LAMICTAL Reviews (LAMOTRIGINE)Average Rating: 3.4 (1917 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare LAMICTAL with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
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More on LAMICTAL: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR LAMICTAL | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 4 | Seizures | Everything listed above that everyone else is talking about I thought a lot of it was from my traumatic brain injury which it is probably but the memory loss is severe the long-term but the short-term seems worse weird crazy crazy nightmares and dreams dizziness headaches I'm not losing my hair like other people are but let's see I just can't remember everything well my teeth are starting to go really bad that's actually why I Googled it and found this site I wanted to see what other people were talking about their teeth and my Visions bad cuz I only have one eye after the traumatic brain injury but my good I also is gets fuzzy it's kind of messing with my vision but anyway I appreciate everyone else's input makes me feel better that I'm not alone | I almost want to stop taking this medicine to see if the side effects go away cuz I can't gain weight neither | M | 55 | 0 years 200 mg a d 1X day | 9/29/2020 | 4 | Bipolar 2 | Massive headache for 3 days whenever they upped my dosage. Weight gain!!!!!! | F | 21 | 24 months 400 2X day | 3/31/2011 | 5 | seizures caused from encephalitis | In the beginning I had some dizziness as the dosage was slowly increased. This lasted on a few days. Luckily, I never developed the rash! | All in all, I am very satisfied with this medication. It is controlled my grand mal seizures 100%. After taking Dilantin for over twenty years, it's nice to take a medication that you know will not leave you side effects that will end up hurting you in the long run. | F | 38 | 22 months 400 2X day | 1/21/2012 | 5 | anti-depression/bipolar | none. | i've been on this medication for almost 2 years. Its improved my life emensely. | F | 20 | 22 months | 3/25/2005 | 2 | Bipolar | decreased short-term memory, reduced cognitive ability, inability to notice things around me, anxiety attacks | Although I feel great on it (none of the chronic depression I had on lithium), I'm finally going back onto lithium. I hope that the effects listed really are due to the lamictal and that they are reversible. I lost my high paying engineering job and am having difficulty functioning in a minimum wage bakery job. (Besides which lithium is MUCH less expensive.) Current cocktail: 2x100mg Lamictal/day, 1/2x5mg Zyprexa/day, 10x 20mg Prozac/week | M | 61 | 21 months | 3/9/2006 | 5 | Seizures | Headache, cognitive effect | I had uncontrollable seizures for one month after my first seizure. The doctor put me on dilantin in the hospital and that was the worst experience of my life. When I started taking Lamictal the seizures stopped. I have not had a seizure since (knock on wood). I do have headaches at times (never used to) and I do find it more difficult to find the right words to express myself and put together sentences. But Lamictal gave me back my independence and allows me to have a normal life, such as having a job, relationships, etc. I am extremely satisfied. | F | 30 | 19 months | 11/26/2005 | 4 | BIPLOAR 2 | blurry vision - decreased sex drive | 100mg a day - a great improvement with mood - no more cycling - racing thoughts. My remedy 1) 20 min. in am w/ sun lamp 2)1500 mg OmegaBrite Omega-3 gels 3) Lamictal | M | 42 | 19 months | 1/12/2009 | 5 | Epilepsy-complex partial seizures | no significant side effects noted | Completely stopped seizures when I reached therapuetic dose. I had taken depakote,keppra,trileptal and zonegran. Only trileptal worked and I was allergic so it was stopped. Zonegran was horrible, and caused a horrible depression. | M | 12 | 18 months | 12/2/2009 | 5 | bi-polar depression | Sometimes I have a difficult time finding the right words in conversation, I'm a bit more clumsy, and I have a slight tremor in my hands when I've done a lot of work with them. | This drug is wonderful. After a life time of depression with no anti-depressant giving me much relief, I found a new pdoc who diagnosed me with BP because of my mood swings. Almost immediately I felt the heavy cloud lifting and I felt a peace inside of me. I actually began to feel "happy", and that had been a very rare and far between feeling. This is the best thing ever. (400 mg Lamictal, 300 mg Wellbutrin, 75 mg Effexor) | F | 44 | 18 months | 6/12/2006 | 5 | Bipolar (mostly depressive) | Significant acne on cheeks, jawline, and upper neck. Topical acne meds are helping minimally. Had flawless skin prior. At 200mg for 15months, had no weight gain. Raised dosage to 350mg, gained from 122 to 136 lbs. in 3 months. Short-term memory problems, word recall, fuzzier thinking. | This medication combined with 400mg Wellbutrin is saving my life. At the 350mg, despite the side effects, my moods have mostly stabilized, suicidal thoughts/planning/ruminating has stopped, delusional thinking is gone, irritability and bursts of rage have greatly diminished. I am a professional and own my own business and I believe that the cognitive side effects are having a negative impact on my quality of work. This is causing some