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 length of time drug was taken longest to shortest. 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 | Deserves a zero rating. | Horrible | M | 28 | 3 months | 5/15/2006 | 1 | Bi-polar possibility | Parkinson's like tremor. Profound weakness. Could not stand or sit up. Severe BP spikes. Infections, gums, lungs, etc. Feeling out of my skin. Feeling that I was going crazy and going to die. Thought people weren't listening to my cries for help. No one would help me titrate off. Severe paranoia. I repeatedly asked to lower my dose to see if I truly had MS symptoms to go with my MRI Psych fired me. I came close to losing my job my mind my family. This was truly the closest thing to attempted murder. I was NOT bi-polar I was being recruited as a hefty Copay for the Psych. I feel I have a moral obligation to report him to protect others. Especially the children he sees. He cost me money time and I truly suffered incredibly. Lamictal is VERY dangerous. Please be careful. | F | 43 | 3 months 150 mg | 7/23/2012 | 1 | bipolar | It made me feel great, but then I broke out in a rash, mild case of Stevens Johnsons. My whole system has never been the same. 6 months later and I still get a rash around my mouth and on my hands every month or so. I had to get a picc line for intravenous medication and doctors thought to be SJS your skin had to be falling off... not true, it can be mild, it attacked my glands skin and breathing. Too bad, I liked the med but NOT worth the risk. | F | 30 | 3 months 125 1X day | 1/19/2011 | 1 | kidney pain | extreme itching (no rash though), sore dry eyes, nightmares, GI problems, headaches, weight loss, loss of coordination. Unexplained bruising and sore lips. | Feel like I'm being poisoned. Has done NOTHING for the pain, in fact feel like the pain has increased. The itching is intolerable, Benadryl does nothing for it. Doc wants to INCREASE the dosage, says I haven't reached the right level for pain relief...WTF?! It'll kill me by then...want off this garbage NOW. | F | 46 | 3 months 50 mg 2X day | 4/10/2011 | 1 | Depression and Mood Instability | TARO GENERIC LAMICTAL DOES NOT WORK. I was perfectly fine on 200 mgs of BRAND Lamictal. It worked great, and I had no side effects. I switched to 200 mgs of GENERIC TARO lamotrigine, and it stopped working. I increased my dose from 200 mg up to 300 mgs over three months. TARO GENERIC LAMICTAL DID NOT WORK. I switched back to brand Lamictal. I had an immediate overdose on the same 300 mg dose. I experienced double vision, loss of balance, skin desensitization, loss of taste, extreme agitation. Doctor told me this was a "toxic reaction." This indicates that there is no active drug in the generic. I was taking TARO generic Lamictal lamotrigine. Now switched back to Lamictal XR, and am taking the starter pack. I am hoping to get back up to 200 mg of brand Lamictal. | Lamictal saved my life, fixed my depression, and stabilized my mood swings. TARO generic lamotrigine Lamictal seems to have no working drug in it. It nearly killed me, because when I switched back to the same dose of the brand drug, I overdosed. This indicates that there is no active drug in the Taro generic lamotrigine. | M | 54 | 3 months 300 1X day | 7/24/2011 | 1 | bipolar II | I have so many horrible side effects from this drug. I thought that I was going crazy, had a brain tumor or was developing dementia before I found this site. Some complaints- dizziness, can't sleep, horrible dreams, exhausted all day, dry mouth, trouble balancing, can't remember ANYTHING, can't spell or recall words, yeast infections, bad anxiety, can't concentrate. | F | 20 | 3 months unsure 1X day | 10/17/2010 | 5 | Rapid Cycling Bipolar Disorder | This is the best drug I have used for 30 years. I feel normal. However, in the last 5 days, without any changes, I feel that it is just stopped working. I am having panic++ and am extremely depressed and just a little frantic. My dr. is unavailble until next week. I have no side effects at all, which is a miracle in itself. | F | 59 | 2.5 months 150mgs 1X day | 11/13/2011 | 5 | bipolar disorder severe mood swing | after upping to 150mg I had very vivid weird dreams. When first tirtrating up on mg's, everytime i moved to a higher mg the next day I had the "hangover" feeling-each one lasted about 3 days .When I missed a nightly dose, the next day i was back to being 'major bitch' it increased my mood swings more than before i was ever on the meds, blurred vision after taking it at night..difficult to make the numbers out on my alarm clock, very frequent urination, night sweats onset and 150mg. | This is my 1st time around seeking help and being diagnosed as bipolar so I am a new to the world of psych drugs.Lamictal has been a godsend in my life.For the 1st time I feel like a "normal funtioning" person.No more of that constant agitated state.No more road rage or going off on store clerks or continuous yelling at the kids.No more short almost non-existent fuse,or the feeling on edge and like everyone has bad intentions toward me&is my enemy.It also makes me sleep very very well at night.I have as of last nite,just moved up to the optimal dose