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  Type II Bipolar Disorder/Depression Facial itching, an odd uptight feeling. I can't really comment on whether the medication was effective; I experienced facial itching after three doses and became concerned with the rare possibility of Stevens-Johnson Syndrome. I was immediately taken off of the drug. M 18 3 days
11/16/2009
 3   flu like feeling, congestion, foggy memory, vivid dreams, anger I have been on several meds for PTSD, celexa, wellbutrin, cymbalta and now lamictal has been added. I am scared it will change me, I am afraid of angry outbursts while overcoming side effects, if anyone can help with advice let me know--i just want my confidence energy entusiasm and hope back--i feel stupid thinking i can get that from a pill. Am i just lazy? I am also in recovery, 12 years clean and sober. please offer advice M 57 6 weeks
11/15/2009
 3  Bipolar hair loss, foggy brain at times, weight gain I loved Lamictal actually. But as soon as I found out it made my hair fall out, I stopped taking it because THAT was making me depressed too...now I'm on Abilify - I miss Lamictal...not feeling too well off of it...pretty worried I might get worst F 24 2 years
11/13/2009
 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
 1  epilepsy mouth sores, sore throat, rash, muscle aches, agitation, irratibility, hyperness- mind racing, heart paliptiations/racing These are rare side effects that dont effect everyone, but i wouldnt recomment this medicine to anyond F 25 2 weeks
11/12/2009
 5  Bipolar Disorder II The first month was very rough. I had extreme headaches, muscle pain, depressive and anxious fits, and terrible short term memory problems, and mixing up words. It was difficult to remember anything long enough to hold a conversation. There was also what I considered to be emotional deadening. I promise, if you hang in there long enough to get up to the theraputic dose, it will change your life. I had been living with undiagnosed Bipolar Disorder for twelve years. I have never felt more like myself. It's like I have a good day almost everyday. This isn't to say I don't have bad days or episodes but they are few and far inbetween. I highly recommend it. I managed to lose all of my baby weight and more. I don't sleep all the time or have fits of rage anymore. I am actually well enough to have a 30-35 hour work week, take care of my home and my family and go to school full time. There are hardly any emotional extremes anymore. However, I am still experiencing a little anxiety. F 24 4 months
11/11/2009
 2  nerve pain increased nerve pain, more sites. facial pain at site of previous bell's palsy. weight gain, increased appetite This is in no way helping any of my nerve pain,it is just getting worse. I am being told to wait till you get to a level. Five weeks of increasing dose is a long time to wait when you are in so much pain. I am on 50mg now and am adding it to lyrica 800mg/day F 44 3 weeks
11/6/2009
 2  Bipolar II I didn't think I was experiencing side effects until realizing it was causing my tremors. the drug however seemed to be working. However, since cutting way back with Dr.'s advice I'm experiencing all of the side effects people are having that are just starting the drug: loss of memory, limited vocab., no present recall ability, chronic muscle aches, body of a 70 yr. old, burning eyes, "why bother" feeling, muddy brain, bruising, word loss, worse eyesight AND to top it off BPII symptoms are returning! Any comments?! F 48 7 years
11/5/2009
 1  migraines Vaginal itching after one dose. After two doses the itching turned to burning and soreness in the pubic region. Was taking at bedtime. Upon awakening after the third dose I had blisters on the outer labia. I had continued soreness in the vaginal area and increased chills that day. While on an hour+ drive home the third night I became very ill, severe headache, severe low backache, chills, and body aches like the flu. I was praying for my life so I could continue to raise my children, even though I do not believe in god! It is the next evening and the blister continue to worsen, the pain and soreness in my entire public region continues to worsen, and I have developed a good size lump under my skin on both sides of the pubic area, like the bikini line. The one on the left is about golf ball size and the one on the right is about quarter size, right now. You can physically see the entire area swollen from the lump on the left. My entire pubic region is extremely tender and painf My neurologist that prescribed the med, told me to see my primary gyn if symptoms are not gone one week after discontinued use. Isn't that nice! Hell my symptoms continue to worsen after almost two days of discontinuation. I live in a rural town over an hour from a gyn and don't have an established gyn right now so I'm sure it would be over a month and more like two months to get an appointment. Not a good situation! I'm no doctor, but I strongly urge any female taking this med to discontinue use IMMEDIATELY if you have and gyn changes or disturbances, no matter how small you may think they are! I only took this drug for three days! BEWARE!!! F 44 3 days
11/2/2009
 4  chronic depression with anxiety short term memory loss, possibly some hair problems has anyone experienced increased and more masculine hair growth on arms and side of face? F 70 3 years
10/31/2009
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 2  BIPOLAR EXTREME HAIR LOSS-------SO AWFUL----I CAN'T STAND IT. ALSO CONSTIPATION. ALSO 'MUDDY BRAIN SYNDROME'----CAN'T THINK OF SIMPLE WORDS. TOO BAD THIS CRAP DOES WORK. DEPRESSION AND MOOD SWINGS, PARANOIA MUCH LESS NOW. BUT WHAT GOOD IS THAT WHEN I AM GOING BALD?????? ALSO, IF YOU CAN'T POOP---LIFE IS BAD. F 53 3 months
10/28/2009
 1  Depression I have been on Lamictal for four years or so, taking 200 mg each day. I have most of the symptons described below: loss of memory, limited vocabulary, almost feel as if my I have no "present" recall ability. I see and hear, but can't summarize verbally without sounding like a fool. I am beginning to experience chronic muscle aches (almost flu like symptons), headaches, face and jaw pain, feeling as if I have the body of a 70 year old. The symptons come and go, but the pain is increasing enough that I've become suspect of this drug. I experience severe chills throughout my whole body; can't warm up. Hands and feet always cold. If I forget to take the lamictal, I have increased bouts of irritability and become paranoid or abnormally obsessed. I have also felt "confused". I would like to slowly get off Lamictal and try to survive the depression with increasing exercise and therapy. My next question is whether going off the drug will reverse these side affects F 53 4 years
