Took mostly for seizures, but have been informally diagnosed wi...

My psychiatrist tried to push lamictal on me for chronic pain due to a neck injury from a vehicular accident 4 years ago.
I noticed taking 25 mg. for one week produced such a rage in me that I almost ruined my marriage and took out a state highway trooper for no other reason than I couldn't contain that rage.
I am not an angry person, I don't like extreme moods such as that.
My psychiatrist is still trying to push this on me but I will continue to resist.
This may be a good medication for someone else but not for me.
Speak up and tell your physician or psychiatrist this is not for you if it is producing unwarranted emotional problems. I consider unwarranted rage to be one of those problems.

I too experienced hallucinations after starting treatment with Lamictal for seizures, though my hallucinations were visual. When leaves were blowing across the road, they would appear as little monsters trying to take bites out of my tires. I also saw the road as crumpling and rising up. (Weirdly enough, I only found it frightening after the fact.) I have never had any hallucinations before, never had any mood problems of any sort, and the hallucinations stopped as soon as I stopped taking the medicine (that night). My doctor told me it was extremely unlikely that the hallucinations were caused by the lamictal (1/10,000 people experience hallucinations with lamictal.) I don't know what to say about this. The numbers clearly make it unlikely, and yet there was a direct correlation with the lamictal. (Of course, we should always be a little wary of studies of such new drugs.) In so far as anecdotal evidence is worth anything, many of the people I have spoken with have had similar problems on lamictal.

I, as I mentioned, am off the lamictal. It's too bad really. It helped a lot with the seizures without slowing me down cognitively like all the other anti-convulsants do. I am currently back to dilantin and neurontin. Doing fine, but a little slower that I used to be.

I have been on Lamictal for apx 7 years, and to be honest, it has done wonders in helping to control my seizure activity, and had the added benefit of reducing anxiety, and increasing overall confidence.

I did in the past year though, begin to have an increase in seizure activity and under the direction of my Neurologist, I needed to bring my once 500mg/day dosage to 700mg/day. I'm not sure, but that dosage may be enough to set a record! It was around this time that I began having visual, and auditory hallucinations, an irregular racing heartbeat, difficulty breathing, abdominal bloating, confusion and paranoia. Since that time I have dropped to 600mg/day and have less noticeable side effects, but I can tell you that the hallucinations, racing heartbeat, and difficulty breathing at that time were TERRIFYING!

The hallucinations that "drugsensible" is asking about were VERY weird, and scary. The hallucinations were also mixed with an onslaught of emotions... something that I NEVER experienced before. There were things that I would see out of the corners of my eyes, tiny little things running around on my floor. It was at the time, not unusual in my mind. It seemed very sensible. The things were simply supposed to be there. As irrational as this may seem, when the hallucinations begin, reality is gone, and the carnival ride begins!

For 3 months straight I began feeling presences around me. In my mind I could see dark figures that looked like people just looking back at me. I could hear things that sounded like squeaking metal, or sharp shrieking voices... Of course these are all things that I knew were not rational, but I could not make a connection with these irrational thoughts and convince myself that they didn't exist. At this point I was completely overwhelmed, and didn't feel like I could ever escape what felt like a permanent state of existing. I did not want to be alive, and I hate sounding overly dramatic, but it was like being psychologically torn apart over and over again.

I felt like my plants were plotting against me, and I knew my furniture had questionable personalities. I had to have all the doors in my house closed, and needed all the lights in my living room, kitchen, dining room, bathrooms, front porch, and back deck lights on at night. I needed the television on with the volume turned up to drown out the things that I thought I was hearing. With all this, I could not sleep at all! The things that I thought I could feel, the things that I thought I could see, the things that I thought I could hear, were just waiting for me to let my guard down. It was awful!