concern. However, I believe suffering from these side effects is better than being dead. I am now a fully functioning and emotionally available wife and mother of two. I had been impossible to live with and was destroying my most important relationships (a few are irreparable). Now my family doesn't have to be afraid of me and walk around on eggshells as much. I still have some mood variations but nothing as severe as before. I had been extremely treatment resistent until Lamictal. I was on the verge of being hospitalized again for ECT and the Lamictal sa | F | 37 | 18 months | 9/19/2005 | 5 | bipolar | Heavier sweating, including night sweats, and noticeably more rapid hair loss. | An amazing drug. Levels out both highs and lows. For years I suffered serious monthly depressions even after beginning treatment 10 years ago with anti-cyclical AND anti-depression medications. Lamictal has been the only drug in that time to put a solid floor under my tendency to get clinically depressed. It's also added lucidity to my thoughts (I'd accepted Depakote and Trileptal spaciness) and allowed me to lead as normal a life as I've had since my diagnosis. I have had issues sweating much more often with greater perspiration. Have taken between 200-1200 mg of this drug over past 18 months. All the positive comments here are true. It's wonderful. | 18 months | 9/14/2006 | 5 | complex partial seizures | difficulties finding words, memory loss - short term and some long term, difficulty concentrating, slower mental processing, reduced coordination | This medication is great despite the side effects. It really controls my seizures brilliantly. Other medications haven't helped at all and tegretol even made my seizures worse. I'm on 600mg a day which is very high and may contribute to the side effects but it's certainly worth it as it has given me my life back - having seizures makes me very tired and confused. | F | 27 | 18 months | 4/23/2006 | 4 | Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy | Acne, Intermittent Hair Loss, Tingling/Numbness in Face | I'm the parent of a 14 (almost 15) year old girl that has been on lamictal/lamotrigine for the past 1-1/2 years for seizures. She is currently on 487.5 mg/day. We just weaned her off Topamax completely. My question is her acne has become pretty severe and our dermatologist wants to start her on birth control pills to see if it will help (since nothing else has). We do not want to start accutane at this time. It appears all BCP's have a drug interaction with Lamictal decreasing Lamictal's effectiveness by 50%!!!! I hope someone out there has had experience using both BCP and Lamictal and can give me some user advice on what BCP to use and what effects you have had with using both meds at the same time. Thanks! | F | 14 | 18 months | 10/12/2007 | 4 | bipolar depression mood stablizer | @ 1st the only side effect was ablity to sleep @ nite, the whole nite, now I can't sleep through, some acne more than when I was a teen, dry mouth sinus dry head aches, not as depressed, can't concentrate less impulsive better moods overall not so many different in one day :) alcohol does make me depressed and suicidal, i can still cry@ any minute, but less hopless. more edgy snap easy@ the stupidist things, around my monthly i get really angery want to break things.anxious memory loss, like what did I eat for dinner yesterday? concentration I can't even read a magizine w\o reading it 2x. | I have been on other 'antidepressants' paxil prozac, wellbutrin, plus being on the BC pill, I was very moody, bitchy violent, now I have been off any hormonal BC and taken lamictal for a little over a year slowly upping it to 200mg daily doesn't seem to be my happy medium anymore? should I see about taking anything more with it? or get it upped again? I don't know but the anger is more my problem now the being depressed? over all I like this better then anything else I just want to sleep and be able to concentrate. | F | 27 | 18 months | 6/23/2005 | 4 | difficult to treat depression | weight gain, clumsiness, problems with word recall, blurred vision, drowsiness and morning grogginess, intermittent but severe insomnia, headaches, vivid dreams, hot flashes. | Overall, I am very happy with this medication. It was added to Effexor, which I had already been taking for about three years. I no longer over-react to change or uncomfortable situations, Im less emotional, less anxious. I've developed the ability to be cheerful. I no longer expect the worst. I have a little more motivation than I used to, and I'm comfortable trying new activities and being around people I don't know. My relationship has improved a great deal. Side effects: I gained about 18% of my body weight, after weighing the same for 25 years. I hate it. But I have cleavage for the first time in my life, so there's the silver lining. The headaches were awful for a while, but they have greatly improved. The insomnia can persist for weeks sometimes, but then it will go away for a while. I already had age-related far-sightedness developing, but it seemed to get a little worse overnight. When hiking or bouldering I've found I don't have the balance I used to, and I can get a little vertigo sometimes. And I'm definitely clumsy now - motor coordination not so good. (Oh, the coffee I've