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50 Side Effects posted for Lamictal

July 7th
2009
12:49 AM

I have been taking 25mg per day of Lamictal for five days now. I am also on (and have been for five years) 200mg Zoloft per day. I was recently diagnosed bipolar (no surprise) and after seeing a psychiatrist, this was the med I chose, Lithium and Depakote being the other two choices, I felt that Lamictal would be the most appropriate in my case, because it is supposed to help with anger/rage issues, according to the leaflet provided by my Dr., as well as the 'rapid cycling' of my moods. So far I dislike this med, despite the fact I started it with optimism. Side effects are as follows:
Sleepiness - started the first day, I took the first dose the night before.
Lack of energy/motivation - I was doing ok as far as motivation was concerned until I started Lamictal, I was on a positive mood swing at the time, now, it's taking all my effort to stay focused and finish this.
Feelings of disassociation - I don't want to go anywhere, or see anyone, take any calls, etc..this is a problem I have had prior to Lamictal, but it suddenly got worse upon starting it.
Sudden anger/rage - I have felt overly aggravated at times, fast to discipline my son without taking a minute to think it over, it's pretty spontaneous. Day two scared me a bit, I have been making a serious conscious effort to not lose my temper or react suddenly. Today I actually had a spontaneous thought of suicide during a moment of anger, which also alarms me.
Loss of appetite - I'm a skinny guy, can't afford to lose any weight or go without eating, this stuff has pretty much killed my appetite, I'm forcing myself to eat at least once a day...and it isn't easy, I tell you.
Hypersensitivity to noise - Seems like the volume on everything has been amplified, it's making me nuts..
Unpleasant taste in my mouth - since day two. Hard to describe, sort of metallic.
Decreased urge to smoke - I have been smoking for 23 years, a pack per day regularly. I noticed at day two the urge to smoke was dramatically decreased, I smoked about eight cigs total today. Being asleep helped with that too, I'm sure...gotta be conscious to smoke, right? This would be the only positive effect I have noticed thus far.
At this point, I'm really not sure if I will continue with this med due to the above effects. I am a bit disappointed because I had hoped this would do the job and I could avoid the Lithium (icepick up the nose is the only thing left if Lithium doesn't work) and the Depakote, because the effects of those are far more serious by comparison according to what I have read and heard from others who have taken it.
I don't know what to do next, honestly. I have taken nearly every type/kind of antidepressant, Zoloft seems to do the most good, but I'm still having mood swings/cycling while using it, so a mood stabilizer was the plan to fix that...seems like I'm pretty much hosed.

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