of 200mg, so I have that "hangover" effect in the morning.It's been weight neutral for me..no loss and no gain. I always felt "on edge".Lam takes the edge off and I can relax.I have regained interest in things.Haven't had any manic episodes since startin 100mg(which is saving me tons of $from my manic shopping sprees i tend to go on),wonderful work performance because my confidence in myself is boosted& | F | 35 | 2.5 months | 5/8/2008 | 4 | Treatment resistant depression | When I first started on Lamictal, I had diarrhea, which would go away then return when we would increase the dosage. This was bothersome, but not really a big problem. Then I developed the dreaded Steven-Johnson's Syndrome rash. Fortunately, we caught it quickly, but there was temporary damage to the nerves in my arms. I had horrible burning pain in my arms for about a month and had to wrap my arms in bandages to keep the pain tolerable. My doctor said if I had continued on the medication, I would have developed third degree burns from the inside out and would have wound up in hospital, if not dead. Figures that when there is a 1/10000 risk of a serious side effect, it's the one I get. | It was the only medication in over a decade that worked at all for me; I had relief for the first time since 1993 from my depression. It just about killed me to have to come off the medication, but I couldn't risk letting the Steven-Johnson's Syndrome progress any further. | F | 31 | 2.5 months | 5/14/2006 | 3 | Bipolar 2, ultrarapid cycling | Slightly blurred vision in left eye, insomnia, night sweats, vivid nightmares, word recollection. | I've found the overall lamictal experience pretty good. I suffered the loss of my dad and granddad since beginning the medicine, a definite root/major trigger. It allowed me to grieve in the way i wanted to, without sending me into the depression followed by a manic episode (like before meds). The night sweats suck, b/c i can never find the right temperature, especially in light of the insomnia. Since i have eczema, i was definitely expecting the rashes, but they've not come. The nightmares are pretty freaky, and are so startling that i wake up sitting upright (even though i sleep on my side). Although i've felt down and up at times, its within the normal range (whatever that is...). | M | 28 | 2.5 months | 4/20/2006 | 3 | Epilepsy (JME) | Terrible agitation, irritability, easily frustrated, some crazy intense rage. I will be fine when I wake up, do my morning routine, then when I take it within 1/2 hour am so jittery and full of nervous energy I can barely stand to be in my own skin. Night sweats, more thirst--minimum 5 liters of water a day, but these aren't important, it is the intense edginess and extreme internal unrest that is so terrible, and the illogical and yet apparently uncontrollable way in which I take things out on my poor husband that worries me, if I can stick with it or not. Some insomnia, difficulty getting 7 hours per night where I used to need 9 minimum... | Depokate was doing a great job of controlling my epilepsy with minimal side effects, just a bit of flatlining of my personality and sloooowed metabolism. But with planning for a family, the decision to switch was made. I'm not even up to full dose yet and I am just hoping my body will become accustomed to the drug and this awful intense nervous energy/irritability/internal unrest will stop. Like my blood is on fire, all my nerves on hypersensitive gaurd. If it continues I'm just going to have to go back to Depakote...this is intolerable. | F | 34 | 2.5 months | 8/2/2009 | 2 | Bipolar II, rapid cycling | dizziness, rash, difficulty concentrating, headache | Didn't help the mania at all. Didn't help the migraines. Helped the depression a bit but not as much as many other meds. The rash is awful. Now I'm trying to figure out how quickly I can quit taking it. Any ideas? Links to web sites would be helpful. | F | 17 | 2.5 months | 9/22/2004 | 2 | Bipolar | Metalic taste in mouth, Severe gas, chronic diarrhea, dizziness with loss of balance, sinus pain with rhinitis and thick mucus that dropped to back of throat, headache, pain in fingers and hands, flu like symptoms and increased facial acne that was never an issue before, feeling completely sick, miserable and "toxic" physically. | Once I increased the dosage from 50 mg to 100 mg I started to literally feel toxic. My MD decreased my dosage back to 75 mg and told me that I obviously had the flu since the dosage wasn't therapeutic level and not enough to affect an infant. I resumed the 75 mg dosage and immediately began feeling sick again with all the same symptoms. After 3 days off the medicine I began to feel somewhat normal again, so I know it was the Lamictal. This was a great mood stabilizer that left me feeling much better emotionally, but with the terrible side effects it's impossible for me to remain on the medicine. I'm discouraged and doubtful that I will ever find another medicine that was as effective at stabilizing my mood. With the adverse side effects that are reported here, I don't think the toll on my health is worth the risk. | F | 49 | 2.5 months | 10/30/2006 | 2 | bi polar 2 | AGITATION! acne, night