LAMICTAL Reviews (LAMOTRIGINE)

Average Rating: 3.4 (1917 Ratings)

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 ANTICONVULSANTS

 Type: Rx Drug

  

LAMICTAL  (LAMOTRIGINE):  Lamotrigine is used alone or with other medications to prevent and control seizures. It may also be used to help prevent the extreme mood swings of bipolar disorder in adults. Lamotrigine is known as an anticonvulsant or antiepileptic drug. It is thought to work by restoring the balance of certain natural substances in the brain. This drug is not approved for use in children younger than 2 years due to an increased risk of side effects (such as infections).   FDA Approval Date: 1994-12-27 (Sources: U.S. Centers for Medicare Services, FDA)

  

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Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.)
5=HIGH (this medicine cured me or helped me a great deal.)

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More on LAMICTAL: Reviews Summary  |  Drug Safety Information

RATING  REASONSIDE EFFECTS FOR LAMICTALCOMMENTSSEXAGEDURATION/
DOSAGE
DATE ADDED
 
 1  mood stabilizer horrible nausea that never went away---I was on it for years I've been withdrawing from Lamictal and it causes severe fatigue...I can barely get out of bed. M 43 8 years
7/7/2008
 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  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
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 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  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  Some sort of psychotic episode... Inability to focus, short-term memory loss, bizarre dreams, sleep paralysis, diminished vocabulary, I can no longer drive because I zone out all the time, I've had to put this short story I'm writing on an indefinite pause because I just have no idea what's going on in it anymore . . . I hit my head on a car door, didn't sleep for four days due to a perpetual headache, went a bit mad, and was misdiagnosed as bipolar and put on this. IT IS NOT WORTH IT. Unless you are TRULY bipolar, do not take this. Ever. It may stabilise you, but at the cost of taking every desirable personality trait you have and stamping upon it until it dies. Eleven days until I can go plead my case to the doctor...eleven days....I'm curious to see if I EVER get my creativity back if I manage to get off this filth... F 17 1 months
5/3/2008
 1  depression Severe shakiness, fainting, vomiting, dizziness, inability to swallow, suicidal thoughts, rage, severe insomnia (went 4 days without sleep once), uncontrollable crying, anxiety, irrational thoughts. This drug was pure poison to me. I actually think I would've been bipolar if I'd kept on taking it. My doctor didn't want to take me off of it, so after alot of research my mother and I got me off of Lamictal and Cymbalta. It's the first time in 10 years that I haven't been taking some kind of antidepressant and I feel better than ever. I wouldn't recommend this drug to anyone. F 38 90 days
4/29/2008
 1  epilepsy I am actually taking tegretol retard and epilim chrono along with lamictal. i now have bad memory loss, slurred speech, loss of sexual desire compared to a few years ago, tiredness and very vivid intense dreams and also emotional but for no apparent reason which I find irritating and confusing. I HATE these side effects!!! By the way, I was diagnosed epileptic at the age of 9. F 24 10 days
4/19/2008
 1  bipolar wow this drove me into some mani/anxiety attacks that i really thought i was going crazy. i can't describe it but it freaked me out. at least i am calmer and clearer on depakote poison to me. drove me to the brink of insanity. red blotches on my skin too M 24 6 months
4/12/2008
 1  my son took lamictal for bipolar 25 mg dosage.. my son completely flipped out.. extreme and completely severe depression with uncontrolled screaming and crying jags..non stop for four hours....complete personality change .. he wasn't making any sense and there was no reasoning or consoling him. his throat felt as if it was closing up..wow..i would never give this to him again.. he has been taking trileptal for well over a year and doing well on that drug ( other than hives when his dosage goes to high) adderall is also helping for my son, this is not a good drug.. we never expected such a harsh reaction to the drug.. i read that one person who took this felt that they went insane.. i can't imagine what my son was feeling when he was acting completely insane on the second day that he took this..really HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE M 9 2 days
3/31/2008
 1  Bi-polar II Hair loss; scaly, painful rash all over torso and arms; "electric" feeling throughout my body; double vision; slight fever and general flu-like symptoms; muscle aches and tightness; loss of appetite. Obviously, I was allergic to this medication. I am so glad that I searched the web for the possible side-effects - I found that, while it's rare, people who are allergic can experience multiple organ failure. It took over a month for the rash, which is a precursor to the unbelievably frightening "Stevens-Johnson Syndrome", to disappear after I quit taking lamictal. For info, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevens-Johnson_syndrome. Please be aware of how this drug affects you after taking it for a little while - it could save your life. F 29 3 months
3/19/2008
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 1  bipolar II i have only been taking this medacine for about 1 month at 50mg and it seems the more of it i take the less motivated and angrier i become. lots of guilt and increased social activity followed by suicidal thoughts making me unable to concentrate.its causesing me to get so infuriated that i leave class or skipp whole days of class alltogether. Normally i have a great deal of trouble and just staying awake but this drug has made me violent and i do not sleep at night i take a series of 4 hour naps throughout the day. Any way, i am an art student, and the class that was my favorite is the one i have been skipping the most because the instructor pissed me off for practicly no reason. we are making 3D cardboard sculpters. Mine looks just like me but ive just blown my head off. i have titled the work "lamictal" F 19 1 months
2/25/2008
