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 | Bipolar II | I'm not sure these symptoms are related to lamictal, since I was experiencing them to some extent prior to starting the drug: mild word retrieval problems (I'll hear the "wrong" word coming out of my mouth although I know what I want to say); hair loss (which was already happening). Otherwise, no side effects | I am taking 75 mg/day of lamictal as well as 900 mg/day of neurontin. The combination has been excellent and I feel calm and stable. I am also involved in yoga breathing (through the Art of Living Foundation) and I've found that this "cocktail" of neurontin, lamictal and yoga breathing has helped me enormously. I started taking lamictal a few weeks before my mother took ill and was slowly increasing the dose while my mother was dying. I'm pleased that I was able to get through one of the highest stress times of my life with calmness. I'm also pleased that the medications/yoga didn't take away my capacity to experience authentic emotions--sorrow at my mom's illness and passing, tears, appropriate mourning. It's hard to know whether my side effects (impaired concentration, work retrieval issues, hair loss) are connected with lamictal or with the stress of losing my mother and now, several weeks after her death, having to reconstruct my life. On the whole, so far, I highly re | F | 47 | 3 months | 10/12/2005 | 4 | Mood Disorder NOS | Feel slow & tired in the morining an hour after taking it; short term memory loss (I have a hard time recalling words, names, even what I ate for dinner the night before!)hair loss, but was told this is not a side effect. | I feel a lot calmer, happier, not irritable as much. I recently began taking 400mg. I couldn't sleep at night due to racing thoughts and the symptoms came back from the lack of sleep. Going to bed earlier and minimizing my computer use in the evenings helped me to get more sleep. | M | 25 | 6 months | 10/2/2005 | 4 | Depression and Anxiety | Loss of appetite during first month or so. Increased acne during first 2 months. Itchy skin and flu symptoms (but no fever) for 3 days during first month, which I keep down with facial soap and skin conditioner. I am currently suffering from mild memory loss and spelling problems. This isn't dyslexia; I'm not transposing letters, but leaving letters out, or having trouble spelling. | I'm currently on 300 mg once daily. My moods are usually very stable. I was suffering from SEVERE chronic anxiety, agitation, insomnia, and depression for two months prior to starting Lamictal. Gradual improvement as I upped the dosage (started at 50 mg, then moved up by 50 mg every week). Was stable at 250 for a couple of weeks, then had to move up to 300. Been there for about a month and I'm doing well. Did have one weird experience: took 275 one day and suffered from anxiety for 3 to 4 days thereafter. This may or may not have been caused by the one-day lower dosage. Although I'm concerned about longterm memory and spelling problems, this drug is still a life-saver. New users, please note: You MUST give it time to work. The initial side-effects can be a big problem. They do start to decrease after a month or so. This is basically how all psycho-therapeutic drugs work. Just stick with it. | M | 41 | 3 months | 9/29/2005 | 3 | BiPo2 | Loopy, cloudy thoughts. Had a tendency to tip sideways when I would turn a corner. My equalibrium was way off the first few months. Short term memory isn't too great. I swear, I think my boobs have gotten bigger (not necessarily a good thing)! | I started on the increased dosage over X weeks. I am currently @ 200mg thinking I might have to increase. After reading the comments on affecting birth control, I plan on asking my dr about that. | F | 37 | 5 months | 9/29/2005 | 3 | Bipolar ll | I have been on lamictal for 3 weeks now, started out at 25mg and am now at 75mg. I can't really tell any difference either way, but it sounds like from reading some of the comments that some of you wrote, I won't see any results until I reach around 100mg. I will say though that I was on seroquel before I started the lamictal, the sleep was sweet with no racing thoughts, but I went from 125lbs to 150 lbs in 4 months, and couldn't loose a pound even If I starved myself. Not only did it caused horrible weight gain, but it put an end to my metabolism. I was continued to gain. I didn't know that seroquel caused weight gain until my doctor told me two weeks ago. He said that it was in the top 3 for weight gain, I wanted to go bipolar on HIM at that point for not warning me about seroquel! He knew that I was watching my figure because of my line of work. The good news it that lamictal seems to has cause my metabolism to return to normal, mybe even better than normal. I can eat whatever | F | 36 | 3 days | 9/28/2005 | 2 | BP and major depression | Increased depression, aggressive behavior, sore throat, NEVER happy, nightmares | F | 39 | 14 days | 9/27/2005 | 5 | Bipolar II | A little worse acne, I think I had some memory loss for the first few months, but seem better now. (Memory is hard to self-access.) 400 mg gave me BAD itching (I would take 200 mg before bed and itch miserably an hour later.) 