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
 
 2  Bipolar/Rapid Cycling/Depression The first two weeks on 25mg were fine. The moment I bumped up to 50mg, I won the Lamictal Lottery with a brand new itchy rash on legs and one hand, folliculitis, and a heaping side of raging acne for dessert. I can see (from my first two weeks) how it could be a beneficial drug to some if you happen to not be one of the 8 in 1000 allergic to it. worth the risk of trying! F 24 16 days
8/3/2007
 2  BP2 Hearing loss and major tinnitus had to quit it...a shame since it worked It was a wonder drug in the beginning, but as the months went by i developed tinnitus which then progressed to mild then moderate hearing loss. After many ENT consultations I went off lamictal to indeed see if it is the culprit. Now after 3 months off it. I am sorry to say that my hearing loss is permanent. M 28 1 years
8/2/2007
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 2  myclonic/absence seizures nothing M 7 3 days
7/20/2007
 2  Depression / epilepsy I cannot get a good nights sleep and feel tired all the time; 3 hour naps during the middle of the day, i am so tired. My mood and seizures are stable but not enough positives to stay on this! I feel itchy as hell, scratching like crazy when trying to fall asleep. I am going back on depakote despite the weight gain (40 plus pounds) i experienced on it. I reccomend staying away from it. M 34 3 months
7/15/2007
 2  depression sedation, itchy, frequent urination, angry feelings, dry mouth, gagging, sexual problems. increased appetite. Don't have the patience to see what it can do, don't like how I'm feeling going down on my dose of celexa.I don't believe in this bipolar baloney. I don't agree with my dr. assessment of me. For the little time I was on this it made me very angry. I am going back to my normal of celexa and stopping this. M 54 3 days
7/15/2007
 2  Bipolar II Excessive hair loss/thinning I was hopefully after being diagnosed as Bipolar II that this would help. I was tapering up on my dosage, and when I reached 100mg on week 5, I noticed my hair was coming out and thinning at an alarming rate. I could not run my fingers through my hair without pulling out at least 30-50 strands. I immediately tapered off it, finishing about 2 weeks ago, and my hair is awful. It's finer than my one-year-old daughter's hair (which sucks, because it's down to my mid-back), and though the loss has slowed, it's still significant. This may sound shallow, but I am getting married in 5 weeks, so this is very disappointing for me. I will work extra hard to figure out a way to control my disorder WITHOUT meds that destroy my hair. If I'd have known, I never would have started on it in the first place. F 26 6 weeks
7/12/2007
 2  ABSENCE SEIZURE / PETIT MAL Causing serious learning problems at school, lack of concentration, short term memory loss as well as behavior problems. My daughter does not get the seizures anymore, please be careful not to use a too high dosage. F 7 6 months
7/10/2007
 2  Depression PLEASE READ THIS: Memory Loss, Confusion, Dizziness, Fatigue, muscle aches, insomnia, etc. I wrote on this board about two months ago talking about how wonderful this drug was. I take it all back. There is a great boost at first... a feeling of being "normal." Then it slaps hard. Now I feel like a total idiot. I stumble over my words when speaking, remembering simple things is impossible, I run into things and ultimatly feel like crap. Insomnia is horrible. I'll go four days without a good night's rest then crash for 12-14 hours. I'm actually worried about my job. I have done quite well for myself in that respect. But lately, people just look at me weird, as to say, "What the hell are you talking about." There is so much more to say and I'll be glad to discuss it over email. I'm trying to get off this drug. Once I just stopped taking it. What a nightmare. So I have to taper. But I want OFF NOW!!! This drug teases you with an intial "feel good" then you chase that hoping to get it back as you fall deeper and deeper. M 29 6 months
6/26/2007
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 2  depression made me worse. depressed and had no control over myself. broke out into a rash after about 3 wks. i wrote a comment on 6/8/2007 and i had only been on it for 9 days. im not taking it anymore. i wanted off depakote so bad cuz we decided that was the cause of my weight gain, but the depakote worked so well w me, kept me under control. as i was winging off of it and slowly getting on this one, after the 8th, i was being dealt with hard things and i couldnt handle them and just fell apart. i litteraly didnt eat a bite of food for 7 days, and i broke out in a rash, on my chest and on my arm. im not even going to consider trying it again. depakote works for me. F 24 3 weeks
6/26/2007
 2  Bipolar II - Mood Disorder My skin was clear until I started taking Lamictal. Almost immediately, I experienced acne on my face, neck, chest and back. At lower doses, I experienced insomnia, lack of appetite, headaches, was accident prone and noticed my misspellings with my typing. At higher doses, I started having problems with my eyes, dry eye, uveitis/iritis, break-through bleeding while on birth control, migraines, pressure inside my head, extreme fatigue and sleepiness during the day despite consumption of massive amounts of caffeine. At a lower dose I noticed that my moods were evening out and that my highs and lows were muted. But at higher doses, I experienced more erratic mood swings, coupled by unexplained crying and meltdowns. In the end, I started feeling so terrible that I felt like I hit a wall and could not go on. It was at this point that I decided it would be best to taper down on Lamictal immediately. It's simply not the miracle drug for me. F 36 8 months
6/22/2007
 2  Bi-polar condition Migraine headaches, head pressure, confusing irrational thoughts, severe nausea, hot waves over body and body tingling, tightness in chest, anxiety, no energy I'm writing this for my son, who is still feeling the side effects from the Lamictal. My son is bipolar and had regularly taken Zyprexa until he changed doctors and she decided to wean him onto Lamictal. He was doing ok with the 25-50 mg, but when he began taking 100 mg, he started having debilitating headaches (immense pressure), nausea, tingling and heat waves over his body, anxiety attacks and had absolutely no energy. The effects were so devastating that he couldn't function or go to work. Nothing improved and my son became very weak from not being able to eat for so long. he informed his doctor he wanted to stop taking it and go back on the Zyprexa. It's now 6 days after he stopped the Lamictal and began taking the Zyprexa and he's still having waves of pressure headaches, low energy levels, some anxiety and lack of energy, although, overall his condition is slowly improving. M 43 30 days
