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 |
| 4 | depression, anxiety | none so far. | started at 25mg then fifty, now 100 for 1 week so far. I think I'm a bit more calm, more focused/relaxed. I have suffered for years and NOTHING has worked. The side effects of past perscriptions were horrible. I am really hoping and praying this is the one. | M | 53 | 1 months 100mg 1X day | 6/14/2010 | 4 | Bipolar | Insomnia and DIFFICULTY Concentrating, poor short-term memory, | This med has really helped with my mood swings, but I work with computers and I need to focus. I can't remember where I put my glasses...ooppss, there're on my face. | M | 45 | 13 months 400mg 1X day | 5/18/2010 | 4 | BiPolar II | Weight loss, which seems rare. I remain 40lbs down from my life-long "husky" weight(now at the impossible recommended BMI). At 45, I am not complaining. I also lost my appetite. I forget to eat breakfast and/or lunch. If I am preoccupied, the hunger just goes away. This is especially true if I am very stressed. The stomach just knots up closed. My weight does not seem to be affected by what I eat. CANNOT CONCENTRATE OR FOCUS! Horrible! Misspelling words, forgetful, it takes me forever to write a work email. As I write this, I am supposed to be finishing a work assignment. Insomnia is random, sporadic, and comes in 3-4 night cycles. I need to kill the cycle with a sleeping pill on day one. If I am up after 11, it is hard to fall sleep, and I've gone from a hard sleeper to a light sleeper. I even remember my dreams now. Alcohol headaches! More than 2 drinks, and I get a shooting pain right above my left eye. Every time. It's like a sharp needle. And sometimes a bad han | This medicine, combined with Welbutrin (300MG), has made a huge difference with my BiPolar II. I've maxed out the dosage, so I am hoping this will work forever. | M | 45 | 1.5 years 400MG 1X day | 5/11/2010 | 4 | bipolar ll | Short term memory loss, trouble spelling, forgetfulness, stomach ache, bleeding easily, sores in mouth, mild rashes, acne. These are usually mild and most go away after a couple months. | I have taken and quit this med at least four different times. My reason for quitting were bad sores in my mouth and bleeding. It says that these are signs of a bad reaction to the med. The reason I keep going back to it is it stabilizes my mood and helps with the depression. It will pull me out of a depression and help with the negative obcessive thoughts and ruminations. I will continue to take this med until the side effects get too bad and then stop and start again at a later date. It is one of the only two true mood stabilizers. | M | 61 | 40 days 50 mg. 1X day | 4/27/2010 | 4 | for peripheral neuropathy | Awful, constant, stomach cramps, difficulty evacuating bowel. | Lamictal has helped my burning feet/legs pain more successfully than neurontin did, but does not completely ease the burning sensation. | M | 72 | 6 months 25mg 3X day | 3/9/2010 | 4 | BP 2 , Borderline | Initially : cold.from the inside and out-mentally tired,not sleepy-I just had to hide for an hour or so to go on again. Dry facial skin,but thats taken care of using zinc/selenium xtras,and a fatty cream. | Major change in regards of depressive symptoms! I`m experiencing a feeling of being "normal" in my reactions-for the first time since age twelve :)! Slight increase in hypo reactions,but without "going bonkers".. Time to look at my borderlinethoughts and adjust my thinking instead of exploding- HURRAY !! | M | 44 | 30 days 100mg 1X day | 2/5/2010 | 4 | Ultradian Cycling Bipolar | The decrease in sex drive (i.e. no sex drive at all) is one of the worst side effects I have experienced. I have to take Levitra (40mg to 60mg) just to hold an erection for any amount of time. I am also borderline DPD (Dissociative Personality Disorder) with anti social (sociopathic) tenancies, PTSD, and low grade Schizophrenia. I have to take 400mg to 600mg of Seroquel (an atypical anti psychotic) a night just to keep myself functioning. I don't know if I am experiencing hair loss because I have been slowly loosing my hair since I was 16. I randomly break out in extremely dry skin (especially on my face and scalp), and I have outbreaks of red spots all over my torso almost monthly. That lasts for a few days, but there hasn't been any negative effects from that. It also has caused me insomnia. | Over all, this medication has saved my life. My Mood cycles cycle extremely (and I do mean extremely) fast. I documented 52 Major mood shifts in a 10 hour period before I started taking this medication. I