This is a nightmare. I have been on Lamictal 200 mg, tab in morn...

DEAR JEB I TOO HAVE BEEN ON LAMECTIL 2 YEARS FOR MOOD SWINGS AND I TO SUFFER FROM LEG CRAMPS AND BEING VERY TIRED AND SLEEPY I DO STAY VERY BUSY WITH MY LIFE (WORK) AND OTHER ACTIVITES BUT I JUST DRAG THROUGH.....I HAVE READ SIDE EFFECTS ON THIS DRUG BUT HAVE NEVER SEEN LEG CRAMPS ..DID YOU JUST STOP COLD TURKEY? ANY SIDE EFFECTS? PLEASE LET ME KNOW I'M 50 YEARS OLD ALSO .... THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH JCP

Jeb and kann-
I started lamictal about 4 weeks ago, and a few days after upping from 25 to 50 mg, started having swelling and pain in my feet and legs. One week after the increase, I stopped. I figured with a half life of 1 to 1 1/2 days, my symptoms should be clearing at about 6 days, but I'm now day 10, still swollen, sucking down motrin, and walking like I was 75, not 42. Just how damn long do these side effects last?
Kann, do not stop cold turkey if you've been on lamictal for two years-- you need to taper down over a month or two, depending on your dose, o/w a long list of withdrawal symptoms. DJ

Hi DJ,

I am so sorry you are going through this,it is he--! I have been off the medicine for 3 weeks, 200 mg., the swelling and fluid is going away so slowly I can hardly believe it. I am still in pain but not quite as bad. I can walk the dogs around the block in the morning if it is not hot. The heat makes the swelling much worse. I am mentally feeling BETTER, thinking clearly. Everything else that seems to be a side effect remains the same. I am thinking this could take a while.....I called the manufacturer and they just told be the half life. How long it stays in your tissues is individual.

If you feel strongly about this med. having untold bad side effects (as I do) , call the manufacturer and they will make a report, give you minimum information, but they are required to report to the FDA.

Let me know how you are doing. I know there are many that just suffer silently....it just hurts to dang bad to keep my mouth shut ! This S.E. should be boldly noted.

Kann, she is right, if you get off the Lamictal, make sure it is supervised by an M.D.

Hi, I've been on Lamictal 25 mg for 4 days and for the past 2 days I have notice severe aching and muscle pains in my legs. The dr advice to quit taking it and see if it goes away but all my lab work was good so i keep taking it. I guess tomorrow I won't be taking it cause now its going up into my arms and making them ache and it hurts so bad.

Glad to know i am not alone. Mine is for stress/anxiety/despression they made a point to say it wasn't for bipolar

e been on Lamictal 25 mg for 4 days and for the past 2 days I have notice severe aching and muscle pains in my legs. The dr advice to quit taking it and see if it goes away but all my lab work was good so i keep taking it. I guess tomorrow I won't be taking it cause now its going up into my arms and making them ache and it hurts so bad.

Glad to know i am not alone. Mine is for stress/anxiety/despression they made a point to say it wasn't for bipolar

My side effects include lethargy, terrible memory loss including forgetting common words (which makes conversation quite difficult).

If I forget to take my dose (200mg) for even one day, I get dizziness, tingling sensations in my head and bad flu-like symptoms.

BUT.......it has really helped my depression, altho feel somewhat flat.

Trying to cut down slowly, as its so hard to work when you can't think clearly
but then again, I can't work when severely depressed......
ah, the conundrum of being bi-polar

My side effects include lethargy, terrible memory loss including forgetting common words (which makes conversation quite difficult).

If I forget to take my dose (200mg) for even one day, I get dizziness, tingling sensations in my head and bad flu-like symptoms.

BUT.......it has really helped my depression, altho feel somewhat flat.

Trying to cut down slowly, as its so hard to work when you can't think clearly
but then again, I can't work when severely depressed......
ah, the conundrum of being bi-polar

hi im 22 years old and i have been on lamictl 200mg a day 4 about 10 years i never got tould about the side effects i dont sleep much ive gaind weight and some memory loss and sometimes get bad back pain
people that get stop takeing lamictal are lucky but me i have to take it for the rest of my life if idont i could get very sick
i feel ur pain

I'm a 44 year old male who was diagnosed with mild BiPolar 1 last year. The doc put me on 300mg of Wellbutrin every morning and 200mg of Lamictal at night before bed. The good news is that my mood swings went away, and for the first time in my life I had consistent 8 hour/night sleeping habits. I went to bed on time every night too, which is amazing.

What went away with it however was my mental acuity, vebalization skills and alertness. What's more, I lost my 'edge', becoming very complacent and can I say 'wimpy'??? The combination of all of the above even led to my losing the girlfriend of three years as well. :( Oh well - who needs her

So I approached my doc and asked if I could reduce my dosage to 'find my happy place'. When I went from 200mg to 100mg for 30 days, I experienced a lot of anxiety and some minor chest pains. I got my edge back, and stopped fumbling for my words. That was a welcome relief, as I have always been very well spoken - eloquent even :)

A month later I went from 100mg to 50mg and the anxiety & chest pains became so bad it was debilitating after two weeks. I upped my dose to 75mg and that immediately solved the chest pains. My sleep habits are once again erratic and I'm constantly struggling to control my moods. I don't recall the mood swings being this pronounced before I went on meds.

