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 |
| 5 | seizures grand mall and petit mall | See the rating I just put in, I put the wrong time used down, 5 years, not 5 days. | M | 52 | 5 years | 10/23/2005 | 5 | Epilepsy | Occasionally after drinking larger amounts of caffeine or getting little sleep the effects of the drug are weakened, but I suppose that's natural. Have had some nervous ticks/twitches in recent years, but I'm not sure if that began after taking lamictal or before. At times it's hard to concentrate. Acne was quite exacerbated when I began the drug and lasted for a year or two, but it has subsided considerably since then. | I was diagnosed with Grey Matter Displacia also in April 2001. I started taking tegretol and carbotrol and they were horrible for me. I started taking lamictal after just a few weeks and experienced a great deal of short term memory loss, but that very well could have been the tegretol. Overall I am very pleased with the drug. As long as I take care of myself (get enough sleep and don't drink too much caffeine, and I never have drunk alcohol) I basically do fine. I take 150mg/2xd. | M | 22 | 5 years | 1/25/2006 | 5 | Epilepsey | Lamictal has greatly changed my life. I remember dreams and am very alert. I sleep about 6 hours a night and have a clear mind in the morning. My personality is now very level no ups and doens. I have taken many other medicaitons for epilepsey and this is the best. | I have been taking medication for epilepsy for 48 years and this is the best drug for controlling my petit mal and grand mal seizures - it has the least side effects of any drug I have taken in the past. | F | 61 | 5 years 450 mg/day 2X day | 12/3/2011 | 5 | Bipolar 1 | Small bumps on hands when we increased the dosage. | This drug has saved my life. Seriously. I had severe manic episodes and two suicide attempts. We tried anti-psychs with bad results. Abilify caused seizures; Geodon nearly gave me a heart attack. You start at a low dose and bump it up at various increments. The dosage pack makes it easy. Now that I'm taking the max dosage for bipolar disorder, my moods are *much* more stable. I still have episodes of mania and depression, but that's the nature of the disorder. If not for Lamictal, those episodes would likely be much more serious. I recommend trying this drug to anyone who is having trouble with side effects from anti-psychs. As with any drug, there is a chance of very serious side effects. It really is trial and error sometimes. Best of luck to all of you who are dealing with these crappy psych illnesses. We'll make it through! :-) | F | 30 | 5 years 200 mg 2X day | 9/13/2011 | 5 | bipolar disorder | muscle twitching | it's been great so far. i was ragingly psychotic at one point, being on lamictal for the most part brought me to a much safer place. i still take other medications too, so i'm not sure i can contribute the success purely to lamotrigine, but it was a much better alternative than lithium (which made me feel so stupid) | M | 23 | 5 years 400 1X day | 5/29/2011 | 5 | Bipolar 2 | Bad headache each time I had to titrate the dosage up. Other than that none. Maybe some fatigue, but I have been tired my whole life. | I was diagnosed with bipolar at age 48, after years of being misdiagnosed by tons of shrinks with "just" depression. The diagnosis was discovered when I was put on Wellbutrin during a severe depression. Without a mood stabilizer in place the Wellbutrin put me into a severe manic episode in which I was having both auditory and visual hallucinations and racing thoughts so powerful that I could not sleep- making it even worse. I agreed to take lamictal as my last resort to killing myself because with the other meds I tried I felt so drugged and zombie-like.Thank God I did not let the "deadly rash" scare me away from this drug! All I had for side effects were moderate headaches for 2-3 days every time the dosage was upped. NO OTHER SIDE EFFECTS! I stayed at 250 mgs for a long time. Then in Dec. 2010 I had breakthrough mania and mixed episodes with ultra-rapid cycling. All caused by being place on a beta-blocker for high blood pressure that gave me insomnia and anxiety so bad I hardly slept for 3 weeks. No sleep is a disaster for bipolars! So I just got upped today to 300 mgs (Jan. 2011). I will write later to say how the 300 mgs is working to control this terrible disorder that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. PLEASE e-mail if you have questions! Update 1.15: Been upped to 300 mgs and all hell is breaking loose! Can't sleep, totally manic, spent a ton of dough in last 2 days, | F | 54 | 5 years 300 mg 1X day | 1/11/2011 | 5 | Severe anxiety, depression | Slight memory loss and difficulty recalling a word every now and then. Nothing that hinders my work performance (editing). | This medicine is a miracle for me. I didn't know what "normal" was supposed to feel like until I started taking this medicine. No more depression, no more horrific panic attacks. No weight gain or loss, no problems with sleep. | F | 39 | 5 years 150 MG 1X day | 1/26/2011 | 5 | Bipolar Disorder | The only side effect I had with lamictal in the very beginning was feeling spaced out and as if my brain was reacting to it- as if it knew it was being given a drug (it was!) and was "soaking" it in and trying to reconfigure itself to the new drug. This went on for about a week or two. As I titrated up on it- from 25 mgs. to 200 mgs.