still cycle, but it has slowed down a lot. I now only cycle once or twice a week now. Randomly I do start cycling fast again, but those only last a few days to a week at most, and these episodes only happen once or twice every 2 months. I continue to document my mood swings, hallucinations, and flash backs (PTSD) almost religiously as to help with my ongoing therapy. I was deployed to Iraq for 16 months, and again to Afghanistan for 12 months while I was in the Army. My symptoms started worsening during and after both deployments. My combat experience was extensive, and I continue to cope with a lot of what I saw/did. The Lamictal also helped a lot with my nightmares and flashbacks. All in all, this medication saved me from suicide and from violence in the civilian world. The pros have outweighed the cons and I like this medication. | M | 24 | 3 years 400mg 1X day | 4/2/2010 | 4 | Bipolar 1 | Dry mouth, "floaty" feeling, and a welcome calmness. | I am also taking Cymbalta, Tramadol and Synthroid. I can't tell much about Lamictal as I have only taken 25 mg per day from the starter pack for 6 days now. I can tell you that it has made me very calm! I will update this after a little more time. | M | 53 | 6 days 1X day | 4/20/2010 | 4 | BPll | none | M | 70 | 2 years 200 1X day | 7/29/2010 | 4 | Unipolar Depression | When upping the dose I would get a headache for a couple of days. Now no noticeable side effects | Although not a panacea Lamictal has lifted me out of a pretty dark place. Most days are depression free. I will never stop it as long as it keeps working the way it is working now. I take 400mgs daily. | M | 56 | 4 months 200mgs 2X day | 3/20/2011 | 4 | Bipolar | Some insomnia, small cognitive issues, | I have been on Depakote for 7 or so years and couldnt take the weight gain anymore. I am being weened off of the Depakote and put on Lamictal. I can feel very few side effects. Basically I feel almost the same as I did on the Depakote with different side effects. My appetite is down some (YEA!), more sex drive (YEA!), more energy (YEA!). I do have some trouble falling asleep, muscle cramps and stomach aches, but for me this is definitly better than Depakote. Im only two weeks in so only time will tell! | M | 25 | 2 weeks 25 mg 1X day | 7/5/2011 | 4 | The lamicital has worked very well for me | M | 28 | 2.5 years 220 2X day | 10/12/2011 | 4 | Bipolar1 and PTSD | Had success on this med several years ago but stopped due to rash. Being desperate am trying med again. I had rash again and stopped but now retrying with no rash so far. Dry mouth can be problem and can wreck havoc on the gums/teeth. Take precaution if you have problem. Otherwise only med other than trileptal that has helped without devastating side-effects. | I suffer from severe depressions for the most part and mixed states. This med helped with the illness several years ago and I have seen positive effects again. Most docs try to get patients up to 200mg. For me I have done best at 100mgs. I also notice that the drug affects me quickly at 25mgs in a very positive way. Bipolar has robbed me, as it has most of you reading this, of a life. It is worth it to me to risk the rash and not to panic if I get one again. Most rashes are not of the fatal variety, but of course the docs know what they are doing in stopping the med and there are other meds. I recommend Trileptal if you are having rash trouble and cannot tolerate depakote, lithium, etectera. But for me I am not stopping at first sign of a rash. I will treat it as a typical rash if possible. That may be crazy but They say I have bipolar disorder anyway. So listen to the Docs not me. I'd be interested in hearing about your experience especially if you had a rash and you were able to continue or if not stopping caused you big problems. Thanks! John | M | 48 | 20 days 50 1X day | 2/12/2012 | 4 | bi polar 2 | Migrains, dry mouth. | I have been on 15 anti depressant and other meds like them and this worked by far the best for me. it gave me terrible migraines which is the only reason i stopped it. i would recommend it still. | M | 19 | 2 months ? 