Lamictal and mood stabilizer

As a parent of a teenage girl diagnosed with Bipolar I as well as DID, I thought Lamictal would be a great change from Lithium and would contribute to her stability. Imagine my surprise when I saw this happening to my 17 year-old daughter; constant insomnia over the last three months; panic attacks; anxiety; and paranoia, especially at night. Finally, my daughter threw her Lamictal away, and she has been much better since. I don't think folks always are aware that anxiety can be a real side effect of this amazing mood stabilizer, and it's good to be on the look out for it when your kid is taking it. She also claimed it made her more depressed.

I'm taking Wellbutrin and Lamictal (150 mg for both) for at least 5 months now, as a mood stabilizer. Like many people have said on here don't let these bad reviews scare you away from trying it, at the very worst you will take it and not like it so you can stop. But for me it was amazing how it stabilized my moods. I didn't expect it to be so noticeable. I had tried Topamax right before but it was terrible for me- it made me sooo out of it and I had a very hard time talking (finding the right words, pausing in sentences frequently) Lamictal didn't do that to me. I have started to get acne on my jawline like many others have posted, I didn't think it would be related but I've NEVER had acne on my jaw and cheeks they are really tiny bumps of acne, but a lot of them. The reason I started to look at this site for people's side effects was now I have terrible neck soreness and stiffness. I mean BAD. It's slowly working it's way to the middle of my neck as the day goes on and feels like it's going down the middle of my back as well. Very weird, I haven't exercised or done anything in the past 4 or 5 days that would have pulled a muscle, so make what you will out of it but I'm going to stop taking this drug. It's unfortunate because I really did like it and am worried how my moods will be after stopping it. But TRY IT, it has been at least 5 months of me being more stable so that alone is worth the clarity. Also, I'm a woman with usually heavy periods but didn't have that side effect with this drug and I lost weight didn't gain any with this one either, but I'm sure that had a lot to do with the Wellbutrin which is notorious for weight loss rather than weight gain. Also, if you start to feel good at a low dose as I did DON'T INCREASE IT! I hate hearing people say their doctor's wanted to get them to the "therapeutic dose" even when they felt good, your more likely to have neg. side effects if you go higher than you need. Everyone is different in how their body metabolizes the medicines. Do your research and hold your ground, make sure you have a doctor that will listen to you, that's key.

I've been on Lamictal since December, i started out with 25mg, then to 50mg and now at 100mg which is where my doctor said I should be. I am taking Lamictal for a seizure disorder. Now I'm not bashing the drug but when I was taking 25 and 50mgs it was fine, I loved it. Seemed to work instantly. But now that I'm at 100mg the weight gain problem started. I have always tried to watch my weight so the only thing i can blame for not being able to take the weight off now is the Lamictal. I have been eating right, got back into the gym, watch my caloric intake as well as fats and carbs. Seems like for every pound i lose i gain right back in a day, it is awful. I did go thru a bad depression around the beginning of the year which I gained some weight from, but trying to get it off now is the hardest I've ever tried in my life. I am now 20 lbs heavier than I was since December. Has anyone experience this? And please tell me the outcome. I want to know if its me or is that a common effect that is now really greatly expressed as a side effect.

so far i like it, but me being on this med does this mean I'm bipolar?? doc said i was not but thinking he thought i would freak if i was... Also he gave me a sample pack, I have great insurance but what is the cost of this med??

Is this a forum for trashing Lamictal? I've been on it for a year and it probably saved my life. If you have negative effects from taking it, why not drop it and try something else? I'm glad I never read all of these horror stories, as I'm sure it would have scared me enough never to have tried it. That would have been a shame .. I've never felt as symptom free as I do now; I sleep well and dream well, put in long days in my business and never have a problem remaining focused and alert. The perfect cocktail for me turned out to be 250mg Lamictal twice a day, 25mg Trazodone at night, and 40mg Citalopram. I feel really fortunate that my psychiatrist only feels the need to visit with me once every 6 months just to check in. If I miss a day, my wife notices immediately as I start to swing "up" again. Drawbacks? The cost (about 7 bucks a pill), and some weight gain which may have happened anyway .. (I'm 52). If you have the insurance to cover it, I say give it a try.

I have been on Lamictal for almost a year now and everything seemed to go okay until almost three weeks ago when I had to increase my dosage from 100 to 150mg and my Lexapro to 15mg. In the last couple of weeks, I have gained 7 pounds and I am really depressed. I have an eating disorder (bulimia) and because of this, I profusely purge my food in fear of gaining a dramatic amount of weight again. I am going to see my psychiatrist next week because all of this is going to cause me to crash.

On October 5th 2007 I experienced auditory hallucinations but their different than the others. I hear my thoughts directly outside of my head and they repeat the thought continuously until another thought happens. Sometimes their are thoughts that I have previously thought of and they won't go away. It starts from the moment I wake up in the morning until I go to sleep in the evening. Sometimes they sing like a choir and sometimes they talk my thoughts. Children's, women, men, and one old man. Sometimes it's a mechanical voice. I started taking Lamicatal in August. I started with 25 mg. for two weeks. Then I increased it to 50mg for two weeks. Then I increased it to 75 mg for two weeks. Then I increased it to 100mg for two weeks. Then I increased it to 125mg and I took this for one week and that's when these auditory hallucinations got worse. Now I only take 50mg and the auditory hallucinations will not go away yet. Before I started taking Lamictal I was on Cymbalta 20mg. I needed to stop taking this medication as that it caused abdominal pains, severe headaches, nausea, I started hearing other peoples thoughts and conversations. I was only Cymbalta for one year. I never was able to hear peoples thoughts before taking Cymbalta and I never heard hallucinations before taking Lamictal. Years ago I was taking Paxil 20mg and this medication increased the abstract visual dreaming and the zoning out. The reason I started taking Lamicatal was that in the evening while I was sleeping I would sometimes get startled in the middle of the night with abstract visual dreaming and it hurt my head. Also I was zoning out occasionally during the day. Kind of like daydreaming but no visual dreams. Lamicatal did stop this but this side effect is driving me insane.

Bi-polar II: recent diag. after years of chronic depression. on 25 mg for 1 week so far, just weaned off Effexor. Experiencing odd "brain pulses" and "white noise", irritability and ANGER, feeling persecuted. Could be mitigation of physical pain from acute bursitis flare. Hoping side effects will dissipate and I won't be such a bitch.