 1  bipolar2 disorder blisters on my face,nightmares. didnt have any effect on my mood swings.im actualy suicidal since ive been on lamictal.the blisters makes me feel even worse about myself. F 30 3 months
2/13/2008
 1  Bipolar I Extreme dizziness, light headed, upset stomach, itchy Recently diagnosed as major depression and then the doc decided I was manic depressive so he put me on this stuff. I cannot even function on it because I am so unbelievably dizzy. Has made my depressive episodes worse and more frequent. F 25 2 months
1/16/2008
 1  BP rashes on and off. Irritability. Mood swings and and severe agitation. Switched to this after 4 years onDepakote ER and I don't care what anyone says I think this drug is garbage. I never knew when I was going to break out into red rashes that would last a week or more. I never knew when I was going to be driving and start to feel angry for no reason. I never knew when I would all of a sudden become nervous and feel like I had to leave wherever I was and often I could not string cohesive sentences together verbally. I gave this drug a shot for a year and it just sucked. I've been back on Depakote and plan on staying. It's not perfect but I can count on it which gives me peace of mind and I don't break out or slur every other word. M 33 1 years
12/11/2007
 1  bipolar disorder This drug worked great for about the first month, until I realized my personality went totally flat. (someone else here mentioned this too). Not only did my personality go flat, but it only worked for a limited time and then my symptoms for the disorder came whirling back just as bad as before. I hated this drug and felt my relationships suffer as a result. F 21 6 months
11/22/2007
 1  PMS & Bi-Polar Weight gain, bloated feeling, sexual disfunction I am very sensitive to medications so I started out at 25mg. It seemed like a great thing for maybe 2 months...then at the 3rd month I realized that I had gained a LOT of weight (2 bra sizes, I feel like I had a boob job!). The weight came on almost overnight...all of a sudden my clothes didn't fit. Then I realized I had loss of libido as well and linked it all to the Lamictal. I actually went down to 1/2 a pill (12mg) for about a month but it hasn't helped so I quit taking it this week. It did help me feel better...I felt like I had a cloud in my head, kinda a fuzzy feeling, not a bad thing...but I cant take the side effects anymore. F 40 4 months
11/19/2007
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 1  seizures (3 in lifetime) Rash, itchy/crawling sensation on skin, dry/scaly/peeling skin (mainly on hands/fingers), crying spells for no reason, negative thoughts, lessened sexual desire, brittle nails, neck/shoulder/lower back pain, joints/muscles ache, hand shaky/tense when writing, spelling/math problems, panic attack, heart beating fast/hard, bruising, unable to think clearly, vision not clear.......need I say more? Started taking Lamictal's trial pak along with Gabapentin (had been on Gapentin 300mg three times per day). Dr wanted to slowly taper me off and only take Lamictal. When finished with pak started taking 150 mgs AM and PM and one 300mg Gabapentin (still tapering off). At that dosage had a panic attack with heart beating fast/hard. Lowered dosage to 100mg AM and PM and one 300mg Gabapentin. Calling dr tomorrow to go off immediately and take the Gabapentin 300 mg three times per day. Worse medication I've ever taken and would not recommend it to anyone (will discourage use of it). Would rather have a seizure than these side effects!!! F 57 4 months
11/18/2007
 1  Bipolar Short term memory loss, dizziness, off balance, clumsy, short tempered, foggy, unfocused. Now going through withdrawl after trying to come off the drug: nausea, achiness, chills, grinding teeth, irritated, flat emotions, insomnia. I have been taking Lamictal for over 10 years. I was originally diagnosed with biplor, although since then I think I have been diagnosed with pretty much every mental disorder you can think of at one time or another. My symptoms aren't that bad...mood swings, addictive personality, impulsivity, assumed manic episodes. Lately there have been some reasons I decided to get off it. First, my short-term memory seemed to be getting worse, and I have been having problems with speech and my head is not as clear as it used to be. I am a successful business woman and not being able to speak correctly and be articulate is not an option. I also have been loosing everything - keys, phone, etc. I knew something wasn't right but my doctor insisted that it was all in my head and not due to the medication. Then I started my own research and here I am - with all these comments on this website referring to memory loss and cognitive difficulties. Guess I was right. Also, I am a serious technical scuba div F 32 10 years
11/14/2007
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 1  treatment for autism/tourettes My 17-year old son (who has autism/tourette's)experienced a dramatic increase in verbal and motor tics when put on this medication. He was unable to sleep at night. He was unable to function at school due to extreme lack of attention. Was unable to respond to simple instructions or cues...he was so "out of it". He is now tapering off the lamictal until totally off of it. Teacher reports significant improvement and he is almost back to "normal" functioning. We are still researching effective medications to assist with verbal tics (does anybody know of any)? He is on a high dose of Geodon which has been a wonderful medication for him. Doctor is concerned about the high dosage (260 mg over the course of 24 hours) and is tinkering with other meds which is how we wound up with the disaster with Lamictal. BEWARE OF LAMICTAL! This medication is over-rated. Physicians love to prescribe it and I believe it is because it is highly marketed and visible in the media as a medication for conditions other than seizures. For example, it is marketed as a medication for bi-polar disorder. This medication was not helpful in the treatment of autism and tourette's in my son. In fact, it was detrimental. I am extremely angry that it was prescribed for my son. We went through a lot of unnecessary turmoil with school/home issues because of this experience with Lamictal. F 51 12 weeks
11/12/2007
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