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 |
| 1 | bipolar | Flattening of emotions, fatigue, then terrible depression and suicidal ideation. | I went to a nurse practitioner for help with ADD and she diagnosed me with Bipolar II, and put me on Lamictal. At first it seemed to help a little with mood swings. Then my much-loved dog was killed and I spun into a terrible depression. I would have killed myself if I could have come up with a method where no one would have known it was suicide, or had to deal with the horror of finding my body. I kept pleading with the PNP to "let" me stop taking it. Finally after 4 months I convinced her and stopped. I guess it was a symptom that I couldn't advocate for myself better. It was a horrible time. She didn't tell me anything about the possible downsides to taking it. | F | 49 | 4 months | 6/18/2009 | 1 | Seizures | 400 mg daily, Memory loss, unclear thinking, HAIR LOSS, breakage, texture change, thinning hair, brown spots "liver spots" all over face, arms and legs, insomnia, strange dreams, dizzy, nightsweats, jaw problems, I discontinued the lamictal due to all my hair loss and spots on my face. | I went on this medicine for my pregnancy. I was told by my neurologist this was a "safer" med to take during pregnancy. I have had 2 kids who are normal with no side effects from the medicine. They are 2 and 4 now. I did have 1 seizure with each pregnancy @ five months pregnant. I am trying other seizure meds, they all seem pretty bad. Anyone suggest any ??? | F | 39 | 5 years | 6/6/2009 | 1 | Binge Eating, Depression, Bipolar 2 | Extreme Appetite Decrease, Lost 30 lbs in 2 months, Listlessness, Trouble With Memory and Concentration, and the worst 2 - Frequent Peeing (Every 10 min) and BAD HAIR LOSS | It evened my moods out but then turned me into a zombie. I couldn't feel properly happy or sad or angry or anything. It zapped my creativity and made me not want to do anything. It allowed me to lose weight too quickly because it suppressed hunger so severely. I didn't realize I was basically in starvation mode and robbing my body of nutrients. I had to pee constantly and my parents spent a lot of money on tests to see what was causing this after my doctor said Lamictal couldn't be the culprit. This IS IN FACT a side effect of Lamictal - a quick Google search shows this. My doctor also denies that my devastating hair loss is a result of this medication and insists it is purely the weight loss. I am quitting it completely despite their wishes. I am an 18 yr old girl with long amazingly red hair which I love and is a big part of me. I have received compliments on it every day of my life. I've lost maybe 1/4 to 1/3 of it in the last 2 months. Nothing has ever caused me so much anxiety and depression as this...this med is NOT worth it. IF YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR HAIR, STAY AWAY FROM LAMICTAL. If you must take it, don't let yourself lose weight too fast. You'll have to eat when you don't feel like it. Thankfully I had thick hair to begin with, but now I'm doing everything I can to save it - Maxi Hair supplements, a really healthy high protein diet, Head and Shoulders Shampoo, putting olive oil in my hair every other night, and of course quitting this medication. | F | 18 | 5 months | 8/7/2009 | 1 | Bipolar | Stevens Jonhson Symdrome | It almost killed me in just two days | F | 52 | 1 days | 8/23/2009 | 1 | Bipolar Type 2 | EXTREME moodiness. My kids think I am a "mean mom" and my boyfriend is considering leaving me for how much I put him through over the weekend: paranoid, irritable, anxious, sleepliness. I have been more labile than I have ever been. Stopped it last night...good riddens! | F | 39 | 7 days | 8/23/2009 | 1 | TBI,possible seizures,now bipolar? | Short term memory loss, dislexia, word loss, agitation, angry outbursts, craving alcohol or benzo's. At first great mood then week long lasting swings - depression to hypomania, (never had any form of mania) difficulty concentrating, shaking, general feeling of out control of both body and mind...I have had to proofread this to ensure I have not repeated myself or switched letters in words. | Once I began the starter pack I had great hopes of assistance getting through a traumatic brain injury and the mood issues that accompanied it. I fell down 12 stairs while out of town attempting to get to the bathroom. I was taken to a hospital and released without a CT scan. Walked around with blood on my brain for 5 days until reporting to my doctor what happened and how I had neck pain. I was told to immediately go to the hospital and I did. CT scan showed 3 brain contusions and an intracranial hemmorage. I was then transported to another hospital with a neurosurgeon on standby to operate. They presume I had a seizure after the fall, since that is what the witness stated (my boyfriend). I was referred to a seizure specialist. EEg came back abnormal. Tried several anticonvulsants to keep my driver's liscence. Mild side effects causing me to switch to others then there was carbazazapam (horrible), now the lamictal nightmare...literally. Horrid vivd dreams, while in a weird half awake sleep. My short term memory was improving from my injury until this medication which has made it as bad as when I first fell! My seizure "guru" claims I need this