Lamictal and weight gain

BTW...also have had major weight gain with Lamictal...loss of sex drive, tired all the time (there could be other things that affect this but)
I also take high BP med, acid reflux med but I don't feel they contribute to this problem with Lamictal. I've been on those meds way longer than L so...I think I just would like to "start over" and see how I can feel better.
I used to think L was exactly what "the doctor ordered" (no pun intended...again, glad I can sorta laugh at this but...) BUT I DON'T FEEL GOOD!!
Another doc prescribed me Provigil and didn't really explain what it was. She said I needed it bc I was tired all the time. I actually went there bc I thought I had Fibromyalgia and all I got was a 'script for Provigil and sent on my merry way. Got it filled, took my first 200 mg pill and thought I was goin' out of my freakin mind!! OMG!! Told my psych doc and he was like, "P not good for BP patients" so...BUT I did cut the dosage down bc it was SO nice to have energy to make it through the day but still, I do not suggest taking the stuff.
Anyways....just thought of this after I posted walla go...tx!

ps Im not sure the L works that great on the depressive side of BP

I've been taking Lamictal for almost 3 months. I've been struggling with mood problems for 14 years always being diagnosed with depression and being put on anti-depressants that did nothing to help. Finally a doctor dove a little deeper and diagnosed me with Bi-polor disorder. Lamictal and Trazodone. I stopped taking the trazodone because it made me feel like a zombie and made me gain weight. I have since lost that weight and am not having any weight gain problems on just the Lamictal. I am however having problems with headaches and actually eye aches if that makes sense. My eyes always feel dry or tired or something like that. I am also having trouble with memory loss. I often go to do something and forget what it was on the way there. At work i find myself stopping on my way to a task and wondering "where was i going, what was i going to do?" I'm also having trouble with spelling and like the others here it was never a problem before. But i will put up with these because Lamictal has made such a difference in my life. I feel more stable and stronger in the face of stress than i ever have before. Right now i'm just on 100mg maybe things will get worse when my dosage is raised but right now the side effects are bearable and in my opinion worth it.

I too have memory loss. It is humiliating not to recall events with friends and family and people I have been introduced to. I cannot conversations, movies and names of bands. I am 43 and have been taking this drug for seizures. The seizure disorder is gone due to the drug. I have gained weight, awaken with a severe headache on several occasions behind my right eye, feel tired and dizzy after an hour of taking the drug and blurred vision. I thought it was early onset of Alzheimer ( i forget how to spell it though I am in the medical field). My generalized Doctor and my Neurologist say this is not from the medication but from age and normal. The quality of life is not as I would like. I feel like I am missing out on my own life. Thank God I came across this blog! I have been researching this drug on the net and NOWHERE does it state this as a side effect. This is the only med I take.

Lamictal with lithium was the latest sentence for a lifetime of depression. Not only did the depression then intensify over anything I've dealt with for the last 40 years, but anger, rage, weight gain, memory loss, difficulty communicating, (could this be dementia at 60 yrs?) and loss of taste especially coffee and chocolate were now defining my life. I had been a happy, productive, exciting, witty, professional self-employed woman. So, I've been reducing my 250 mg dosage for the last 6 weeks with Dr. oversight. My last dose of 25 mg was last Wednesday. Throughout this experience, I've experienced confusion, head aches, zombie days, spatial disorientation, muscle weakness, muscle spasms, jumbled speech and thinking, and THE FOG. But, guess what? Today, I'M BACK. My head is clear, I have a plan for the day and I'm 4 pounds lighter than I was last Thursday. The surprise about the weight is that we went to dinner in restaurants twice in this last week and I haven't taken any special steps to lose the pounds. I knew it was time to evaluate myself without medication when the Dr. wanted to add just one more medication to level off the mood swings. Of course, this is a continuing drama, but it's great to be able to see me without the drug-colored lenses. I would not have done this without Dr. supervision, and I'm so glad he co-operated with my wishes. Sometimes you just have to throw the project away and start fresh. Have a beautiful day.

