appetite. Three doctors have diagnosed me with Borderline and two argue I'm Bipolar. So I suppose the medication works for both. | With the dizziness, it always happens if I take it too late or miss it completely. The memory loss tends to be short term. Sometimes I can't seem to remember what I said just after I say it. Also my loss of appetite has gotten worse..but thinking it may just be my anxiety issues? Other than all of that... I have held a job for almost 2 years and a relationship for almost 3. Couldn't have done that before the Lamictal. (100 mg of Lamictal & also take 100mg of Seroquel) | F | 25 | 2 years | 4/24/2006 | 5 | Bipolar-II | Neck muscle & head soreness. Not enough to make me stop taking the medication, however. | It's a great mood stabilizer. | F | 52 | 3 months | 4/26/2006 | 5 | Bipolar NOS | Mild headache, which went away after a day or two; tremor in hand (making it difficult to bring a spoon of soup to my mouth, or to separate pages of the paper); cotton-headed - trouble concentrating; trouble speaking - words got garbled, or I couldn't find the right word | Evened out mood swings, irritability and depression; I feel better than I have in years, wish I'd found this sooner; the difficulty concentrating and speaking bothered me the most, it started to affect my work (law) so reduced dosage from 300 mg to 200 and that seems to have cleared this up - now I'm clear-headed as well as happy. | F | 49 | 8 months | 6/1/2006 | 5 | Bipolar 1/ADHA | None yet | I was very concerned about the possible side affects of this medication. I have only been on Lamictal (25mg) for 9 days but so far so good. It seems to be helping alot. | F | 35 | 9 days | 6/2/2006 | 5 | Migraine prevention | Vision got blurry at first- only with objects far away. Went away after taking full dose at night (instead of splitting 25mg twice daily). My mind felt very foggy, but this also became minor/unnoticable when taking full dose at night. The side effects must be in my dreams now! The only thing I notice now is that I'm a little groggy in the morning- but I usually am anyways. | So far, it's working great. I initially took topamax for migraines (first medication I tried), but I had bad side effects from it. My doctor switched me to Lamictal. I've been taking it for about a month now- and it's much better than topamax. Lamictal has WAY LESS negative side effects (the ratings for topamax on this website suck compared to lamictal!). I'm suprised that only 2 other people who rated Lamictal take it for migraines. It works- I've only had 1 minor migraine since starting, and it was definatley weather induced (95 degrees and humid with no air conditioning sets me off). Without this medication I probobly would of ended up in the hospital like every other migraine I've ever had. Awesome drug so far- but I worry about the rash... | F | 24 | 1 months | 6/3/2006 | 5 | bipolar II rapid cycling | various annoying side effects since I began but they all seem to pass after a few weeks. They include short-term memory loss/lack of concentration, leg tremors, and severe headaches (which still occur from time to time). Have also been experiencing chest congestion for the past 6-8 weeks but don't know if it related to the drug or not. | Lamictal has worked very well for me. After about 5 years of severe depression/suicidal thoughts I feel consistently happy, productive, and healthy - almost to the point that it is unsettling since the mood is so different than that I had grown accustomed to. I do feel like the highs are a bit more dumbed down than I'd like but it is the price to pay I suppose. | F | 32 | 1 years | 10/9/2007 | 5 | Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy | Started off with no side effects but as dosage has increased considerable hair loss and terrible acne, also insomnia, takes a sleeping aid almost nightly to help sleep. Symptoms (arm jerks) definitely worse if not enough sleep. May also have slight memory problems. | I wrote earlier about my daughter's condition but wanted to add increased side effects. She is taking 200 mg 2x/day (400 mg daily) of Lamotrigine and 25 mg 2x/day (50 mg daily) of Topamax. She's been pretty stable at this amount for the past month so hopefully we won't have to do another increase. Her doc may want to take her off Topamax eventually. I hope as her body adjusts to this level her hair loss will stop