Lamictal and starter pack

I am on the second week of the orange starter pack. It was prescribed for bipolar. After about the 3rd or 4th day of taking Lamictal, I noticed a side effect that I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere. I seem to stay in a permanent state of sexual arousal (In other words, horny). Has anyone else had this side effect and does it go away? Except for this, the Lamictal has helped my bipolar tremendously. Please help!!!

I was diagnosed as being Bipolar a few days ago as Ive been on different types of anti depressants for years, I'm 23 now, and its NEVER helped me. The Doctor prescribed Seroquel and Lamictal. The Seroquel was supposed to be temporary until the Lamictal kicked in but after having HORRIBLE side effects from the Seroquel I quit it after only one night. Today was the first day of the Lamictal starter pack and besides feeling a little out of it and irregular heartbeat once in a while, thats all that I've noticed. But after reading all of your stories I really do not want to continue it. But the anti depressants don't help so I don't know what else to do. I'm not even sure that I am Bipolar. I do have self destructive habits like excessive shopping, stealing, partying etc. There are times when I'm ok and times where I am depressed but never to the point where I cant get out of bed. But I don't work or go to school. I quit all my jobs and I dropped out of school. I feel anxious a lot of the time, helpless, just really lost.....I dunno whats wrong with me. I wish I knew for sure because I would hate to continue the Lamictal and risk the more serious side effects for a disorder that I may not even have. I just wish someone could look into my brain and tell me for sure.

I am so glad I am not alone. I started this horrible drug 2 months ago for bipolar. Started with the starter pack. I was up to 100mg when I really started feeling ill. I had BAD leg pain. Joint pain,back pain, all the time. I had a never ending appitite and gained 12 pounds in 2 months. All my labs were normal and my primary doctor looked up the side affects and immediatly took me off of Lamictal. I have to admit though my depression got better but my body hurt so bad I almost lost my job due to not being able to walk as the pain was so bad.It has been only one day of being off lamictal and the pain is still unbearable. My doctor says it will take a good 5 days to feel relief. God help us ! This was a horrible experience for me and I feel for all who have used this for bipolar.

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 am so glad I am a research junkie, and that you all posted this for me to find. I just started on Lamictal about 3 weeks to one month ago. I just increased the dose to 100mg at night along with 150 mg of Wellbutrin XL. So far I have experienced hair loss, constant fatigue, excessive yawning, hacking cough, stuffy nose, dizziness, acne on my back, shoulders and face, terrible nightmares, waking with my heart pounding in the middle of the night, extreme rage, continued depression with racing thoughts, lack of energy/desire, general mental fuzziness and some trouble expressing myself verbally and literally.

I have tried several times to contact the doctor who prescribed this for me. But I can't get him to call me back. I desperately want to get off of this drug as soon as possible. That heart episode the other night nearly scared me to death! I didn't know what to do.

I was diagnosed with bipolar, but I still believe it's depression. I hope that I can get it figured out here soon before things get even worse. I had increased my level of exercise initially but for the last week I have been so tired and out of it I don't want to do anything.

Good luck to all of you as well, hopefully they'll get better at these treatments eventually!
~A

I am a 37yr old female. I started on Lamictal Jan.' 07 for severe depression. Which I have battled for years and still do not know why I have it. My doc tried many different antidepressants, but nothing seemed to really work well. In fact Wellbutrin XL made me very sick!! I felt like I hadn't eaten in days and had no appetite and then lost major weight. The doc said it was due to the depression, which I knew wasn't true. I took myself off the Wellbutrin XL and immediately felt better. Remember no doc knows your body better than you do!! I Started with the starter pack of the Lamictal. The doc worked me way up to 200mg. Now I just started 300mg for 3 wks, then the doc said I could take 400mg if I felt the need to do so. Taking 400mg makes me quite nervous to try. All the listings I have read are so interesting and helpful b/c I too have many of the side effects....... acne on face which I never had before, extremely itchy bumps along my jaw line, loss of short term memory ( I will ground my daughter and the next morning I can't remember why), problems concentrating, forget how to spell common words, balance is off, sometimes a little butterfly red rash across the face, loss of libio at times, a little slurred speech, and bad nausea once in awhile. These postings have really helped me b/c I also have Multiple Sclerosis and I wondered if all of these symptoms were from that or the Lamictal. I do believe that it is from the Lamictal b/c I haven't any problems w/ the MS in a long time. It is very comforting to know I am not alone w/ Lamictal problems. God Bless you all.

I really, really regret ever having started Lamictal to begin with. Even though lamictal has greatly helped me with my social anxiety/ocd/gad/whatever it is I have (lol), it has caused too many damn side effects.

I started taking it sometime July and now it's September 21st, so it's been in my system for a couple of months now. When I first started on the starter pack, the 25 mg didn't have any effect on me- and then it started making me really, really anxious. I'd have super big physiological reactions to stress, but then I was advised to take it at night. Of course that started insomnia, and when I increased it to 50 mg I was really sensitive to light. It also caused my eyes to twitch and not stay closed when I tried to sleep- which was really, really annoying.

When I was first doing the 100 mg, at one point I became manic (I couldn't stop talking, I had racing thoughts, energetic- felt like I was on top of the world) and then I crashed. It was really hard going from being manic to really depressed, but that's the shit that happens on lamictal lol.(for me at least)

Anyways, so finally the 100 mg started to level me out- but I still have the rapid mood swings. I also feel incredibly spacey all the time and have trouble focusing/concentrating. Oh yeah, and my short term memory is shot. And my libido- which is really important to me. I hate having freakin' vaginal dryness and not really wanting sex- so irksome.

My advice to anyone reading this: don't ever try lamictal- it's not worth it.