I have been on Lamictal 200mg per day for about 3 years along with Wellbutrin and Lexapro. Over the past few months, I have noticed numerous things happening to my mind and body and finally put the pieces of the puzzle together...side effects of Lamictal. Short term memory is gone which is the scariest. Difficulty putting coherent sentences together. Fumbling for words. Spelling is awful. Heaviness in legs. Trouble writing. Inability to communicate well with the spoken word. Slow thought process. Shakiness - Hands shaking - Tremor. Speech disturbance. Weight gain. Coordination problems. Dry mouth is worse. Back pain. Increase in sweating including night sweats. Irritability. Impaired concentration. Forgetfulness.

This is so embarrassing when I'm in meetings. I start to sweat and can't seem to get my words out. I am also in a master's program and it is getting really hard to concentrate enough to write the papers. I am starting a doctorate program in Aug. which will not happen if these side effects don't go away. I called my doctor on Friday and we cut the dose in half and evaluate in 2 weeks. I want off of this drug! I need all of the symptoms described above to go away, especially my short term memory loss. I am very scared at this point.

i suffer from bulimia and bipolar 2. i started lamictal today and all this weight gain talk is freaking me the HELLLLL out!!! does anyone know of any alternatives?????

I had been on Lithium for a few months when the consistent weight gain and uncomfortable bloated feeling caused me to seek out a new treatment for my bipolar disorder. Deciding on Lamictal, I started the slow transition of lowering Lithium doses and increasing Lamictal doses. About one month ago, the transition was complete. I didn't seem to have any real noticeable side effects from the Lamictal but after about 2 weeks of being off the Lithium, my skin started breaking out with acne!! Terribly on my chin, cheeks and hair line. I am now wondering if the Lithium may have been keeping this symptom under control. Has anyone had an experience like this?

I have been on Lamictal now for 10 months, and I mostly love it.

But my IQ went down about 20 points. The first few months were very bad--I could hardly complete a sentence without forgetting one or two words. My short-term memory was scary bad--almost like blackouts where I wouldn't even remember events when reminded.

Those things have abated somewhat, but I am still having to adjust to a lower ability to think. I must make lists, I must repeat instructions and directions. Perhaps this is more about slowing down what was a hyperactive brain, but it is a side-effect that is hard to accept.

I am noticing a new side effect, though. I drop things all the time. I recently dropped a book I was reading--how does that happen?

Has anyone noticed this dropping, or any other clumsiness like this?

I have been on Lamictal for about 3 and a half yrs now for Bipolar 1. Overall, I have had a really great experience with the drug. I started with 100mg and then went to 200mg after a year and a half. Now I take 225mg as of a month ago. For about a year and a half I had the acne on my chin and then it went away suddenly (thought it was cutting out dairy from my diet though). I have been extremely fatigued for awhile now. 7hrs of sleep is not good enough for me so I end up taking long naps when I have the opportunity each day- I always want to sleep. I feel stupid and lack focus and motivation. I use to be a social butterfly and now I feel so exhausted when entertaining. I am a personal trainer and am in the business of making others feel better, but I seem to be feeling worse. I have experienced weight gain as well and that is hard for me since I use to be bulimic and have always had poor body image issues. I was on the NuvaRing for 5 months and it made me sooooo depressed so I finally got off that and feel better- don't mix those 2 drugs.
I am going to ask my doctor to take me off of it this week because I am ready to trust God with my mental health. I have a great support system to help me through the tough times and if I want to get pregnant, I have to go off it anyway.

I have to comment on some of the Lamictal "new comers". I've taken Lamictal for 1 1/2 years. For the first 6 months, this was the miracle drug. As months went by, I began all of the same symptoms: fogginess, weight gain, short-term memory loss, NO libido, headaches, and nausea, to name a few. As of this moment, I am weaning off of the Lamictal. HARD to do. This is not a drug that can be "stopped" immediately. On my fifth day of weaning off, I am dizzy, tired, weak, irritable, and have vomitted. Only about 3 days left. I am starting Topomax after. I'm anxious to see if there is any difference. Especially the weight gain part. I went from 120 to 135 in one year. (I run and eat healthy meals.) I will continue to take Effexor, which, in 2 years, has had little or no side effects. My advice to anyone just starting to take Lamictal is to GO SLOWLY. My doctor had my doses increase so rapidly that I didn't really see if the lower doses would have worked. (I take 200mg.) The bottom line is to do what feels right for YOUR body, rather than a specified dosage. Best wishes to you fellow BP-ers!