sweats, headache, short term memory loss, distractibility, difficulty with words, especially names, and hallucinations | Side effecs got worse as I got higher up in dosage. About a week after I got up to 175 mgs, I developed the worst agitation of my life, a really, really unbearable feeling. Lamictal may have triggered hypomania in me. Actually had hallucinations one night. Will be discontinuing this medication. I seem to be unusual in having had this response to the drug, but anxiety and agitation are reported as "very rare" side effects, even in the official company literature. Also, women be cautious-- Lamictal interacts with birth control pills in ways nobody seems to understand very well, so do some research and ask your doctor about it. | F | 31 | 2.5 months | 4/8/2006 | 2 | Bipolar 2 | Sadness, crying, moodswings. Itchy spots and hives. Slight headaches and a feeling of pressure or "blockiness" in my head. | Started on 50mg and became almost immediately sad and tearful. At 100mg I got too activated and angry, this settled into mildly low with occasional desperate crying spells. 150mg the moodswings got more frequent, would have crying spells at work. Self-harmed, thought about suicide. I have halved my dose with a view to stopping, and the crying has stopped. Still feel sad though. I am so disappointed, I had really hoped this would work, but the sadness is so extreme I can't stand it. | F | 34 | 2.5 months 150mg 1X day | 9/10/2013 | 5 | Bi-polar 2 | Side effects changed with every change in dose. First, mental clarity, hiccups. Next, hair and nails began to grow much faster than before, minor tremors. Next, hot flashes at night. Now, only hiccups and occasional hot flashes. I am also now able to sleep without sleeping pills for the first time in years. | Just what the doctor ordered. Really has improved my life in so many ways. Words are easier to access. BEWARE: if dose is too low, you may suddenly fall off a cliff into depression. This was fixed with higher dose. May still go up on dose depending on future changes. My other drugs are tegretol, lexapro, thyroid, Ativan, sleeping pill if needed (not needed for a couple weeks now). | F | 51 | 2 months 200 mg 1X day | 2/21/2012 | 5 | mood stabalizer | I had no side effects up to 150mg and it worked very well for me at 200mg I started having insomnia and am considering going back to 150mg. It is a great drug and has helped a huge amount. Not sure if I am alone in this 150 vs 200mg side effects as some take higher doses and seem fine | M | 35 | 2 months 200 | 12/20/2011 | 5 | Bipolar/anxiety/migraines | Insomnia (went away after 2 weeks), hair loss (about 25-30% of my hair fell out), creepy skin feeling (like the way it feels when you hear fingernails on a chalkboard), aching teeth, strange headache when I first started taking it & also when my dose was increased, slight case of hives on various spots of my body (especially noticeable right after I get out of the shower), acne on forehead, wrinkles on face seem to be more pronounced, fatigue/excessive yawning during first half of day. | I still love this drug. Most of the side effects have lessened. I also take Lexapro 10 MG 1xD and Valtrex 500 MG 1xD. Feel great for the first time in my life. My hair seems to be growing back, and I've helped the wrinkles by putting a heavy face balm on at night. Also, I was having the fatigue/excessive yawning when I was taking Lamictal in the morning. I now take it at night & no longer feel tired during the day. The "hives" have gotten better, and I use a toothpaste & mouth-rinse for sensitive teeth. Also, I got a nightguard which REALLY helped the aching teeth & jaw-clenching. I bought one of those cheap ones at a drugstore and it works great. I suspect that taking Valtrex plus Lamictal might have increased my hair loss, but I've had shingles 4 times in the past 10 years so I cannot stop the Valtrex. Please feel free to email me. | F | 44 | 2 months 150 MG 1X day | 5/29/2011 Patient History | 5 | Depression | My depression has controlled my life, for the past 18 years. I have tried almost every anti-depressant on the market, but something was missing. I've been taking Lamictal in conjunction with another anti-depressant, and it has made all the difference. | F | 56 | 2 months | 3/6/2007 | 5 | Bipolar Mixed State | Very few side effects, mainly decreased appetite (NOT a bad thing!) and the inside of my nose is very dry (although this may be from the other drugs I'm taking). | So far, this drug is great! I had to be hospitalized three months ago for atypical bipolar disorder, with severe agitation and suicidal thoughts. At that time, I was given Neurontin and Seroquel (which I've been taking for years). The depressive/suicidal thoughts decreased, but my agitation and panic attacks went through the roof! I'm now taking 300 mg of Lamictal, one Ativan (don't know the dose) twice a day, and 100-200 mg of Seroquel at night. My agitation is completely gone and the depression and anxiety are both greatly reduced. Considering that the only other main options for my condition are Lithium and Depakote (which both have MAJOR side effects), I'm thrilled with my experience on Lamictal!! | F | 42 | 2 months | 11/9/2005 |