spilled...) Dreams continue, not so much insomnia now. Hot flashes have almost disappeared, but I'm left with an overall tendency to over-heat, where I used to be cold all the time. The word recall problem could just be due to getting older. | F | 45 | 18 months | 10/26/2009 | 4 | depression | a little blurry vision, forgetfulness. Definitely more energy and a little weight loss, which is a good thing. | I am on 100 mg. Moods are much more stable. Don't get as emotional about situations anymore. I was at 200 mg and had terrible insomnia. Dr reduced it to 100 mg. I think it needs to be increased maybe to 150 mg. | F | 50 | 18 months | 11/12/2009 | 4 | depression/mood stabilizer | tiredness, dizziness, brain fog, lethargic. | I have taken 100 mg for over a year, but I recently increased to 150mg in the morning. My moods have been great,I am much more stabile, and I feel like I now know what 'normal people feel like". But I am so tired that it is imporrsible. I will be lowering my doasage. I can sleep for 10 hours a night, and still be tired!I I don't have physical energy and have stopped working out (something I always did before). As a note I noticed that people who are taking lamictal for depression seem to note more drowsiness and tiredness as a side effect then the bi-polars. | F | 26 | 18 months | 12/31/2008 | 4 | Mood disorder NOS | Horrible night sweats EVERY NIGHT. Wake up drenched head to toe, even the sheets. I have no such problems in the daytime (in fact I'm always cold, but that's been for my entire life). Also sometimes difficulty concentrating, jumbling words (ex. saying "darn bore" instead of "barn door") fairly often when speaking, mistakes spelling/writing/typing. Very rarely I experience one night of insomnia which I never experienced off Lamictal; was always able to fall asleep pretty quickly. Also occasionally have dry mouth, which doesn't concern me much, but I did have a salivary gland infection after wisdom teeth surgery, which my doctor said was caused by dry mouth from the Lamictal. | I used to take 150 mg of Lamictal for mood stabilization during a major depressive episode in addition to Lexapro (SSRI's alone make me hypomanic). I took Lamictal for approx. 4 years with success. When I decided on my own to discontinue after feeling my life was stable, I immediately felt irritable. I thought this would subside, but at times it flared again to the point I was experiencing rage and agitation, so eventually, 3 years later, I asked my PCP to try Lamictal again. He RX 100 mg (50 mg bid). I had originally attributed the night sweats to Lexapro, but nope, turns out it's Lamictal (no nightmares, however, that was Lexapro). My moods have been better; less explosive irritability, less argumentative, no rage, less intense emotions, calmer. However I still have periods of hypomania (maybe twice a year for 6-12 weeks), and some lower moods, but nothing approaching depression. 100 mg isn't a very large dose, but it works well enough. And I've had no loss of sex drive or pleasure, unlike when I was on Lexapro and Lamictal together. | F | 30 | 18 months 50 mg 2X day | 4/28/2015 | 3 | Prophylactic following gamma knife | Bad sleep, brain fog, memory loss, focus/cognition problems | Cant sleep cause you have constant dreams about meaningless stuff, or cant get your brain to shut off? If you have problems with sleep, these are changes Id like to pass along that have gotten me to a manageable place. -I was taking 50mg morning and night. I found that about 2-4hrs after my morning dose I was basically a zombie. My Dr suggested doing a 100mg once a day pill extended release in the morning. Tried it in the morning, still dopey, so I started taking it at night as I was getting into bed. So if I’m dopey like 4hrs after taking it - who cares im sleeping -I started taking vitamin b complex, fishoil, magnesium for several months now, helped with cognition too -i started listening to a 10min meditation on my phone after i turn off my light that focuses on “body scan” you wouldnt believe how much tension you hold in your body that you arent even aware of - jaw, shoulders, etc. i go to bed as soon as im remotely sleepy even if i dont want to. This is my routine now. I fall asleep more quickly and i wake up feeling reasonably rested to excercise. Melatonin was useless. | F | 38 | 18 months 100mg 1X day | 6/11/2023 | 3 | Bipolar II | Initiallly when I started I was very sleepy. I kept increasing my dosage and stayed at 200 mg for about a year and half. It was great because I was having normal reactions to stressful situations, not getting hysterical, as before. Everyone I knew noticed a change in me. I am very happy with what it CAN do for me. But the side effects are pissing me off. While I was upping the dosage, I did get dizzy spots, headaches, memory problems, etc. but it went away. I just upped my dosage to 300 mg because I felt like I was backsliding, feeling irritable, getting depressed, and having mood swings, living “inside my head” again. Now I am having the same issues with the dizziness, headaches, and everything all over again. But I am also feeling really manicky. Now it is noticeable at work and just caused me to be pulled into a meeting with my boss about it. So, yeah. I give it a “3” because it is good and bad for me. | M | 29 | 18 months | 3/18/2009 |