- each time I would have a bad headache (the famous "lamictal headache")that lasted from 2-3 days and then went away. Each and every time I upped my dosage I had this headache, but ONLY for 2-3 days. Other than that- ZERO side effects-only benefits. I did not gain any weight and I do not feel as if I am taking a drug at all. I love it! | I am bipolar- undiagnosed until I was 48. I am 53 now. I tried a variety of meds, but had bad side effects on all of them. Then I was put on lamictal. I was afraid, because of the rash thing, which I obviously did not get. But at the time I agreed to go on it, I had had it with all the other stuff I had been put on that I wanted to be dead anyhow, so I thought- ok-I will give this drug a chance because I have nothing left to lose. I am so happy I said yes to this drug! I have never had a deathly deep depression since I was put on it, nor have I gone off the charts manic. In truthfullness, I did start drinking heavily after my diagnosis because I could not believe I had a real mental illness. Even with my heavy drinking, the lamictal kept working. But because I was drinking, it did not work as well as it could have until I finally quit drinking in February 2010 and went to AA. I felt great for the 2 months I was sober, and then sunk into a depression- which I found out later is very common when you quit drinking. I was put on Wellbutrin 150mgs to combat this depression. At that amount, I felt better- but not 100%. I ended up having quite a few slips with the booze, until I finally decided- just recently- that if I am ever to have a chance at feeling close to 100%- I can never drink again. I deal with that thought ONE DAY AT A TIME. That slogan is out there for a reason- it works. If you think over the long haul, it becomes overwhelming. I also started going to AA, which I had | F | 53 | 5 years 200 mg 1X day | 8/21/2010 | 5 | Bipolar | none | M | 51 | 5 years 200 1X day | 9/2/2010 | 5 | nocturnal tonic-clonic | none of signifigance experienced. | M | 56 | 5 years 137.5mg 2X day | 11/14/2010 | 5 | bipolar type 2 | dry mouth | Lamictal has been very effective at treating my bipolar type 2. What a relief! I am so grateful to have a normal life. | F | 54 | 5 years 100 mg 1X day | 10/13/2010 | 5 | bipolar PTSD | some sleepiness and dry mouth when started partial dose in a.m | 4th medication attempt for unrelenting suicidal depression episodes. within one week suicidal thoughts stopped and have not returned, even during stressful times. | F | 52 | 5 years 300 mg 1X day | 10/16/2010 | 5 | mood stabilizer | Sanity | I LOVE lamictal. I have tried other medications and after HORRIBLE side effects the docs put me on this. I have never felt better in my life! I ran out of insurance due to losing a job and had to go off of it. It was then that I saw what it really does for me. (withdrawals are a b*$@h, as was the rearing up of the mood disorder)Fortunately, I was quickly employed and after adjusting back to my dose, I was sane again. I LOVE lamictal and am actually scared of going off of it when I plan to get pregnant. (Studies are unclear about effects in-utero)I know not everything works for everyone, after all none of the other meds I tried worked for me...but I am BEYOND pleased with Lamictal. | F | 29 | 5 years 100MG 1X day | 7/1/2010 | 4 | bi-polar | I have not experienced any side effects from this drug. I drink regularly and also smoke pot on occasion. These do not seem to effect the drug or cause any side effects. | I am pretty happy with this drug and it controls my mood swings very well. It works best when combined with good diet and exercise. However, I have read accounts on here that seems like it would be impossible to ever go off this drug without major withdrawal side effects. | M | 27 | 5 years 100mg 2X day | 11/22/2010 | 4 | Back Pain from Herniated Disk | Numbness, tingling, in face and jaw, (normally have it in body from herniated disc), nausea, dizziness, maybe headaches, tiredness, fatigue, memory loss. | I was surprised to read the other person's review who was prescribed Lamictal for back pain. I did not experience that with Lamictal, but I did have a similar experience with amitryptline and zanaflax or something like that. I didn't feel I had any emotional side-effects with Lamictal, which is one reason I liked it. (With others I can notice a sharp descent into depression.) It's very important that readers know that each individual will