Am suffering from severe shortness of breath (along with bloating, weight gain, palpitations, inability to sleep). On Lamictal when it started. Went off Lamictal for about 6 weeks. No change. Dr. Had me go back on it as it did do well. Am trying to find anyone who has had their shortness of breath and other symptoms directly linked to Lamictal and what did you do? Am at the end of my rope unable to breathe and can't get treated.
Please respond. Thank you!!

Blurred vision, 15 lb weight gain, irritability, insomnia, excess hair growth (exacerbating my PCOS), nausea, nightmares, fuzzy thinking, bad memory, lose train of thought mid-sentence. Been on 100mg for 3 months. Doctor upped to 200mg but after 3 days on it and 3 days of no sleep, I dropped back down. Helps a bit with my depression, but I feel sort of numb. Not as bad as on some, but not good.

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've been on Lamictal for about 5 months now. I recently have had some horrible side effects. I've had the acne, brain fogginess and weight gain all along. About a month ago I was hospitalized for having a blood phosphorus level of 0.6 which is dangerously low. The symptoms around that day were nausea, feeling like I couldn't breathe, hyperventilation, heart rate of 120-130, tingling sensations from my nose to my toes, diarrhea and almost blacking out. Of course, the ER doc thought I was having a panic attack and told me to breathe into a bag and try to breathe slowly. NOT from a panic attack. Granted, I was panicking because I was scared. Has anyone experienced this low phosphorus problem?? I will be coming off of Lamictal in the next week. Hasn't made my depression, panic attacks or sex drive any better. thanks.

memory loss, panic attack, vision, speech, chest pain, tiredness, loss of sex, headache 3-4 days, loss of food, weight gain, acine, leg pain, swollen feet, muscle problem, hair fall out, hair gets thinner, stomach ach,, double vision, staring.

The only side effect that I have experienced with Lamictal (300 mg's a day), is memory loss. My short term memory is like Swiss cheese. Unless there was a major event, I can't remember what happened two weeks ago. Anything that is over a month ago, I will remember the event, but not which month it was in. I write everything down and I mean everything that I will have to remember at some point in time. I even have problems finding my way around my neighborhood if I'm under any amount of stress.
Other than that, the drug is great. I have no mania and or weight gain. It's really helped me a lot.

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.

Has anyone developed tartive dyskenisia. It is involuntary body movements. Mine are in the mouth, like I am sucking on my teeth . It is very disturbing and listed as one of the side effects. It can occur in other parts of the body, like tapping.

WOW. I have been taking Lamictal for about 4 months for my BP and up until now I have never known all the side effects. You see, I am uninsured and am forced to go through MHMR. They (at best) give you an idea of what the side effects are. It is very difficult to even get a one on one with an actual doctor. You sit in a chair for 2 minutes and walk out with a bad full of drugs. Needless to say, my mood hasn't been "stabilized", in fact, I think it's worsened. What's worse is that between the weight gain and the loss of my short term memory I feel FAT and STUPID; causing me to be even more depressed. I never even thought that the memory loss was related to the Lamictal; the weight gain, maybe. Today I thought, "let me check this out." and I stumbled upon this blog. THANK GOD! I mean I'm sorry that we are all suffering but I'm relieved to know that it's not ME. Thanks for sharing all, and good luck!

What side effects? I have taken Lamictal for 6 weeks. I am on a steady dose of 100mgs. I started out with severe depression (unipolar), and have also been diagnosed as bi-polar and borderline personality disorder. So who knows what I have other than to say that I have felt like a train wreck for 3 yrs. All the other meds I have taken did not help my constant cycles of severe depression. I felt like I was in a fish bowl and the world was going on around me, I could see it but was not a part of it. It was hell on earth. Other meds would help somewhat on certain symptoms, but nothing ever brought my life back to a level where I could say I felt joy and was truly happy until I started Lamictal. 2 weeks into the start of Lamictal (50 mgs), I woke up to a miracle. I realized I felt joy, I was laughing without trying to. I felt refreshed and prepared to go out in the world and face the day with a positive outlook on everything. My side effects so far have been nil. Not one thing...no pain, no headaches, no weight gain, no memory loss, no dizziness, no hairloss. Am I the only one? I know these meds effect people differently but wow, I am in heaven. I hope all of you eventually find something that works for you because I really felt ( before Lamictal) that I would never feel good again! Hallelujah! I do! bless you all!

