Lamictal and wellbutrin

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'm sorry to hear all the bad side effects you all had with lamictal. I was on lamictal for depression for about a month and a half. I started low, 25mg. But when I got up to 100mg I started to itch! No rash, just itch, about a half hour after I took it! I was in denial, of course, because I had been feeling on top of the world! I had a loss of appetite, which I needed due to the fact my migraine meds had me gain 40 lbs over the last 2 yrs and NOTHING would take it off. My energy level had come back....something the Abilify had taken away a year ago....I'm getting off that very soon. I hate it. It takes away mania for bipolar disorder, so they say, but I'm slightly different....borderline bipolar II,so it takes away my personality, my get up and go, my motivation, you name it. I'm only on 5mg. When I was on 10mg, it knocked me out....I'd get the kids to school, come home and sleep, and be in and out like a drug addict all day til it wore off in the afternoon. Anyway.....lamictal.....I'm back on it.........starting at 12.5mg a day, then 12.5mg 2x a day, etc up to about 50 or 75mg, no more than that. It was a great help to me so I'm not going to let myself get those darn itches again. I did notice a little bit of intestinal irritation in the beginning last time, but that was only for a few days. I take Wellbutrin and also take Topamax 250mg.....and have a ton of hair falling out....and acne, so i feel for those of you with those symptoms. And yes, I still get migraines and still am depressed. But life goes on....I have kids to raise. I just cry in the shower and in the car. The best to all of you....good luck with your meds! Keep on trying!

I have been on Lamictal for about five months for bipolar II. I has been increased slowly over these months and I am now up to 300 mg a day. I have a tendency to sometimes forget things but remembering numbers has never been a problem for me. In fact I can look at someone's tag number driving down the road and remember it for days. Phone numbers of people I have known for 20 years would stick and I wouldn't even have to call them on a regular basis to know the number. However, recently while trying to use my bank debit card at the store I was asked to enter my PIN number and totally could not remember. I tried it several times but it never came to me. I felt like a fool!. At this time, that was three days ago and I still cannot remember it!

This is very, very distressing to me. I feel like something has been wiped clean and that I will never get it back.

My Lamictal dose has been increased in the last couple of weeks and I thought maybe Lamictal or one of my other meds could be making this happen so I started researching and found this site where other people were complaining of memory loss while on Lamictal.

Headaches are another common side effect for me while on this med. It has really helped me emotionally and I need to know if the memory loss is just going to be a temporary thing and it will get back to normal or if I will be forgetting more and more over time. PLEASE HELP!!!

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.

Where do I start? For as far back as I can remember, I have been taking antidepressants. I have tried them all. Celexa, Wellbutrin, Effexor, Cymbalta, etc.. About 3 years ago, I crashed. You all know what that feels like. I went to see the "pill doctor" which is what I call the psychiatrists. He prescribed more antidepressants, Lithium 600mg per day along with Lamictal 200 mg per day for moods and Ambien CR-12.5mg to sleep. Side effects included, weight loss and gain, hair loss, memory loss, confusion, thyroid issues, no sex drive and sleeping too much with wako dreams. BUT is was better than what I was feeling at time. Last month I could not take it any more so I had a second opinion by another Pill Dr. Oh my God! This Pill Dr REALLY opened my eyes. He diagnosed me with a resistant to antidepressant type of depression. No bipolar but mood disorders. He warned me off of Cymbalta 60mg to 30mg to 0mg (antidepressant), and took me off the Lithium and increased my dose of Lamictal from 200mgs per day to 300mgs per day. What a difference it made. I have never felt better. I am sleeping less, have more energy and a much more positive outlook on life. I am scared that this won't last but I hope it will. Lamictal has been a godsend for me. My lesson is get a second opinion on your condition. A fresh set of eyes can see things that others don't.

I also have to remember that every case is unique. Every person has their own set of problems to deal with. Kids are emotionally demanding and draining. You are not different from others who suffer.

I've only been on Lamictal for about 3 weeks now. I started taking it the day after Christmas. I take 25MG twice a day, with .5MG of Klonopin 3 times a day. I have been diagnosed as Bi Polar II, with very deep bouts of depression and suicidal thoughts. So far the Lamictal has been working for me. I have noticed that if I don't take it in the morning when I am supposed to, I let little things get to me. But as soon as I remember to take it, I feel better in a short amount of time; but that could also be the Klonopin. Anyway, the only side-effect I've noticed so far is that I started my period a week and a half early, and I have been on it for 2 1/2 weeks now. And it keeps getting heavier and that is very annoying.

Are any other females having period issues? Or is it just me? I can't find any other sides that list heavy bleeding or early periods as a side-effect.

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 am bipolar II and began taking Lamictal on top of my usual cocktail of Wellbutrin and Zyprexa following a suicide attempt. As everyone else has reported, it took a while to get up to a theraputic dosage; once I got there though, I felt the best I had in years (no exaggeration) - I literally felt completely freed from my illness. This freedom came at a cost, however. During my college days (I am a recent graduate) I was the top student in my department and routinely completed tremendous projects in unusually short amounts of time. Since reaching my current dosage of Lamictal, however, I have begun FAILING a Spanish course I am taking as I am both unable to retain anything I learn from studying (especially flash cards, which as everyone knows are the key to learning new vocabulary words) and, more importantly, feel no motivation to correct the situation. I am currently preparing to take two GREs as well as apply to eight graduate schools and have gone from obsessing over the issue to not caring whatsoever. I have also begun a new job recently and have extreme difficulty waking up each morning due to how exhausted I feel (it's notable that I didn't have this feeling upon switching to a large dose of Zyprexa.) My doctor has instructed me to lower the dose and monitor my mood accordingly to see if I can have positive psychological results with minimal side effects. I am upset about potentially having to give up the radical change in how I feel every day, but the side effects are just too severe (at the current dose, that is.) It still remains to be seen whether a lower dose will have sufficiently positive psychological effects with minimal side effects; I will make a followup post after this one once I can assess that.

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.

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.

56 y/o female recently diagnosed as bi-polarI with dissociative features. Dr. started me out on the standrd regimen of 25 mgs. per day and today went up to 50 mgs. per day. The Dr. says that I will have to go up to 22 mgs per day. The change from 25 mgs to 50 has been noticeable. Today, I felt grumpy and miserable. She also put me pn abilify which made me eat like a termite and which titrated myself off of after 2 weeks. I probably gained at least ten pounds on that stuff. I have also been experiencing increasinly worsening vision which is of extreme concern for me since I had two episodes of narrow glaucoma using zyban/wellbutrin and have lost a good deal of my central visiual acuituity as well as a lot of peripheral vision. I abslutely do not want to lose anymore vision. I am already at the point of considering that driving may be dangerous. Two years ago I was in Mexico and used HGH. Human Growth Hormone and I felt better tha I had felt in years at the time I was taking Lexapro...was able to go off it entirely. I plan to go back to Mexico soon and will get more HGH and see how it works with the Lamictal and if it doesn't work well then the Lamical will have to go...I have yet to know anybody who has been able to maintain cconsistently on any one drug regomen with bi-polar disorder...perhaps it's because so many of usgo off the meds because of the miserable side efects.

I have taken Lamictal over a yr now and find it the best for mood stablizer along with Wellbutrin for AD. When was taking 10 mg am and 200 nights was feeling zombie like. Now take 25 am and 100 pm. (I got lost driving home on higher dose) I seem to tolerate it well. None of the meds areperfect, just like any other condition. On my "poison" list is Effexor and Tegretol