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 |
| 5 | bi polar | none this medicine saved my life at a time when my bi polar was out of control. I had to be hospitalized and was started on this and it really regulated my moods | daydreaming | F | 28 | 9 weeks | 2/11/2008 | 4 | Epilepsy | Hair loss, trouble finding words, confusion or difficulty with short term memory, redish rash on face, not really noticable unless you are looking close up, increased insomnia. On the positive it has helped me with my mood swings and my menstrual cramps | About | F | 40 | 5 years | 2/10/2008 | 3 | bipolar II rapid cycling | dry mouth, severe hand tremers, loss of memory (could be associated partially with progression of disease but getting worse as time goes by | I am also taking effexor XR. | F | 30 | 3 years | 2/7/2008 | 4 | Bi-Polar Type 2 | When I was taking 100mg, I felt completely flat & apathetic and I couldn't concentrate. Now, taking only 50mg, I no longer feel flat, but my concentration is still lacking. | I'm taking Lamictal with 225mg of Effexor XR. Initially, I was wrongly diagnosed and taking only Effexor. Unfortunately, taking only Effexor made me manic for about 85% of the time. When my doc added the Lamictal, both the manic and depressive episodes decreased in frequency. | F | 28 | 4 months | 2/4/2008 | 4 | epilepsy | have some muscle aches but not enough to stop the med | very helpful. It would get a five but I am not at the dose yet where I am supposed to be, so the wait is still in the progress. I might add, it helps with mood as well. Have more energy. Feel like a human. | F | 50 | 2 weeks | 2/3/2008 | 5 | mood swings,rage, depression | little or no side effects | I am very satisfied with drug.. I wish I started it along time ago. I am happier, feel better, I don't yell and scream and get upset like I used to.. People around me have also noticed the difference, especially my husband! He wanted me to "thank" my doctor for this miracle pill, and I sure did. I will take this pill as long as I have to, and highly recommend it to anyone out there that has tried everything else like I did! | F | 30 | 21 days | 2/1/2008 | 5 | Bipolar II - rapid cycling | The first few months I had some issues with getting to sleep and vivid dreaming, but this was remedied by taking it in the morning. The first month I experienced some mild euphoria which occasionally bordered hypomania, and when I increased the dose I would often experience some hypomania for a short while (a day maybe). I had some difficulty in word recall and moments of "going blank," which would increase briefly each time I went up in dosage, but it's leveled off to fairly minimal, definitely manageable. I titrated slowly starting at 25mg (very important), and reached 200mg in a few months. I'm currently at 250/300 due to increased stress in my life, but 200mg worked fine normally. After a couple months, I really had no side effects at all except some continued difficulty in word recall. | This drug has been great in helping with stabilization of my moods, which often fluctuated a few times a day. And comparatively to the other mood stabilizers out there, the side effect profile is awesome. The word recall thing is annoying but it's better than feeling manically suicidal one hour and planning world domination the next. Some people get tired on it whereas others get insomnia if they take it at night, so experiment at first. Side effects are minimized if you start low (25mg) and titrate real slow, and you're less likely to have a bad reaction. I promise you, just stick with it for a couple months and the worst of it, if not all, will go away. Oh, and while I did get a little extra sensitive to certain cosmetic products at first, unless you get "THE" rash, keep with it (with approval of your doc of course) | F | 20 | 1.5 years | 2/1/2008 | 5 | PTSD | Inital headaches and itchy sensation (no rash) | After the first 3 weeks the side effects are non existant. I have found taking Lamictal 2 x 25mg per day and prozac 20mg that I feel as near to normal without PTSD or depression. It is trial and error with this meds - but this is a good mix for me. | F | 46 | 60 days | 1/29/2008 | 5 | depression, possible bipolar 2 | Dumbed down a bit with word recall | This is my third try with lamictal and I am very happy. I have been situational depressed for about 10 months and did terrible on effexor and cymbalta. The first time I tried lamictal, I had great relief with the 25 mg, then pdoc ramped up to 100 mg, giving me the most God awful muscle aches, so off I went. Second time was with in combination with effexor and it didn't help - now I realize it was the effexor I wasn't tolerating. So after I had my tubes tied and no longer have to take birth control pills - which messes with the efficacy of lamictal - I am back on at only 25 mg for about 2 weeks and I am not going any higher. I haven't felt this good in a long time. I am also going to talk therapy which I believe is helping too. | F | 33 | 14 days | 1/29/2008 | 5 | Petite mal seizures | acne, not being able to consintrate or find words(family gets a kick out of my new vocabulary) sleeplessness, blurred vision, definitely wished i had the weightloss | I started having seizures 18 years after I had brain surgery for an anuerysm. There is a metal clip in my head that eventually moved which I guess is normal for some people that have had the same surgery. I have had 4 seizures total in the 21/2 years I have been on Lamictal. The side effects are nothing to me, I can deal with them compared to the seizures. I am on 600mgs a day. They just upped my dosage 1wk ago do to a seizure. I had some really bad side effects the third day of taking the new dose. They were vertigo, dizziness, slurred speech,nausea,blurred vision,and moodswings. I had never experienced these side effects any other time that they upped my dose before. Very scary, but I'm glad that I am taking Lamictal it works for me. | F | 49 | 2 days | 1/24/2008 | 5 | Bipolar II | Titrated up to 250 mg (150 in am, 100 in pm)...also on Camila (progestin only) bc pill, so supposedly it's like i'm on a half dose, but I've gotten conflicting info about that. Also 75 mg Effexor. Extra sleepy, less bad side effects from drinking (although I've basically quit bc the med works