I HAVE BEEN ON THE LAMICTAL FOR 5 MONTHS NOW( FOR MINOR BI POLAR EPISODE). AT FIRST I FELT A LITTLE "SPACEY" AS I HAVE INCREASED MY DOSAGE EACH TIME I NOTICED VERY PAINFUL MENSTRUAL CRAMPS, WORSE PMS, EXTRA LONG MENSTRUATION CYCLE, JOINT PAIN IN THE HIP, FORGETTING EVERYTHING( LOSS OF SHORT TERM MEMORY), AND EXTREME TIREDNESS IN THE DAY AND NOT SLEEPING AT NIGHT. I HAD BEEN ON 75MG A DAY ( 2 IN AM, 1 IN PM) AND THEN UPPED MY DOSE TO 100MG(2 IN AM, 2 IN PM). THE SIDE EFFECTS ARE WORSENING, ESPECIALLY THE JOINT PAIN. I HAVE ALSO NOTICED PANIC ATTACKS AND IRRITABLENESS THAT I HADN'T HAD BEFORE. WORST OF ALL, IS THAT I HAVE GAINED ABOUT 27 LBS WHILE TAKING THIS MED. HAS ANYONE ELSE HAD ANY OF THESE SYMPTOMS? PLEASE REPLY TO TELL ME THE BEST REMEDY.

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 haven't taken this drug yet I am about to go get it from the store and I do not know when to take this medication. Morning or night? I already have racing thoughts at night so I do not want to be more awake at night than I already am. I also suffer from a weight issue, is this medication going to help me loose or gain weight? I cant afford to gain a few, I can afford to loose a few. I also suffer from back pain now so I do not want that to increase. Anyone have any helpful tips for me?

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.

This is a total nightmare and i need advice! I was on Lamictal for a year and about six months into my health began to slowly deteriorate. It started with shortness of breath and heart palpitations and eventually attacked every system of my body. My symptoms are muscle pain, spasms and knots to the point that i can't turn my neck sometimes, joint pain (mostly knees), stabbing floating pain everywhere, headaches, frightening tingling in my extremities and a few times my entire body, sore throat, flu-like feelings, stomach cramps, bloating and heartburn. The list goes on. I have been off of it now for two weeks. My psychiatrist has never seen this type of reaction before and is not convinced it is the Lamictal. I have been to every single type of doctor and the ER twice, had extensive lab work, CT scan and two MRIs. I have been off Lamictal now for two weeks and am not feeling much relief. I am so scared and frustrated and please need advice. Has anyone else experienced this? Does it ever go away? I feel like I am literally living a nightmare with no-one to turn to for advice because no-one seems to know ANYTHING!!!!

I've been on Lamictal for about a year (for bipolar). Tried lots of anti-depressants and this has made a huge difference. I take it with Effexor. The big thing I want to add here is that I have done better on only 75 mg of Lamictal a day. They tell you it isn't a therapeutic dose but who knows what is for sure for each of us!? When I went up to 100 mg many of the things people say here happened worse. I went back down to 75 and have been so relieved to be semi-normal feeling--the best I've felt in many years. If you feel better at a certain dose, why do they insist on going up so far? Something to think about. I do have more acne, jawline rash that itches and definite sore muscles. I too have gained at least 15 lbs this year, not eating any differently--and they say it doesn't create weight gain! For me, the side affects are the lesser of the evils for now. I know it's made me more sane and that is huge.

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 am currently restarting Lamictal for my bipolar disorder. I was on it for about a year and gained 15lbs. I started feeling very depressed about my weight. I was very fatigued and would take naps every day and sleep all though the night. I didn't have a whole lot of energy. My husband and I are wanting to have children so I discontinued Lamictal for the reason and because I thought it was making me depressed. However, after having Lamictal fully out of my system I realized that I was having a depressive episode that got worse because I wasn't on my Lamictal. I am not starting Lamictal again and I am going for a higher dosage now since I am in a depressive episode. As far as weight gain goes, my doctor is also putting me on Topamax which I start this evening. It could possibly counteract the weight gain issue.