1X day | 11/29/2011 | 4 | Bi Polar II, Depression | Sluggish, some weirdness with sleeping, but got use to it. Really no side effects at all. | Ok here is the key- Titration is a must. I would recommend going up 12.5mgs per week until you get to the therapeutic amount. Also you have a way better chance of avoiding the rash and it also helps you get use to the med slowly. The beautiful thing with this medication is there are virtually no side effects. You hardly feel like you are taking anything after awhile. It definitely helped with some of my manic symptoms, stress, and irritability. The only reason I didn't give it a 5 is because it did little for my depression, it did help me from going into the depths of despair and doom, but I still feel 70-80% the depression I felt before. I think combined with an antidepressant I will be where I want to be, never had good luck with SSRI's though. My anxiety levels on Lamictal seem to be a little bit better. I'm going to switch to generic this week because of the cost, I hope it is as effective. Overall I think it is a well tolerated medication and I highly recommend it, some people say it really helps with the depressive side. Feel free to e-mail me with any questions. | M | 35 | 4 months 200mgs 1X day | 1/29/2012 | 3 | Bipolar I | Blurry vision; very strange, vivid dreams; frequent waking at night | Has totally fixed my depression problems, but for me has had no effect on mania. My mood seems to be stabilized, but in a persistent manic state. Still, I think I'll be on it for quite awhile. I haven't suffered a depressive episode since the first day I dosed. | M | 37 | 3 months 200 mg 1X day | 11/1/2011 | 3 | Epilepsy / Seizure | Very Early to put in my comments but I am experiencing Extremely Dangerous Short Term Memory Loss, I was initialy on Tegratol which was a horrible drug, after complaining to the doc he switched me to lametech | I am very much worried abt the long term usage of this drug, I dont know what effect it will play on me, will I be able to lead a normal life or not, but for now I am trying to fight the drug by sleeping early and waking up early, taking a cold bath in the morning and exercising a little, lets hope for the best, pls email me if anyone has any tips for me, thanks in advance | M | 36 | 1 months 25 2X day | 9/24/2011 | 3 | bipolar | I've been taking this drug for 3 years. At first I noticed no side effects, the drug was new, and I was told the only thing to look out for was "the rash". After the first year I noticed the lethargicness and lack of energy. After the 2nd year I noticed I was unable recall words and would forget things I did or things that happened after a few days past. I've had a few incidents where my vision went completely batty. Eyes bouncing side to side, I felt like I was on a rollercoaster from hell. And now that I have a new job that is fast-paced and high profile IT job, which is very dependent on memory, I'm realizing I have severe short term memory loss. And anything that happened more than a couple days past, might as well never happened. I'll only remember bits and pieces, as if it was a dream. Its very embarassing. The energy factor is also a major problem. I get way backed up on my bills when I have more than enough money to pay them in the bank, a combination of memory loss a | The goal of the drug is to balance mood, and it does an excellent job at that for me. But there is this real detached feeling, I dont feel passion about anything, and I am incredibly horny all the time. But memory loss is my biggest concern. I used to have a razor sharp memory, wit, and intellect. I buit my own business with no college degree, while working as a pizza delivery driver. But the mania got worse and worse. Now within 3 years of these meds, I feel like I'm 80 years old. No energy, no passion, no memory. Who are we without memory? Lately I have to write EVERYTHING down, I'm sure my coworkers think its odd. I'll forget what I'm doing, or some small (but important) detail in seconds. It slows me down, and puts our operation at risk (Ok, I'll just say it - I'm a principal systems administrator for a large internet company, one false keystroke/password change/setting adjustment/button click and I can bring down multi-million dollar web sites causing untold damage$$). Everything our team does is audited by the government, and internal auditing teams. So...its not the kind of job where there is a lot of room for memory problems. This medication is scaring the crap out of me now that I have this job. | M | 35 | 3 years 600mg 1X day | 1/30/2011 Patient History | 3 | M | 36 | 1X day | 5/6/2010 | 3 | Bipolar 1 with Psychosis | Dry mouth (going away), word recall problems, stuttering | I'm reserving judgement on it as we are still titrating it up and I'm not sure what dose I'll wind up on. The dry mouth is getting better, we'll see about the other side effects. It's hard to say whether it helps as other med changes have been required at the same time | M | 48 | 4 weeks 100 1X day | 5/14/2010 |