SO much better when I'm alcohol-free), recently some of the large bumpy acne (bummer), maybe some difficulty w/ short term memory & coordination early on, but that's not seeming to be a problem now. I have a two year old daughter who I am gradually weaning off breastfeeding and she has had no adverse effects. | I love this med. Took me a long time to get comfortable with the dosage & its effects, but that may have been from drinking alcohol. I'm not sure about mixing it with caffeine (which I drink more of to counteract the sleepiness). If anyone has knowledge/experience, please email me? I used to have crazy rages and mood swings and the complete inability to react sanely even when i knew I was being irrational. My marriage and parenting are 100% better, I don't have resentful panic episodes around my in-laws, I can basically tolerate people who used to be very triggering, I am more patient and content and can find enthusiasm for simple pleasures (before,life was something to be endured, and the constant racing thoughts and worry were really miserable). The Effexor has made my depression pretty much nil over the years, but the hypomania has been miserable, and that has all but lifted. I am also a member of a twelve step program for compulsive overeating and bulimia. I can say t | F | 32 | 5.5 months | 1/24/2008 | 3 | Bipolar | oversleeping one night/not sleeping the next, feeling lethargic all the time, weight gain, never hungry | This is the second time I have been on Lamictal, the first time (I was on it for 2 months) my dosage was taken up to 100mg and I cannot remember the exact side effects but I did have a toenail that fell off for no reason, now reading people's reactions, perhaps it was the medication. I was sleeping all the time and in general just "bored." I am becoming very easily frustrated with finding a medication that will work! My doctor says to be patient, and we will build up to 400MG. | F | 23 | 11 days | 1/23/2008 | 3 | Junior Myoclonic Epilepsy | Extreme weight gain (10 lbs), hair loss, freaky dreams, memory loss, irregular sleeping patterns (only sleep for 4 or 5 hours), eye twitching, and can't stop taking it for even 2 days or else will have a gran mal seizure | Controls the epilepsy, but also makes it worse since you can't miss doses. All other epilepsy meds cause even more weight gain, so guess I have no choice. | F | 26 | 3 months | 1/22/2008 | 4 | bi polar and anger issues | i dont remember i stopped tAKING IT BECAUSE I CAN CONTROL MYSELF NOW | F | 23 | 2 years | 1/20/2008 | 4 | bipolar II | night sweats are the only side effect for me. Really this drug has been great. The first few weeks however I was very tired and became frustrated that my thoughts couldn't form words to come out of my mouth. Or I would say a completely different word than I was thinking. These odd things went away luckily. | I use this in conjunction to a little bit of lithium and a little bit of Zoloft. It really has helped me stay out of the lulls that zoloft couldn't do on its own. At first I thought 3 drugs was simply too much to take but it is a great combination for me. | F | 27 | 3 months | 1/20/2008 | 5 | Major depression Panic/anxiety | none that I can relate directly, without there being other explainations as well | I love it. After the hurricane my current med wasn't cutting it. For over a year I felt stuck in the panic,fear, and sever feelings of not feeling safe. I did every thing I could to feel safe again. I was in therapy, and having a history of extreme PTSD, I am use to fighting and doing everything possible to help myself, but nothing worked. My brain felt stuck. Lemectil released it. It didn't solve everything, but at least I'm battleing on flat ground. One thing I wish people would remember when they post. Just because the drug didn't work for you doesn't mean it sucks. I've taken numerous other meds that didn't help me, but have helped others. Bodies are different as is our responses to the med. | F | 32 | 1 years | 1/19/2008 | 2 | Bipolar type 2 | I just basically went insane... I don't know how else to put it! I became very tense and paranoid, and I would bite anyone's head off who said something towards me! I didn't even feel like I was the one saying what was coming out of my mouth. I had also become extremely emotional about little things... | I would try something different if you have type 2 . . . | F | 17 | 2 weeks | 1/17/2008 | 1 | Bipolar I | Extreme dizziness, light headed, upset stomach, itchy | Recently diagnosed as major depression and then the doc decided I was manic depressive so he put me on this stuff. I cannot even function on it because I am so unbelievably dizzy. Has made my depressive episodes worse and more frequent. | F | 25 | 2 months | 1/16/2008 | 3 | depression | Nasty side effects. Hair loss (shedding), acne, occasional diarrhea, cognitive problems, night sweats, vivid dreams, poor circulation during sleep (body parts fall asleep), mild rash in beginning. | Take from 25-50mg per day. It seems to help my depression but the side effects are terrible. I can't seem to wean off it without becoming depressed again. I also take parnate 50mg. | M | 20 | 8 months | 1/14/2008 | 3 | epilepsy | Anxiety--I've always been somewhat anxious but it has increased four fold. I've worked on managing it and trying to remember that it is the medication which helps. The anxiety was much worse however with Topamax which I discontinued. Cognitive--I had to leave my profession as a college professor because I would get confused in front of my classes, and couldn't even calculate grades. My measured IQ dropped from 130+ to 108 (I know because I had a neuropsychological work-up.) I forget what I'm doing, lose everything, can't remember what I just read, get easily distracted and can only stay organized by using lists and writing everything down. And that doesn't always work. On the plus side I don't have to worry about weight gain anymore. | I can make it day to day, but it has dramatically changed my life. It's immensely reassuring to see that others have the same problems. It helps keep me from feeling so weak and neurotic. Despite everything, I would rather cope with the side effects than have seizures. I just try to keep a sense of humor about the whole thing. | F | 58 | 3 years | 1/11/2008 |