6/4/2007
 2  MIxed state bipolar disorder One week into taking the 25mg starting doseage, I began to feel as though I had a cold, then it progressed to more flu-like symptoms with a migraine that lasted for about 5 days. 3 days after starting to feel ill, I got a rash that started on my thighs and then began to spread to my lower legs, back and arms. I became feverish. I called my psych and she sent me to a dermatologist (conveniently it was her husband). He biopsied a piece of tissue from my thigh and called several days later to tell me it was a reaction to the medicine (Stevens Johnson). I stopped taking the meds the day I went to the dermatologist. I cannot say that this medicine worked, but also cannot say it did not work. Since I'm allergic to the medicine I guess I'll never know since I had only been taking it for 2 weeks when I had to cease taking it. Lucky me - the 1 out of 3000 it's prescribed to that has a reaction. I was so hoping that this would be the "magic pill". My family physician tested my thyroid just the other day to rule out hormonal problems and said he could prescribe seroquel, but I'm terrified of taking that, putting on weight and feeling tired all the time. F 31 12 days
6/4/2007
 2  Depression Anxiety Spacey, tired, night sweats, vision blured, confused I started at 25 mg worked my way up to 150 mg. Felt ok at 50 mg and when I upped the dose past 50mg I started to feel more depressed. I am now going to try to work my way back down. I know it will be hard. I also take 3mg of ativan per day for anxiety. I have been battleing depression/anxiety my whole life. Got real bad at age 29 and now 10 years later even worse. I have yet to find an anti depresant that will work for me. Too many side affects with no results. Lamictal seems to be in the same boat. Is there anyone out there that has upped their dose and gotton worse like me? I notice a big difference between male and female comments. Good luck everyone. M 39 50 days
5/17/2007
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 2  depression dizziness, headache - brain fog, lethargy. Weight gain due to lack of energy. I'm not sure if any other females have expereiced this but I am having very painful recurring yeast infections. Thinking of getting off Lamictal. If it wasn't sexual side effects with anti-depressants, it is yeast infections with lamictal. F 27 2 months
5/11/2007
 2  to treat bi-polar depression nausea, vivd and morbid dreams, insomnia F 17 6 months
5/8/2007
 2  bipolar the more i research typical bipolar medications the more depressed i become. for most people it seems that the side effects are as bad or worse than the disease. ever since becoming medicated ive gone from an A student to a C- student, a size 2 to a size 6, i live most of my life at half brain function, and i no longer enjoy the things i used to love. not to mention that i have so much difficulty communicating with people that i've lost most of my friends. i know these arent exactly "side effects" but they are a product of this medication. i think im just gonna stop it and see what happens...the worst scenario would be another manic episode, or perhaps a deep depression, but anythings gotta be better than this sorry excuse for a half life that i lead. F 3.5 months
5/3/2007
 2  Grand Mal/Psycho Motor Seizures Wowwwww, where to begin I am experiencing several side effects from this drug. The worst is the memory loss and confusion. I have problems spelling even common words. At times I cannot remember what words mean or how to use the correct word to express a thought or feeling. I loved working with numbers but I've been unemployed 6 years now, mainly due to this specific reason. Every memory side effect you see listed on all of these blogs, I suffer from. I've had seizures my whole life (41 years) and have been on almost every med possible, but when I started on Lamictal, memory and ability to spell became my worst side effects, and I thought It was the brain damage caused by my seizures that was causing this problem. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one. I'm on 3000 mg of Keppra and 700 mg of Lamictal, and I've found that my seizures have gotten worse since I started Lamictal. The only good thing I can say about any med used to control my seizure disorder is that it has built up my immune system, because I have not been sick since I was 15, and I am now 41. Well I'm going off Lamictal to try Topomax, and the only thing I fear with that med is Kidney Stones. So anyone who has been on that med and has any advice, it would be nice to hear from you. M 41 2 years
4/26/2007
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 2  soft bipolar Severe night sweats, horrible & very vivid dreams, initial energy burst but now lathargic, rash-like redness/flaking around mouth, nose & eyebrow, definite weight fluctuation, memory & recall difficulties, zone out sometimes. I am on 400mg of lamictal and 150mg of wellbutrin. I notice that my dosage seems to be higher than most. At first I felt almost manic (positive way)but now I am finding my compulsive/impulsive behaviors surface. I don't think lamical is very beneficial at this point. I am planning to get off it. F 39 1 years
4/23/2007
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 2  depression, post traumatic stress I am on day 10 of this medication. I was so incredibly tired the first week,and after reading some comments on this board, I started taking it at night. WHich helped with that a little bit. Today I awoke with an odd headache, and I am headache sufferer anyways, and nausea. Upon reading these comments and how I feel today..screw it.,,Im not taking it..I already feel too many things wrong here. Good luck everyone else. But getting excessive weight, acne,headaches, memory loss..not worth it. I would rather be in a bad mood. Ive now resolved myself to the idea that there is no cure from a magic little pill that doesnt come with some baggage, and I need to look within myself for the help I need. F 37 10 days
4/22/2007
 2  Bipolar II Headaches at dose changes, muscle weakness, extreme fatigue through the entire day, insomnia, confusion, loss of concentration, memory loss It did finally start lifting my depression at 200 mg but the side effects were not worth it. F 25 5 months
4/19/2007

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