300 mg has few side effects now. | This drug is amazing! I started feeling better around 125mg. The only bad thing is that the effectiveness would "wear off" after a week or so at each higher level. Finally, 300 mg seems to do a good job consistently for me. (I have been at 300 for 6 months.) Lamictal seems to help mostly with my lowest-lows and my agitation. I am taking Provigil as needed to help a bit with the remaining depression. | M | 44 | 9 months | 9/23/2005 | 4 | Bipolar II | mild acne, headache, nausea, tremor, muscle aches. All subside gradually for the most part. | Excessive washing worsens the acne. The acne simply resolved when I let my skin oils naturally balance. Strange but true. When you wash your skin too much (hair included!) it stimulates the glands to produce more oil. Pain relievers have no effect on the muscle and headaches. | M | 51 | 4 months | 9/21/2005 | 3 | siezures | no clear side effects | switched my son to Lamictal after Depakote caused severe fatigue. Seizure free until another occured and then we upped his dose. Had 20 months siezure free until he had another one. Might have had a growth spurt or weight gain that required a new dose. Reading all these opinions and different side effects is making me really scared. Siezures also cause him to dislocate his shoulders. Please write if anyone experienced this and what you did. | M | 18 | 3 days | 9/20/2005 | 3 | depression | OK, after a week w/it at 12.5-25mg I'm itching all over. It seemed to pull me out of depression. Also started crying alot on it. Since tears are good for you that isn't so bad. Also less appetite for the most part. Some disturbed sleep and less focused vision-something darkens my vision. | F | 4 | | 9/20/2005 | 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 | 3 | Bipolar | INSOMNIA, INSOMINIA,INSOMNIA! Too much saliva. Vivid recurring dreams. Mouth sores, acne,irritation. Back and joint pain. | Taking 75 mg's at night now. Cant sleep until 4 or 5 am wake up with horrible dreams, night sweats after only 2 or 3 hours of sleep. My moods are more stable, not sure if side effects are worth it. Not able to function at work, had to take a leave. | F | 34 | 3 weeks | 9/19/2005 | 2 | bipolar and seizures | Cognitive: Decrease in memory, difficulty focusing, difficulty spelling, numerous errors when writing detailed information, clumsy. | F | 43 | 18 months | 9/17/2005 | 5 | Bipolar | I read some of the comments in regard to Lamictal. Personally, along with Wellbutrin and Buspor (not sure of spelling), these 3 drugs have been a miracle for me. I still have bad days but NOTHING of what I was experiencing prior to being put on these meds. It was determined that I had this illness for most of my life but went undiagnosed for a long time. It wasn't until after my husband passed away and I fell into a deep depression,losing our home, vehicle and a few other things that I was hospitalized and got to the root of my problem. When I do seem out-of-whack one of the many people who are my support system always ask me if I had taken my medication. Even with the system I created for myself which makes remembering a whole lot easier, I do tend to forget at times. I can't say that I have any side effects because I truly don't. I read where a few who are taking Lamictal are experiencing sexual side effects. It's obvious that everyone has a different experience with it because my s | F | 40 | 1.5 years | 9/16/2005 | 3 | Mood Stabilization | Nightmares, headaches/sinus pain, extreme short term memory loss, confusion, hot flashes, skin irritations | Although this med assisted with my low moods, and crying jags,I cannot tolerate the short term memory loss and confusion. It was getting so bad I could not remember the name of the physician I have been seeing for almost a year, or my home address and phone number. | F | 46 | 6 weeks | 9/16/2005 | 2 | Moodiness,Anxiety.. | Tiredness, irritability,less sexual,less outgoing | I was a lot better on paxil!!! I've tried to reach my doctor to change back to Paxil and she won't call me back...Weird...I was sooo much better on Paxil..This medication has made me feel like a zombie...Extremly VIVID and STRANGE dreams!!! | F | 29 | 1 weeks | 9/15/2005 | 1 | seizures | dizziness, irritability, spacing out, hip pain, stomach pain, drowzy, horrible headaches, intense dreaming, night sweats, tonight I got a rash...red and mild all over chest arms and legs, legs are swollen too. | Will never take it again, this stuff can kill your spirit if not yourself, I just called my doctor, and I am terrified!!! he said that I might have to be put on a steroid treatment for the rash...WHAT?? | F | 34 | 25 days | 9/15/2005 | 5 | Bipolar II with mixed states | Absolutely None! | I started taking this med about 8 months ago when we tried to decrease (and maybe stop) my Seroquel dose (due to the weight gain). The plan was have me on just Lamictal and Topamax. That project failed, oh well, but during that time, my mood really leveled out nicely, and we left it. A subsequent depression really allowed the Lamictal to do its thing. WOW! My doc bumped it up, and literally within a few days I was feeling better. This stuff is great. I'm up to 200 mg twice a day, along with my Seroquel and Topamax, and things are very stable. Life is pretty good. | F | 42 | 3 years | 9/13/2005 | 5 | BIPOLAR II | not at all | LAMICTAL WORKS WELL FOR ME. I CAN NOT BELIEVE ITs EFFECT. I WAS SEARCHING FOR TREATMENT FROM 30 YEARS AGO AND FINALLY FIND IT??? YES MY MISSED REMEDY WAS LAMICTAL. I AM NOW 51 Y/O MAN AND THINKING WITH SAD " Why not from early childhood?" MY PERSONALITY CHANGED. VERY GOOD. VERY INTERESTING. THANKS GOD. now I wish to visit the personel of the MANUFACTURING FACTORY OF LAMICTAL TO KISS THEIR HANDS. Im GLAD FINDING LAMICTAL. AND I AM SURE I LIVE IN COMING YEARS. BUT WHAT WAS LIFE IN 51 YEARS WENT WITHOUT HAPPINESS???? | M | 51 | | 9/11/2005 | 5 | bipolar disorder, severe depression | hot flashes and night sweats, irritability, several awakenings after falling asleep before I get to sleep, sinus congestion w/headache, dry mouth | Began at 25 mg - increased to 50 mg in 2 weeks and felt wonderful and energetic. At 5 weeks began 75 mg and became irritable and I was contributing greatly to global warming. Notified Dr. and dosage was increased to 100 mg - Became more aggressive w/increased night sweats, depression and morning crying jags. I was feeling hopeless again. I decreased dosage to 50 mg and a week later was feeling much better. The lower dosage works better for me and I'm willing to tolerate side effects that I consider minor when compared to depression and suicidal thoughts. I'm also taking Neurontin 2400 mg daily (great for lessening pain, helping w/sleep, rage and anxiety), Prozac 10 mg daily (works well for the depression). I should also mention I'm also being treated for PTSD. | F | 56 | 10 weeks | 9/10/2005 |