medication, and it is not the lamictal but I am experiencing post traumatic psychosis??? I am a social worker by trade, I am NOT psychotic. He wants me taking 200mg BID, another doctor said I could break them in half, 100mg BID. It helped in the beggining, what went so wrong? This medication. I would value a | F | 28 | 6 weeks | 9/2/2009 | 1 | mood stabilizer | Alarming memory loss and impaired thinking | BRAIN SCANS TO DOCUMENT HARMFUL EFFECTS | F | 53 | 2 years | 9/2/2009 | 1 | For mood stabilization of bipolar | The dreams/nightmares are HORRIBLE! I was doing well on 100mg dosage, but went up to 200mg and that's when the vivid, bizarre dreams began. Losing people and things close to me, being haunted by a demon, sleeping but in an awake state and people at work who I dislike tormenting and scaring me. It goes on and on. My PsychDoc asked me to take it up to 250mg which I did for 1 night and the dreams turned into real nightmares. That was it for me. I switched to taking the Lamictal from night to morning and dropped the dosage to 150mg. I plan on dropping it in a couple of days to my original 100 mg dose. | Lamictal and almost ALL the Psych meds I have been on since 1994 have really been terrible. I cannot get any peace with any of these meds and yes I am angry. I know the manufacturers are trying to make money and MAYBE trying to help the mentally ill, but without the proper trials (which I have read the doctor's instructions online for every script I have taken)are not done because the pharmaceuticals are rushing to beat each other to the punchline. And the FDA condones this behavior - not sure what the standard is or the reasons why. Yes, I am angry. I am almost through with taking any meds as I have had my chin up everytime my PsychDoc asked for me to try something new with me not knowing what side effects will manifest themselves in me. Don't want to sound suicidal, but I am 47 years old now and have been battling my depression and manic episodes, making decisions one minute and changing my mind by going another way the next. This causes extreme stress which adds another med to my list because I cannot control my agitation and anxiety. I say now, I have lived my life and now it's time for me to go. It's of my opinion that most people in this world are so caught up in their own doings that they don't care for their own children nevertheless care for some stranger like me. It breaks my heart to feel that I want to leave this world, but I am of sound mind and body right now and would like to move on. | F | 47 | 3 months | 8/27/2009 | 1 | migraines | Vaginal itching after one dose. After two doses the itching turned to burning and soreness in the pubic region. Was taking at bedtime. Upon awakening after the third dose I had blisters on the outer labia. I had continued soreness in the vaginal area and increased chills that day. While on an hour+ drive home the third night I became very ill, severe headache, severe low backache, chills, and body aches like the flu. I was praying for my life so I could continue to raise my children, even though I do not believe in god! It is the next evening and the blister continue to worsen, the pain and soreness in my entire public region continues to worsen, and I have developed a good size lump under my skin on both sides of the pubic area, like the bikini line. The one on the left is about golf ball size and the one on the right is about quarter size, right now. You can physically see the entire area swollen from the lump on the left. My entire pubic region is extremely tender and painf | My neurologist that prescribed the med, told me to see my primary gyn if symptoms are not gone one week after discontinued use. Isn't that nice! Hell my symptoms continue to worsen after almost two days of discontinuation. I live in a rural town over an hour from a gyn and don't have an established gyn right now so I'm sure it would be over a month and more like two months to get an appointment. Not a good situation! I'm no doctor, but I strongly urge any female taking this med to discontinue use IMMEDIATELY if you have and gyn changes or disturbances, no matter how small you may think they are! I only took this drug for three days! BEWARE!!! | F | 44 | 3 days | 11/2/2009 | 1 | Depression | I have been on Lamictal for four years or so, taking 200 mg each day. I have most of the symptons described below: loss of memory, limited vocabulary, almost feel as if my I have no "present" recall ability. I see and hear, but can't summarize verbally without sounding like a fool. I am beginning to experience chronic muscle aches (almost flu like symptons), headaches, face and jaw pain, feeling as if I have the body of a 70 year old. The symptons come and go, but the pain is increasing enough that I've become suspect of this drug. I experience severe chills throughout my whole body; can't warm up. Hands and feet always cold. If I forget to take the lamictal, I have increased bouts of irritability and become paranoid or abnormally obsessed. I have also felt "confused". I would like to slowly get off Lamictal and try to survive the depression with increasing exercise and therapy. My next question is whether going off the drug will reverse these side affects | F | 53 | 4 years | 10/27/2009 | 1 | Bipolar II - rapid cycler | Burning eyes, "why