Lamictal and mood swings

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.

I started taking Lamictal about six weeks ago for epilepsy. Now keep in mind, I was on Dilantin which worked great for 17 years and then suddenly stopped working. I have been in medication hell since then. First Topamax made me dumb as a rock. I would space out all the time. Worst drug ever. Then Keppra which was better in that my memory/ability to speak came back but I had these intense ups and down. I had rages constantly. Now I'm on Lamictal. So far, it's better than the Topamax and the Keppra, however the dreams are very intense as are the night sweats. I'm also experiencing much hair loss. Fortunately I have a full head of hair but I'm afraid I will eventually lose it all.

I've been on Lamictal for about a month now. Started extremely slowly at 12.5 mg, now I'm at 25 mg. I've had minor side effects (cramps in my calf muscles, esp., muscular and joint pain, but not strong). I did have crying spells in the first few days, don't know if they happened because of Lamictal, but it seems likely.

Looks like it's working so far. My mind feels lighter and the mood swings are becoming less severe than before. I've started to think about new work projects I'd left aside before due to depression.

I have been recently diagnosed with cyclothymia, rapid-cycling, with mostly depressive rather than hypomanic symptoms.

I think a very, very important thing to keep in mind is how differently medications will work for different people. While it seems many of you have had horrible experiences with it, I surely don't think this is the case for everyone, including myself. I've been diagnosed with bipolar-II and have been on Lamictal for several months, currently at a dose of 150mg. I've found it had dramatically brought down my rapid cycling and decreased the severity of my depressive episodes. Though I still have mood swings, they are less frequent and less intense/disabling.
As far as side effects go, I've never been one to experience many side effects from any medication I've been on. With Lamictal I've begun having headaches and also difficulty with focus, concentration, and short term memory. I'm much more spacey than usual and often will get distracted while having a conversation with someone and forget what we were talking about. My psychiatrist believes these indicate ADD and has prescribed me Ritalin, which I refuse to take because I'm convinced that these problems are side effects of the Lamictal. I've experienced weight loss, but this also may be due to the 200mg Wellbutrin I am also taking.
Although I've experienced more side effects with Lamictal than any other drug, for me I'm willing to continue giving it a try because of its effect on my moods.

I take Lamictal with Wellbutrin 300 XL for bipolar with OCD tendencies. Some side effects are doubled due to this. Leg pain, especially my hips, forgetfulness (talk about annoying!), off balance and a bit clumsy, and some irritability. HOWEVER, my mood swings are almost non-existent. I still get sad/mad/depressed but it doesn't linger for days/weeks like it used to. I don't like the side effects and they do affect my quality of life but not nearly as much as my condition used to. I simply try to do things to make up for the side effects - stretching, taking things slower, forgiving myself when I forget things and not being afraid to tell people that I forgot something (tho IMO it isn't any of their business why).

I'm having serious side effects currently. The onset of the side effects began after taking Lamictal for over 2 months. I started slowly on 25 mg and gradually increased to 200. I felt a great improvement in Bipolar disorder-mood swings- at 100mg but was told that is not the theraputic dose, so we increased to 200mg.

I had no side effects until the rash began to appear. At first only on legs, then arms, then neck, then face...and surprisingly in private areas. Unbearable itching. Rash continued to rage even after a pack of steroids. Swelling became apparrent in face and entire body. Slight difficulty breathing. Went to the ER and received another dose of steroids intravenously. The rash continues to improve but is still extremely itch. The swelling improved for a couple of days but is back. Had one day of severe headache. It has been 14 days and today I am experiencing blurred vision in the left eye, and new swelling in the tongue.
I sit at home with an Epi Pen next to me waiting to hear back from the doctor.

All of this is so unfortunate because I felt more stable than I have in years while on the medication. I'm feeling very concerned about my continuing side effects. Don't know what to expect.

I started taking Lamictal for bi-polar disorder. I did the starter pack about 6 months ago. Then went up to 200mg. I felt like crap. My head was foggy, couldn't remember things, easy stuff like how to spell words that I know I can spell. Upset stomach, blurry vision terrible headaches abd migraines.
I stopped taking it and went back to my shrink and he said it's like have high blood pressure I have to keep taking it.

So I started the starter pack again and I'm up to 100 mg. I ache all over. My bones hurt so bad and after reading all of the info on here I'm going to talk to my doctor about other trestments.

My primary dr. has sent me for blood work and results were normal so she wants addition blood work done, but I think it has a lot to do with the lamictal. I'm glad I found this site, I don't feel like I'm alone.

It's hard feeling this way and friends and family think your faking or crazy, and I'm not. My mood has stabilized on this med but all the side affects suck.

Oh yeah and the weight gain! And no matter what I do I can't lose any weight. The vivid dreams are wild too. One night I woke up sweating with my heart pounding so hard from a nightmare I was having.

Thanks for all the info. I wish you all well and good luck finding the right meds.