So here I am, struggling to decide what to do next. It's definitely a love hate for me...

I have been on Lamictal 50mg for only a week and I am NOT feeling any better, in fact, I am crying more, sleeping all day and now experiencing extreme panic and anxiety. This is bizzare and irratic....someone help!

I am on lamictal 2oomg for over 6 months now to alleviate the mood swings. I have an athletic background. I must say the reverse has happened for me, I have lost weight I did not need My moods are stable . I am enjoying my work and my exercise regime which includes a lot of walking 5-8miles mon-fri and hot yoga. I have my own business and so I walk a nice energetic pace to clients homes the five days a week. Thank goodness for this drug in my life. My only regret is that I was not on this earlier.

From: moguls222: I have been on this drug for a year or so. I see my doctor on 3/4/09. That's it I am off of this drug. I am very active, athlectic, snow skier all my life, gym guy 4 times a week. i had open heart surgery in 2005. was told most people go on this as a precauction due to after effects of heart surgery. I quess post pardon depression and anyother side effects from long major surgeries. I have major memory loss, very short term, makes me fell like an idiot. blurred vision, crazy realistic dreams, dizzy, you name it. Oh yeah also had a seizer for the 1st. time in my life will falling asleep about 8 months ago. flipped out my family and ended up in the hospital for hrs to be observed then released.Here's something very important to know. This drug may cause seizures, you would think the y would tell you that. I am going get of this drug asap little by little.If it wasn't for the internet and drug sites including the FDA site you would have to trust the doctors only. Everyone is different you have to do your own homework. One last thing, do actually believe all these doctors have the time to go on the internet for hours to do what i do or you to get information on drugs? Or do they trust the drug companies. That is a very profitable business to push drugs on doctors not letting them know about a few of use that the drug really screws us up. MALE: 52 yrs. old

When you go for treatment by doctors whether therapy or simply for medication, you are truly signing up for experimentation. I'm not pitting against doctors, however my first day to my third psychologist he asked how much Lithium I was on and I told him. He said my levels were low and according to his book that was not good. His book? What does that even mean? I'm not a build it yourself bicycle. I've tampered my drugs and taken care of myself outside of them calling in my pills for a while now enough to let him know his input was invalid when it came to Lithium levels. I am on 200MGs of Lamictal and have been for about a year and a half. As of late it has turned into a nightmare. Since early childhood I have suffered panic attacks, I endured a 4 day 4 night panic attack and did not eat, drink or sleep.This was before medication so seemingly most of my anxiety left with Lamictal and Lithium. Prior to all drugs I did hallucinate, people who were not present, voices and even given commands to act out regardless if it was criminal or not. I still see things or people on the medicine but it is not violent so there is no threat. Lately in the panic of this bizarre fatigue which cannot be described other than the equivalent of a diabetic coma practically weighing down on me along with my vision jolting and my memory being gone, I have detached entirely from Lithium without doctor's consent. The anxiety seemed to go until the night came and I'm back at square one. I take my Lamictal before bedtime and I discovered it was not the Lithium doing the damage. Though now the hallucinations are coming back as are the mixed episodes which do become addicting. I see my doctor this Monday or tomorrow. What I would like to say is within three years I have exceeded toxiticty twice under the care of doctors, I laid and slept for 3 days at a time on Seroquel 800MGs for many months under the care of doctors, I was pulled cold turkey off of Lexapro under the care of doctors who forgot a week later about me and my problems then put on Geodon when I complained it made me lethargic and sleep...under the glorious care of doctors. They do not know any more than you or I what these pills are capable off. I have always been against other drugs such as pot and the like. Is pot any worse than these drugs? Only that somehow these drugs we're fed were passed by who God only knows. I'm not into drugs and never will be, pills give me panic attacks alone. Some drugs work wonders for other people but I've yet to be on one pill that wasn't natural that did me good, they robbed me of my artistic, musical and creative ability. I dropped out of high school, failed college. I assessed in English 101, was the top 1 of 10 out of 700 students in that class and aced Art Class for my major and then just didn't show anymore. I can't hold down jobs. I vegetate in front of the TV, the computer and cannot even complete house chores. I do nothing. Absolutely nothing. I cannot be entirely angry, had I never done these medications I'd never know what a waste they truly are. Keep in mind this is strictly opinion and to each his own. I do not talk with my doctors without keeping in mind they probably know very little about these drugs when it comes to how it makes me feel even if I write it out, weep or rage to illustrate my panic and anguish. I'm not Manic yet, maybe it will come but where I'm at the Highs are worth the toils of the Lows. I'm a 19 year old Female, educated I can't have children on Lithium, can't drink alcohol, basically..can't function but hey it's worth being alive. No, I don't think so. Not really. So all I want to say is the doctors are human beings too and just as easily prone to fail as we are. Don't ignore instinct when it comes to side effects. As for side affects / withdraws, I know someone who went off of Lamictal and Lithium cold turkey and is fine. Another friend who went cold turkey off of Lithium and was fine, mild headaches. If I endured the trauma of being on the pills the withdraw symptoms are a mere Vienna Boys Choir by far.