10/27/2009
 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
 5  Cyclothymia- Mostly Depressive Short term memory loss! I'd forget to go to routine appointments I've had for years, and forget to turn in assignments. I forget everything. Also, I believe I have a major case of ADD because my attention span is basically gone. I got really bad acne, but that might be because I had to get off the pill (which helps with acne). Finally, my speech and grammar get messed up- especially with tenses. It's all really embarrassing for me because I'm an outstanding student at an ivy league school and the side effects are changing how I view myself. I'm on 50mg, and the side effects I mentioned are only getting worse as the dose increases. What's ironic is that I don't care about the side effects as much as I should because I see how well its working for me. My mood is better than ever. I was terrified of this drug before I started taking it. If the side effects weren't ruining my grades and relationships I'd go so far as to call it a miracle drug. F 20 1 months
10/18/2009
 1  Bipolar II - rapid cycler Burning eyes, "why bother" feeling. Huge sense of urgency to do something in the middle of the night. Insomnia, Very very dark thoughts. I want off this med. I have never had the kind of thougths I am currently having. I know it has to be the lamictal. I keep having thoughts about the world ending and nothing matters because we are all doomed to die anyway. When I have these thougts I am absolutely certain it is the truth and that I (and everyone else) is just wasting time living. I have to fight to get that thought out of my head. I am also waking up knowing I have to do a certain task, like look up something on the internet or call someone. I am most certain that it has to be done at that moment. It makes perfect sense to me at the time. I don't do it because there is still a part of my brain that stops me. I have been on Trileptal for years but my circle thoughts were coming back and it was causing me to lose my concentration. My psychiatrist put me on this (100mgs sid) to help-thinking it might get rid of depression and thus help me focus (can't take adderall for too long-screws me up big time) but it hasn't helped at all. I can't wait to be finished with it. I'll take my lack of concentration and rapid thoughts over this any day. It actually seems to make them worse! I need to find a med that works well with the trileptal (my miracle med-this drug is the reason I can hold a steady job)and helps me focus as well. Tried concerta and strattera, but upset my stomach way too much. Adderall made me an emotional wreck. Thanks to this site, I know I am even more certain it is the med and I am not going into a bad place again. F 41 3 months
10/18/2009
 1  Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Weight gain, extreme irritability, tremor, loss of sex drive, wild mood swings, stomach pain, insomnia. HORRIBLE. I've been on numerous AED's, and besides Zonegran, this is the worst one. Does next to nothing for seizure control. M 33 2 years
10/14/2009
 3  Bipolar II Cognitive impairment It is a curse knowing that you no longer know what you used to know. I take 200mg/day, and it has effectively dulled my mind to the point where I can only halfway function in my field. It seems also to have decreased my ability to play musical instruments. My mood is stable, but I am starting to wonder if it us worth what I have lost: I have two Master's degrees and I am only about fit to work in fast food. M 39 4 years
10/11/2009
 4  JME (Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy) "Wearing-off effect" in the evening when second half of dose is due. Possible "OCD" tendencies? Possible depression/anxiety? There are other factors in my life that could be causing those. I was on Valproic Acid for 4 years after I got diagnosed which controlled my jerks & seizures just about perfectly, then I switched to Lamotrigine when I got married in case I get pregnant because it is safer for a baby. It does not control the jerks nearly as well. I have been on it for about 4 years now and it doesn't seem to be working as well anymore. I am getting more jerks and I am feeling the "wearing-off effect" on and off all day instead of just in the evening. F 27 4 years
10/8/2009
 4  bipolar II Acne! This drug gave me terrible acne, which is now sort of under control with clindamycin and tretnoin. I still constantly have at least one cystic zit on my face though. And I am 42 years old. Yuck. Other than the acne, I have no complaints about this drug. I take 150 mga day, and it helps control the depression/mania cycling quite well in conjunction with 75mg of seroquel I take every day, along with 10 mg of Namenda twice a day. I took part in a lamictal/namenda clinical study (the hypothesis is that lamictal and namenda work synergistically with one and other) and I felt my entire quality of life improve. I live a completely normal life now, and I am *very* careful to take my meds every day to ensure that it stays that way! F 42 2 years
9/30/2009
 4  depression, mood stablizer I am glad I thought to search this. I too have suddenly lost an enormous amount of hair in the last several months. I was placed on Lamictal in March, after losing my Mom to pancreatic cancer, losing my job, and getting divorce all within a matter of about 9 months. It has been increased several times. From 25mg morning and night, to 25mg morning and 50 night, and now 50 morning and 50 night. I noticed about two months ago (when it was last increased) that I was shedding A LOT! I now have a very noticable bald spot that I am having a hard time covering no matter how I style it. I am a 28 year old female with red hair...this is part of my physical identity! I think this could be the cause. I originally thought it may be post super stress reaction or caused by hormone levels being out of wack due to PCOS but my obgyn doens't think it's the PCOS. Just hope it's something that can be fixed and that my hair can grow back! The lamictal greatly helped my mood, but for me, if it is causing my hair loss, I would rather be on something else and keep my hair. The hair loss is very embarrassing and making me overly self conscience F 28 6 months
9/28/2009

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