I have been using this med for 18 months going up to 400mg and now back to 200 mg with the hope of coming off totally. I am concerned however with the labwork I had recently as compared to routine labs in April.. My WBC and neutrophils are lower. I just recently had 2 CT's of the abdomen and pelvis with an ultrasound scheduled on Friday. I am so aggrevated with this and I am glad I investigated this drug a little more due to feeling hopeless the physical and mental problems I am having. My mood swings never really stablized and are still the same. Has anyone come off of this with positive results and did they treat your bipolar with a different med with better results? Thanks

Been at 50 mg of Lamictal for 6 months now- went to 150 at one time with bad results, rash, more depressed, spacy, tired and everything that goes along with that. I take it for depression/anxiuety along with 4 mg of clonipin and Ativan mixed daily.. I am not as sharp as I used to be. Searching for words in speach and typing. I am sure for some people this drug is fine. For me it does nothing but make me worse. I am scared to come off it totally. I am at 37 mg right now. My mood swings are worse. I look for vergbal fights, look to get angry and can't stop myself when I am in a verbal fight.. I am not the same person. I have tried every anti depresant in the books with no results. My only savior is Benzos. Clon and ativan. I would not survive without them. Does anyone know the long term side affects of this drug. When stopping this drug do the side affects diminish or go away. I have much more to say but can't remember cuz of this wonderful drug..Good luck to all

I have been taking 200 mg of lamictal for about 3 years. I am on no other medication. I too have the dry hacking cough that never ever goes away. All day and all night. Dry hacking cough that sometimes leads to gagging. It is terrible. I have had chest xrays, breathing tests and no one can find a reason for the cough. It started about the same time I started this medication and I believe it is the cause. I also experience pain in muscles, it's a roving pain that seems to show up in different places daily, sometimes muscle spasms. My stomach is always nauseated. Very little short term memory, runny nose all the time, constant feeling of having a cold, blurry vision, sensitive to light, little red bumps that appear on my skin, itch, then when they disappear, a scar is left like a cigarette burn. I am reducing the amount of lamictal I take as of this week. I am now only taking 175 mg and will for another week then go down to 150 mg. I am hoping some of these side effects will go away, if not I have to get off of it altogether. It's funny, because I didn't have all these side effects when I first started taking it. Seems the longer I take it the worse it gets. Just can't handle it anymore. wf

I was on Lamictal 125MG at night for PTSD and anxiety for over 4 years - it took over 6 weeks to come off of it and it was very difficult - I felt sick most of the time - nauseaus, dizzy, migraine, tired, joint pain, anxious, mood swings. I have been off of it for 2 weeks now and I am still having headaches, dizziness, tired all the time, horrible dreams, difficulty sleeping and I wake up in the middle of the night gasping for air with out of control heart palpatations. I have not had night terrors in years. Is this a side effect of coming off of the medication? I learned in my research that this had not been FDA approved until I had been taking it for quite some time - is that ethical medical practice?

I used to take Lamictal 150mg at night, no problems, but started feeling anxious in the afternoon/evening. My Dr. Rx'd 300mg lithium at night to see if it would help the anxiety, but I had very fitfil, unrestful sleep to the point where I was not sleeping much and very tired all day. So, the Dr. took me off lithium and substituted Tripletal 300mg in the evening. That worked, but I was still a little depressed & she increased my Lamictal to 200 mg at night. I started waking up after about 4 hours with horrible nightmares. I thought the nightmares were from Trileptal because that was a new med, but even after I discontinued it, I still get the nightmares/panic feeling that wakes me at night. I took 2mg Lunesta for a while to help me sleep, but then I slept too much 10-12 hrs. I take the Lamictal now in the morning & don't get those nightmares & I sleep fine now, but I feel anxious & dizzy and have trouble concentrating, again about 2-4 hours after I take it in the morning. Dr. says I can take ativan to help the anxiety, but I feel like I need to get off Lamictal and try something else. Maybe lithium will help if try to take it now witout the Lamictal.

This is a nightmare. I have been on Lamictal 200 mg, tab in morning, for approx. 5 months. About 3 1/2 months ago I started getting muscles aches and weakness, muscle overuse problems, fluid retention ( like 12 pounds), stayed in a trance with very little short term memory. Thought it was everything but this medicine....I am an avid athelite, yes, even at 51. So, I blamed myself for not slowing down. Quick exercising totally, for 2 months, iced 3 times a day on leg muscles. Finally after making it to the summer without a mental breakdown, I went to the emergency room and a new internist to get checked out. Blood work, thyroid, hormones,ok.... Really don't care what they think , I can not walk, it hurts like hell. The Dr. did tell me to get off Lamictal....ok 7th day and I have some relief but it is not complete. Called manufactures, interesting, yes- these are side effects!!! But the studies are limited. Listen , unless you have seizures, get off this medicine... you read the full disclosure of side effects and then search yourself......It can ba a huge FOOOOOPA.....And you are the fool that will end up holdling the bag, not the manufacturer. Hopefully I will get better. Right now , I just trying to stay calm.

Extreme agitation, racing heart, mood swings, insomnia (recently). Going off this asap. Anyone know how to get off it: quit right away, taper off?

I have been taking lamictal for about two months now, slowly increasing about 25 mg a week to insure that I do not get the serious rash. I am not at about 150mgs a day now. I really do not like this drug. I waited patiently to feel different, better, for my moods to stabalize, and in place of feeling that way, i have been somewhat disoriented, more emotional, at a loss for words and I generally feel "stupider." It is a horrible feeling, i am usually very quick to my feet, and now i am lagging. In addition, I have been having very vivid, intense dreams, that I never had prior to taking lamictal. All I want to do is get off of this drug, however, i have to do so slowly because of this rash, and that too will just be another long waste of my time.