I would like to say though, that yes, this is a very bad thing to encounter. And yes, I hope that NO ONE ever has to experience this... but I do feel that Lamictal, in normal doses, is a VERY valuable drug for some people. I say this with absolute confidence. It helped me combat my problems with partial and general seizures. It helped me develop a better sense of confidence in almost all aspects of my life. (I'm even able to handle public speaking now!) But it did take a loooooonnnngggg time to get over the spacey feelings that were overwhelming for me at even the introductory 25mg dosage, and yes I also did initially put on somewhere between 5 and 10 pounds of weight. But if you stick with it for 6-12 months (yes it's a loooonnnggg time), it is possible for your brain and body to adjust to it... and I did finally lose the weight with a good exercise routine, and sensible eating habits.

Today, at the 600mg dose, I do have some memory problems that I'm learning to deal with, I do occasionally have some mild spells of breathing difficulty, and I do once in a while have muscle pains. I also once in a great while feel the tingley feelings in my extremities, tounge, and nose. But, even with all this, the benefit of not seizing out on the floor, or in the car, or in a store... combined with the added benefit of feeling psychologically much more balanced across the board totally outweighs the side-effects.

Do understand though, that this is a powerful drug. It can affect your way of thinking in very unusual ways. Believe me, I've been there! If you have felt the unfortunate breakdown of your physical being, your sensible thinking, or even had the very unusual hallucinatory effects... by working with your Doctor, and modifying your dosage, it is possible to have a very favorable outcome with Lamictal.

I hope this helps. I know these drugs are a very difficult thing to deal with.

I too am experiencing problems with Lamictal, but I take it for depression and mood swings. I started it almost 12 months ago on 150mg, and it was a lifesaver! My moods were wonderful, I felt great, and was on the right track. I didn't notice any problems until about 6 months ago. I went off Lamictal to see how my body was without it, plus I was just sick of meds (you know the deal), but 6 months ago I had to start it again due to depression. From then on, nothing was the same. I could notice no improvement whatsoever, it was as if Lamictal was doing absolutely nothing. Doctor raised the dose to 200mg when I began to feel suicidal, and there is still no improvement. (He has since added Cymbalta, but since we're discussing Lamictal, I'll leave that out, since that also hasn't been helping anyway).

About the time I re-started Lamictal I felt like I began losing control of my mind and the thoughts that ran through it. Various songs would play over and over in my head and I was absolutely powerless to get a word in edgewise. This was aboslutely horrible, since I have a history of panic attacks and anxiety, and this 'loss of control' made my anxiety rage. I have history of depression, mood swings, and anxiety, but no psychosis. I could not think for myself. Whatever thought wanted to run through my mind, did. Simple as that. It was like I was being invaded. I would say it was an auditory hallucination, but the sounds were definately coming from INSIDE my head, not outside, so I suppose it wasn't technically...
Then, about 1 month ago, I began hearing voices (once again inside my head) speaking to me. Random things, sometimes evil sometimes good, but terrifying nonetheless. There was also a time when I would close my eyes and see a flash of scary faces. And over the past 2 weeks I have become EXTREMELY SUICIDAL, much more than before. As in, I'm making plans to do it. It's mostly because of the voices in my head, but more than that, it's that I just suddenly don't CARE if I die, so I think if I'm going through this, I might as well die. I know that this is because of the medication. Someone whose mind is not being influenced would not think this way.

I am going off this medicine coldturkey, today without hessitation. I cannot put up with this anymore. Apparently this medicine wants to kill me!

I am 23 and have been taking Lamictal for a few months to treat recurring panic attacks and generalized anxiety. I plateaued at 100 mg, but wishfully thinking that I could get to the root of my anxiety by exploring my psyche (I'm an avid fan of Jungian theory and will be studying the subject at grad school this year), I lowered the dose to 50 mg. That was about two weeks ago; but to my horror, I experienced an auditory hallucination this morning. Water was running down the sink drain and the slurping sound suddenly took on the form of a voice. I thought I made out a word; but I didn't stop to figure out exactly what the voice was saying: I bolted out of the bathroom in a panic; my roommate, who was eating breakfast, just stared at me.
I should mention that my hallucination this morning was accompanied by a nightmare that I had last night. It was, in fact, the nightmare that had made me edgy and paranoid to begin with.
I have no history of psychotic episodes.