Holy cow! People are describing me and my side effects. Lamictal was like a miracle when I started taking it over 2 years ago for BPII.I ramped up to 200 mg and my mood swings went away. I began getting more and more sluggish at the same time my insomnia worsened. I thought that the lamictal might be causing the insomnia which was then making me sluggish. I cut my Lamictal dosage in half - down to 100 mg.

I didn't recognize what was happening because I think I went insane for a while. I became paranoid. I was a afraid to drive my car. I was so certain that a burglar was going to break in and kill my wife and I that I put an iron bar under the bed (don't own a gun or I might have kept it there). My sleep was even worse - I was only sleeping an hour at a time between waking up frightened. I lost 28 pounds in three weeks.

Then the panic attacks started. I had a severe one at work and thought I was going to have to go to the emergency room because I had lost my mind. I knew there was no logical reason for my panic but that didn't matter. It is one of the most horrible experiences of my life.

I convinced my psychiatrist's office that I was having a crisis and was able to get into see him a couple of days after the worst panic attack (it usually takes at lease 6 weeks).

He said that cutting my Lamictal was probably the cause of the paranoia and panic. He told me to not go back onto my 200 mg dose but to double that to 200 mg. That's what I've been on since January.

Things have stabilized again but the trouble is that my concentration and memory has gotten worse and worse. I have gained back the 28 pounds plus another 15. have so much trouble concentrating at work that I am worried I will get fired. When I tried to do long division on a piece of paper Saturday and realized that I couldn't remember how, I decided that something had to be done. I only took half of my Lamictal dosage this morning. That was 10 hours ago.

Probably a big mistake. I just talked myself down from a panic attack about an hour ago. I have a pounding headache and am nauseous. My ears are ringing. I can tell that my blood pressure is elevated because I have taken medicine for it for 25 years now and know when it is too high. It feels like my head is going to explode. I have had the suicide flashes that I had before the lamictal. I can feel my mood swinging like a pendulum. I'm on a mini-manic high right now and hope I don't swing into a depressive state or another panic before I can get home and take the rest of my lamictal.

It helps a little to see that I'm not alone in these symptoms. But I still feel defeated because I don't know if I can ever get off of this medicine and don't know how I am going to live with it.

I plan to call my psychiatrist's office tomorrow (it's too late today) to move my November appointment up to as soon as possible. I want off of lamictal but know I can't change the dosage until I see him or I risk going insane again. Shit! The manic high is ending and the depressive state is coming on again. This is hell.

I got a couple of things wrong above. My dosage was doubled from 200 mg to 400mg. That's what I have been taking for about 6 months now.

My husband started taking Lamictal XR 4 weeks ago after experiencing his 1st ever grand mal seizure. He spent 4 days in the Hosp where they started him on Dilantin 100mg 3 x's daily and upped it to 200mg twice daily to reach therapeutic levels. Saw our Neurologist a few days later. She drew up a 5 week schedule to decrease/eliminate Dilantin (phenytoin) and start Lamicatal XR 50mg (2 wks) 100mg (2 wks) and mtce dosage of 200mg.

How this all started... hubby (now 65) had CABGx4 at age 52. Then the progression of drugs... 2 for BP and Zocor (statin-cholesterol lowering drug), later changed to Lipitor (statin). Total on statins - 8 years. Around year 7 Lipitor 10mg was increased to 20mg. That's when I started to notice memory loss which finally progressed to TGA (transient global amnesia). Once we made the connection to memory and Lipitor (Dr Duane Graveline) we stopped Lipitor. Memory returned to normal for a couple of years, then started to decline again. About 1 1/2 years ago, a hand tremor appeared. Then the seizure little over a month ago.

We've been with an excellent Naturopathic Physician for a couple of years addressing underlying causes for persistent cognitive decline... deficiencies in vitamin D3, magnesium, pregnenolone, serotonin and dopamine. Also tested for heavy metals: very high in mercury, high in lead and tin. Trying to correct all these factors is quite the undertaking. And now the seizure and anti-seizure drugs.

I'm hoping the Lamicatal XR truly does help stabilize mood. That's been a huge problem... exasperated by anxiety attacks.

Memory Pro by Prue Excapsulations has been a Godsend to help concentration and mood. I was reluctant to restart because it contain ginkgo biloba, but finally did before we both lost our minds!

I'll revisit this forum as hubby is about to start Lamictal XR 200mg. Keeping fingers crossed that it's a smooth transition.

Fran