react differently to medications. I tried lots of different meds for back pain, but when I combined lamictal with ultram, I was able to tolerate my pain and yet be able to function. I think the idea is that it controls muscle seizures in your back or something (and of course the effect on the brain chemicals). Everything else just made me feel depressed or way too tired. I like to be alert and awake, and will tolerate some pain in exchange for being able to have a life. It's interesting that I've read about lamictal and hormones, because I'm just starting pre-menopause and I feel like my lamictal side effects of the numbness and tingling are getting stronger. I'm considering having my doctor wean me off this to see how I do. Probably will. But, I did want to post my positive experience with this drug and back pain so other might consider it. I would recommend giving it a try - and if it doesn't work - just go off it. But make sure you wean yourself on and off, it makes a difference. I'd also like to tell readers to trust your judgment more | F | 46 | 5 years 50 2X day | 5/25/2011 | 4 | BiPolar II | It's hard to distinguish what side effect comes from what drug therapies I'm on. Dizziness, weight loss, erratic sleeping patterns. | Best addition to my pharmaceutical war chest yet. It helped me begin to get an idea of what normal people are like. It doesn't erase may disorder difficulties but I had made my life, and those of my family, easier. I've been on Lamictal for about 5 years. The first few years at a lower dosage and upped it to max 2 years ago when I realized I was suffering from an ongoing low level depression for a lengthy time. Much better now. I take it in conjunction with a heavy dose of Lithium, which I've been on over 10 years. I started on Welbutrin for way too many years and a dabble with Depakote. Depakote was the first drug that made me feel truly 'drugged'. Lamictal and Lithium has been ideal and the side effects worth the benefits. BETTER LIVING THROUGH CHEMISTRY. | M | 45 | 5 years | 10/24/2005 | 4 | seizure | F | 36 | 5 years | 5/17/2007 | 4 | unstable mood +psychotic features | Assumed there were none | Was taking effexor, tegretol and neuroleptic zyprexa (replaced with risperdal)but was nevertheless harming myself and regularly overdosing with suicidal intent. Lamictin stopped the overdosing and helped with self-harming. After a breadown the lamictin was raised from about 50mg to 300mg. Most of my other medicine was tripled as well. After a year I almost had to give up studying: I was no longer interested in reading, and it would take hours to write a single sentence. Also I was feeling as though I was stoned. Reducing the lamictin to 200mg made a HUGE difference. Im reading again and able to continue with my degree. Im still not sure exactly which faculties were interfered with as in conversation I am very much the same. The foggy feeling has gone; I am more energetic and focused. I am not so dependant on stimulants. I have my work under control and am able to UNDERSTAND things again.Wish I knew exactly what was compromised and how... | F | 28 | 5 years | 3/15/2007 | 4 | bp1 | Headache, nausea, no appetite, some dizziness early going. Dizzy if I miss two 100mg doses in a row. I write to address the athlete's question: I am not a career athlete, and I've been slacking off lately activity-wise, but I've taken this drug for a long time and, from my experience you have nothing to be concerned with. All the side effects - i never really had any muscular ones - went away within 6 months, and it doesn't cloud the mind like other anticonvulsants. It is very effective for the lows; I fortunately have not had a major ep either way since I took it, and perhaps more importantly I hardly have any minor swings - I think I'm more stable than "regular" people, actually. The reason I mention all this is because I think not only does this have no effects on your physical performance, it should prevent you from having alternating periods of high and low energy, which would lend itself to inconsistency in your physical stamina and your ability to adhere to your g | The best thing out there for bp1 in my experience. Depakote made my life worse than before diagnosis, Lamictal better than ever. May require add'l meds to supplement if have ME, though, if only temporarily. | M | 29 | 5 years | 2/20/2007 | 4 | Borderline Personality Disorder | Memory loss, poor concentration, headaches, weight loss, hand tremor, dry mouth, dizziness, blurred vision. | Memory loss and difficulty concentrating have worsened over time. I frequently have moments when I "go blank." It takes me longer to recall information and form complete thoughts. I have difficulty concentrating and comprehending information. This was NEVER a problem for me before I began taking Lamictal, 5 years ago. However, it has had such a positive effect on my mood that I am reluctant to stop taking it. | F | 25 | 5 years | 3/2/2008 |