bother" feeling. Huge sense of urgency to do something in the middle of the night. Insomnia, Very very dark thoughts. I want off this med. | I have never had the kind of thougths I am currently having. I know it has to be the lamictal. I keep having thoughts about the world ending and nothing matters because we are all doomed to die anyway. When I have these thougts I am absolutely certain it is the truth and that I (and everyone else) is just wasting time living. I have to fight to get that thought out of my head. I am also waking up knowing I have to do a certain task, like look up something on the internet or call someone. I am most certain that it has to be done at that moment. It makes perfect sense to me at the time. I don't do it because there is still a part of my brain that stops me. I have been on Trileptal for years but my circle thoughts were coming back and it was causing me to lose my concentration. My psychiatrist put me on this (100mgs sid) to help-thinking it might get rid of depression and thus help me focus (can't take adderall for too long-screws me up big time) but it hasn't helped at all. I can't wait to be finished with it. I'll take my lack of concentration and rapid thoughts over this any day. It actually seems to make them worse! I need to find a med that works well with the trileptal (my miracle med-this drug is the reason I can hold a steady job)and helps me focus as well. Tried concerta and strattera, but upset my stomach way too much. Adderall made me an emotional wreck. Thanks to this site, I know I am even more certain it is the med and I am not going into a bad place again. | F | 41 | 3 months | 10/18/2009 | 1 | Seizures | HAIR LOSS IS MY MAIN CONCERN ON THIS POST I AM TAKING 200 MG 2X'S A DAY FOR A SEIZURE DISORDER MY SEIZURES ONLY HAPPEN @ NIGHT WHEN I SLEEP. I HAVE ONLY HAD MAYBE 10 SEIZURES IN THE LAST 10 YEARS.............. I HAVE BEEN ON LAMICTAL FOR 5 YEARS | I HAVE A POST HERE ALREADY ABOUT MY ISSUES WITH LAMICTAL. HAS ANYONE ELSE HAD DRAMATIC CHANGES IN THEIR HAIR AND SKIN ???? MY HAIR IS "SHEDDING" AWAY. I AM LOSING IT BAD. IF ANYONE ELSE HAS EXPERIENCED THIS I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU AND POSSIBLY EXCHANGE PHOTOS OF YOUR HAIR LOSS AND SEE IF THE PATTERNS ARE SIMULAR. I KNOW IT'S FROM THE LAMICTAL BUT MY DOCTORS ARE NOT IN AGREEMENT. | F | 40 | 5 years | 9/26/2009 | 1 | for trigeminal neuralgia | fever of 104.6, huge swollen neck, swollen lymphs,high blood pressure, hospitalized for a week, thought i was going to die | dont use it | F | 40 | 10 days | 6/18/2008 | 1 | Mood Swings- possible hypothymia | Migraine, sense of unreality, difficulty concentrating, blurred vision, lethargy, dizziness, nausea, panic attacks, irritability, erratic apetite. | I started Lamictal 3 days ago, and can't deal with the side effects. I don't know if they would go away for me but I have a job as a project manager and have to be very sharp, and I can't even spell properly right now. If I had time to take a month of and experiment with this I'd do it but I have to work and pay my rent. I've lived with mood swings, anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts for at least 20 years, I'm fine continuing on that way. I'm not taking any more Lamictal. | F | 37 | 3 days | 3/15/2009 | 1 | Bi-Polar | Extreme tiredness, headaches, itchy, dizzy | I can not even function on this medication. Maybe cause im also on Lexapro. | F | 23 | 4 days | 3/9/2009 | 1 | BiPolar II/Anxiety | This drug was horrible. I had constant rashes, not SJS, acne, and THE INABILITY TO STRING PROPER WORDS TOGETHER. Lack of Coordination, slurred speech and anxiety. | This drug to me stinks. I would rather take depakote with an ssri, both in low doses. This one size fits all is nonsense. Did nothing for anxiety and mood swings, marketing BS. Dopey drug. | F | 33 | 6 months | 5/8/2008 | 1 | BiPOLAR | UUGGGHHHHHH!!!!!! Terri ble too many to mention | OVERRATED!!!!!!! | F | 18 | 6 months | 7/10/2008 | 1 | bipolar | Started with swollen eyes immediately upon starting drug, then itching eyes & scalp, then shooting pains in the eyes, then joint pain, especially painful knee joints, then got several very itchy welts on one leg accompanied by a burning sensation on palms of hands and then flu-like symptoms esp. nausea--pdoc said to stop the lamictal and start benadryl which helped the itchiness a lot but I still broke out in cold sores all over my mouth and had some mouth soreness. | The side effects occurred at a very low dose of lamictal and continued to worsen over time. | F | 55 | 2 weeks | 6/30/2008 | 1 | depression | Couldn't think straight. Couldn't remember simple things or thoughts. A cognitive disaster. And, itchy all over. | Did improve depression but not worth losing my mind. | F | 56 | 2 weeks | 6/2/2008 | 1 | mood stabilizer w/celexa | Outragious vivid dreams, then coma-like sleep (I was upped to 200 mg daily). Dry itchy scalp that drives me crazy. Forgetfulness. Shaking not just in my hands, but all over and in my mind if that makes sense. I'm still on the crap 'cause my doctor hasn't called me back in SEVEN days. I'm gonna half my dose starting tomorrow. I hate all this. | To doctors: DON'T prescribe this as a mood stabilizer. I am NOT bipolar. I just need to get off this and talk to a therapist. | F | 51 | 3 months | 7/9/2008 |