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My doctor prescribed lamictal after I reported hypomanic symptoms...

Posted at 2:34 PM on Aug 13, 2008 by lrs38, #33377
My doctor prescribed lamictal after I reported hypomanic symptoms from prozac. The first couple of days on lamictal I thought it was the miracle drug; it really eliminated my mood swings. But as the days progressed, I began to have the following disturbing side effects: - terrible insomnia (waking in the middle of the night and can't go back) - horrifying violent dreams (of animals and people being hacked to death with machetes... interestingly, I reported this to my doctor and her response was, that just means your brain is adjusting to the chemicals...easy for her to say, she's not waking up with terrible memories of these disturbing dreams) - weird pains and stiffness in my neck with swollen lymph nodes in the neck - increase in anxiety and feelings of panic - increase in feelings of anger and agitation - feeling of detachment - thoughts of suicide and the meaninglessness of life - carbohydrate cravings and weight gain of nearly 4 pounds in 2 WEEKS!! (weight had previously been stable for years) These symptoms all appeared after taking the lamictal after only 2 weeks. Even though my doctor recommended actually INCREASING the dose of lamictal and/or adding prozac, I decided to wean off the lamictal (I was on the smallest dose of 25 mg) as an experiment to see if the symptoms would go away... YES they did!! Every single one of them went away and were COMPLETELY gone after the second day of discontinuing the lamictal. I know that this medication is being touted as the new miracle cure for bipolar II especially, but I think more clinical studies need to be done on lamictal. This experience was a very scary one and not unlike that reported by others on this site.
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Reply 3 months ago on Aug 15, 2008 by originalfaulty, #11194

I've been having the exact same effects as you had on the lamictal! except lucky for you, you haven't been on lamictal for that long! i really do sympathize with what you have been through because to me this drug is so poisonous to our bodies! i've been on lamictal also known as lamictin ( in South Africa) for 9 months already and have been trying to get off this medication for the past 5 months- its seriously been hell for me!

im now down to 25 mg- do you think all these horible effects will go away as soon as i stop the lamictal? i wanted to do it slowly as my body has also been suffering much withdrawel.
please give me a shout!
thanks,
Richie

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