I am also on a vitamin regime to help with my mood and Clonazepam for anxiety attacks.

Been on it for almost 5 years, 400 mg a day. Don't know what the official word is on long-term use, but I have had the following problems: recent weight gain and long-term extreme exhaustion/fatigue. Although I haven't changed the dose in years, the fatigue seems to be getting worse. I am on other meds, so I don't know if it is for sure the Lamictal causing these effects, but there is a good chance. I'll see as I lower the dose, under doc supervision, of course. Take care, all.

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.

Funny that there is someone saying they have experienced weight gain w/ lamictal -- I've actually experienced the opposite. I've lost a few pounds since starting it and I'm already on the thinner side so I've actually been trying to put them back on and can't. The only thing I've noticed is that when I take it later in the day, I have a hard time falling asleep at night. I've been on lamictal almost 6 months, and I am on about 200mg right now. I'm not saying that this is the perfect anti-bipolar/depressant drug, but I don't want people to be afraid of weight gain and not take it if they need it.

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'm 25 and have never had great skin, but I've found that minocycline will clear up my acne right away. That is, it used to, until I started with lamictal. Even with the minocycline plus tazorac and an antibiotic cream, my skin is breaking out on my face, especially at the jawline and outside of my face. But the really weird thing is that my back and chest are breaking out. That has NEVER happened before and it's not the infamous rash.

Other things I've noticed: sensitivity to computer screens and TVs, probably because my vision is getting worse, but so I get headaches; brutal periods with extreme breast tenderness; slurred speech and short-term memory loss at first, but not any more; occasional feelings of just being "out of it;" a bit of weight gain and I've always been superthin, but even with diet and exercise am having trouble maintaining my weight. Oh, also the nausea mentioned above, in the mornings; it was so bad I thought I was pregnant.

I'm only on 75mg/day at night for mood stabilization, but mostly because I take wellbutrin and had a seizure on it last year, though I'm not epileptic. I've always been sensitive to medications, and I have to say I've felt extremely "stable" on lamictal, but almost too stable. It's been a bit disorienting and I've felt my creativity diminish (I'm a writer). When I first started the lamictal I had also started a new job. This was a really bad idea as I couldn't remember any of the things my boss was telling me and my speech was messed up; I even stuttered a bit, which was scary.

I have experienced a lot of weight gain since I started taking Lamictal a year-and-a-half ago. I'm glad I hear others have experienced the same thing, as I thought it was just from what I was eating. I have gained over 40 pounds since I started taking the medication.

I also understand that Zoloft (which I take as well), alone or in combination with other meds, can can cause you to sweat a lot. I have been sweating way more than normal in the last year (since I started the Zoloft). I thought it was due to the weight gain, but apparently it's the meds.

Oh, the joys of brain medicine!

I have been prescribed Lamictal for seizures, and am currently taking 400mg daily, with my 300mg of Dilantin. Had horrible side effects this weekend-nightmares, exhausted, worsening depression, crying jags, difficulty swallowing. Has anyone else experienced mood changes for the worse while on this drug?

Started Lamictal after a suicide attempt. Thinking this drug would help, I took the medication with anticipation. I have been taking it for 2 1/2 years, and starting having night terrors, weight gain, exhaustion, don't have the drive I used to, and now it is affecting my sexual behavior (and not in a good way). I used to come home from work, and want to work in my yard and be proud of what I accomplished. However, within the past 3 or so months, I've almost given up. Beings I'm best known for my ambition, and attention to details, (probably on the anal side) I have been told that I have changed. I have had memory laps, trouble focusing at work, feeling as though I am inferior to others, and trouble with the driving aspect also. Sometimes I'll forget where I'm going, and take the exact opposite turns than I should. Although my income just meets my billings, and my credit score is excellent, I am having trouble keeping track of when they should be paid, even though I put them on my calendar. I do find my credit score is falling, and fast. I am seeing my MD, and the psycho-therapist on a regular basis. I am weaning off this medication, but have only been doing this for 1 week. I can't wait til the end of all this depression and still don't understand why they mark me as a bio-polar person. Also, I have never experienced seizures. I wish all of us luck and patience in our endeavors. Let's all think of each other, and thanks for letting me know that I am not alone.

extreme weight gain... has anyone else experienced this?