and acne clear up. Her dermatologist has tried everything to help her. We are now looking into laser treatments. Still, she hasn't had a seizure since March so hard to complain. Was told by her Dr. she "may" outgrow this. Everything I've read is to the contrary however. | F | 13 | 9 months | 11/15/2006 | 5 | Borderline pers. disorder, bipolar | I also take Paxil, Welbutrin and Celexa. I don't know which drug is causing this, but I have been having DEBILITATING vertigo, dizziness, nausea. The worst is my head seems to spin and I have to hold onto something and still feel the room spinning. Horrible. | Has really helped with mood swings, I'm not crying at everything, or nothing at all. I am able to participate in therapy, when I can tolerate being ambulatory. (I do miss out on things when I can't even get out of bed because of the vertigo.) | F | 52 | 1 years | 11/29/2006 | 5 | Major depressive disorder | Vivid, negative, disturbing dreams; insomnia; headaches. | Overall, I am very satisfied with Lamictal. For about a year now I have been quite depressed and have experienced major mood swings, but no textbook "mania." My depressive mood swings scare me to death -- obsessive and negative thoughts, constant thoughts of suicide, intense self-hatred, feeling like I will always feel this way and that there's no hope, and uncontrollable crying spells. In October my new psychiatirst recommended Lamictal to add to my long-standing regimine of 20mg Prozac each day. After a few days on 25mg, I began to notice that my depression lifted and I wasn't experiencing major mood swings or crying spells. The positive effects kind of wore off after a few weeks, but came back after I increased the dosage to 50mg. Now I am finally on 100mg and have been on it for about three weeks. I haven't felt this good in well over a year -- no mood swings, crying spells, and debilitating depression. But...after three weeks on 100mg, I think the drug's positive | F | 32 | 2 months | 12/5/2006 | 5 | bipolar II disorder | sleepiness at first, very vivid dreams (but not scary), unexpected weight loss of 5 pds in about a year, lowered appetite, feeling warm most of the time, an "oily" smell to my perspiration, recent problem with aching of joints of hands, difficulty "pulling up" the right words in a conversation. This medicine seems to have had a GOOD effect on my blood pressure, unlike the SSRI antidepressants. It seems NOT to have the sexual side effects of the SSRIs, too. | I LOVE this medicine. I feel calm and content, actually happy most of the time. I'm still a hermit by choice, but I no longer avoid social invitations. I'm only on 25mg most of the time. I have always responded to low doses of everything. Prozac made me manic, Paxil made me calm but paranoid, Wellbutrin gave me terrible vertigo, Lexapro caused a scary "fainting" episode...all of the SSRIs made me unable to reach orgasm. I will NEVER take anything but Lamictal again. My only advice would be to not let your doctor push you too fast to increase the dosage. You may do OK without a high dose, and the higher doses will surely make you have worse side effects. | F | 58 | 1 years | 12/5/2006 | 5 | Depression, slight BPD1 | So far only dry mouth, but I have only been on it a week. | I wanted to chronicle my progress here in case it may help anyone. I am 41 and had been diagnosed Major Depression for years. Took all anti-d's, none worked until Prozac (40mg) and Wellbutrin combo (300mg ext release). Now after 3 years that is not working as well as it was. Hope this med works :-) Feel free to drop me an email for chatting. | F | 41 | 5 days | 11/3/2006 | 5 | Bipolar II | None | It's a good drug. I was taking Lithium carbonate for about 20 years, when my doctor suggested the switch to Lamictal in conjunction with a new prescription for Lexapro. Sometimes I've taken just Lexapro without Lamictal (when I've run out of Lamictal) for a few days, and felt fine. I think Lamictal is supposed to have fewer sexual side effects than Lithium -- i.e., not suppress your libido -- which is one reason my doc switched me. I got married around the time of the switch. But I haven't noticed any improvement there, since I also went through menopause around the same time. Personally, I don't think some doctors take into account the role that hormones play in mixing with these drugs. | F | 52 | 3 years | 12/4/2006 | 5 | Bipolar 2 | Very thirsty, mild nausea, dampening of libido | Best med I've ever been on. Brought me to a place of feeling "normal" (whatever that is.) I haven't felt this good in a very, very long time. My family can tell a difference. Just some concern over my libido dropping. It's a bummer, but I will not come off of this med: it's been so good for me. | F | 44 | 3 months | 12/8/2006 | 5 | Depression | Some word finding difficulties. Huge increase in sexual desire (anyone else have?), but may be due, in part, to lack of depression.Unexpectedly in the last 3 months intermittent sore throat (about 1x a week for a day).I have an appt with an ENT to make sure it's not due to something else (I hope so), as I've been on this 2 and a half years and will do anything to stay on it.Need sleep medication.Take at nite, maybe should take in morning. | The greatest medication ever. Had been on prozac for years until needed to increase dosage and increase created some mania. With prozac, I felt there was air in my brain which lessened the feelings of depression but with lamictal (on 300 mg), I just feel NORMAL. It's like my default setting is now happy, contented, energetic, even joyful, after a life of depression. Therapy has been so much more effective and life changing.I understand why they don't give it readily, but this changed my life and I wish it was given more commonly,not only a last resort for depression. I also have a huge increase in energy, which of course makes all of life easier. | F | 53 | 2.5 years | 7/4/2007 | 5 | Yes | Initially - problems getting sleep regulated | I started taking Lamictal in 2004 for BP2 but did not stay on the medication so I could see results. I was diagnosed with Manic Depression (now known as Bi-Polar Disorder) in 1994. I have tried a lot medications over the years to regulate my swings. In October I started seeing a therapist and psychiatrist because I had been in Mania for about six months. Once the doctor diagnosed me with BP1 put me on Lamictal, initially with 50mg and titrated up to 200mg. I am currently sleeping me through the night (roughly six to seven hours, a change from one to two hours) and my mood is now balanced and I am more focused. I think Lamictal is a wonderful medicine. It took time to get my mood stabilized and sleep pattern better but I am happy that I was patient this time to see the positive results. | F | 33 | 6 months | 4/25/2008 | 5 | bipolar/depression | vivid dreams, some disturbing/difficulty coming up with the right words, also on topamax major tingling/ some fatigue. Mostly I can laugh at myself at some of the effects but the joint pain and tingling is a bit much. Breathing heavy is also a new one. After reading some of the other comments I'm hoping to skip some of the other effects. Libido is fine. No hair loss. | If I don't take my meds I notice I am very manic. I had no idea I was so manic until finally after a breakdown in my dr. office did they offer to try lamictal and topamax. For the first time in my LIFE I feel level and can deal so much better with my kids and husband. I actually can get out of bed in the morning wanting to get out of bed. I might be tired, but nothing my 7,5 and 2 year old jumping on the bed won't cure at 7 am. | F | 35 | 60 days | 12/31/2006 | 5 | Seizures | Possibly acne and insomnia. | My 13-year old daughter takes this medication (lamotrigine). She had her first seizure last January (2006) and another one in February when we finally got her diagnosed with Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy. She has done really well on this medication. The doctor has slowly increased her dosage week by week to help her build up and not have side effects. He also started her on Topamax 25 mg 2x/day to compliment the Lamotrigine until she reaches her full dosage then he'll take her off that. I believe it is the Topamax that is causing her terrible acne and hope it will go away once she goes off it next month. She will be at 275 mg. a day of Lamotrigine (am and pm dosages). The doctor believes she will outgrow this type of epilepsy within ~5 years. Some nights she can't sleep but not very often. She would get anxiety at night at first because she was so afraid of having a seizure when she woke up (her seizures happened in the morning), so the doctor has me give her Clonazepam on nights when sh | F | 13 | 5 months | 7/14/2006 |