# Lamictal success stories



## Porterdog (Sep 17, 2010)

Hey, so i've been on lamictal 50mg for a month and recently upped it to 100mg three days ago. im looking for some reassurance that it will work because im in a stressful period at the moment and its not doing much. Looking for success stories/benefits.

For anyone who has one, how long did it take to work? also did it affect your concentration/motivation?


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## jimmythekid (Apr 26, 2010)

I took Lamictal a few years ago. It was amazing for my depression. Relieved it 100%. I'm not sure how long it took to start working. Maybe a few weeks. It didn't affect my concentration but my motivation increased ten fold. The depression came back after a year sadly.


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## Porterdog (Sep 17, 2010)

jimmythekid said:


> I took Lamictal a few years ago. It was amazing for my depression. Relieved it 100%. I'm not sure how long it took to start working. Maybe a few weeks. It didn't affect my concentration but my motivation increased ten fold. The depression came back after a year sadly.


Thats awesome! what dose?


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## jimmythekid (Apr 26, 2010)

Porterdog said:


> Thats awesome! what dose?


I took 200mg a day. I did try higher doses but they weren't any more effective for me.


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## istayhome (Apr 4, 2012)

I am at 200 mg of Lamictala day. I have been for about 6 months (prior to that I titrated up over a period of about 4 months. I am still not sure if I am really bipolar, maybe a mild case of cyclothymia but I began it as a treatment for depression. anyways it has been a dream for me. Decreased my depression by at least 100%, increased energy, motivation, wakefulness and really cleared my thinking. It really changed my thought patterns and brought me back to a clarified way of thinking that I didn't even know I had lost. Basically it allowed me to be much more aware of how I was feeling and why. Like at times when I was more depressed I could see it clearly, anticipate how it would affect my mood and figure out why I was more depressed (I was struggling with the flu).

So yeah it has been a life-changing med for me and prior to taking it I had taken every available ssri/snri and most TCA's available to me, I was in a state of desperation. Had I not taken it I'd probably be dead today. It truly was/is a life saver. In fact it reduced my feelings of anxiety a lot too as I freely reduced my benzo doses when I started it as well.

*** No I am no a medical representative for Lamictal. I don't get any kind of benefit by trying to get people to tale it. It just has been that good to me. Best of luck.


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## Porterdog (Sep 17, 2010)

istayhome said:


> I am at 200 mg of Lamictala day. I have been for about 6 months (prior to that I titrated up over a period of about 4 months. I am still not sure if I am really bipolar, maybe a mild case of cyclothymia but I began it as a treatment for depression. anyways it has been a dream for me. Decreased my depression by at least 100%, increased energy, motivation, wakefulness and really cleared my thinking. It really changed my thought patterns and brought me back to a clarified way of thinking that I didn't even know I had lost. Basically it allowed me to be much more aware of how I was feeling and why. Like at times when I was more depressed I could see it clearly, anticipate how it would affect my mood and figure out why I was more depressed (I was struggling with the flu).
> 
> So yeah it has been a life-changing med for me and prior to taking it I had taken every available ssri/snri and most TCA's available to me, I was in a state of desperation. Had I not taken it I'd probably be dead today. It truly was/is a life saver. In fact it reduced my feelings of anxiety a lot too as I freely reduced my benzo doses when I started it as well.
> 
> *** No I am no a medical representative for Lamictal. I don't get any kind of benefit by trying to get people to tale it. It just has been that good to me. Best of luck.


Thanks man, giving me lots of hope. 
When did it start to kick in?


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## bazinga (Jun 9, 2010)

Been depression and mood-swing free for a few years now thanks to Lamictal. For years nothing I tried worked for depression until I was prescribed Lamictal.


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## retracekim (Jan 13, 2013)

I think it's working for me already. At a low dosage. My pdoc said 100-200 mg would be my target range, probably 100mg. 

Hopefully I don't get the rash. And I can take it for a few months work with my psychologist some more and tapper off to see how I do-that would be ideal.


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## Burnaby (Feb 13, 2013)

Does anyone here feel Lamictal also helps with social anxiety? What i mean is that i know some of us are bi-polar, but if you are just diagnosed with SA can lamictal be of any help?


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## Morbid (Nov 14, 2009)

Ive been on 200mg for about a year. At first it was helping but the longer i took it, the less effective it seemed to get.


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## istayhome (Apr 4, 2012)

Porterdog said:


> Thanks man, giving me lots of hope.
> When did it start to kick in?


Generally Lamictal would first be noticeable after a couple days from when I first began taking it. Then the effects would sort of subside and from 2-6 week the effects would grow and become more noticeable. Within a moth the dose was very much kicking in.



bradfairway said:


> Does anyone here feel Lamictal also helps with social anxiety? What i mean is that i know some of us are bi-polar, but if you are just diagnosed with SA can lamictal be of any help?


Yeah, As I said I don;t know if I have bipolar either. Once I got steady on around 100 mg of Lamictal (I started taking it just for depression) anyways around that dose I really felt like I was surprised by how much my anxiety had been reduced. Now up to 200 mg, I still fell like I get about the same amount of anxiety as when I was at 100 mg. I'm sure that the doses will be different with everyone when it comes to this drug. By the way, The manner in which I got anxiety relief was that I felt much better all over and when doing anything, hut most importantly I took much less benzos without even noticing it. I would just forget to take most of my 10 mg valium pills each day (taking 10 many days or occasionally 20 mg instead of the normal 30 mg). I would also get by for days without taking xanax.


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## Burnaby (Feb 13, 2013)

istay home,

Thanks for your reply, i have been lurking around for a month before i signed up and find your posts very informative. 

I have not been diagnosed as bipolar, but i might very well be as I have not seen a psychiatrist for a while and took ssri's for 12 years (celexa and lexapro) and just recently came off of them due to feeling too much like a zombie and no motiation and ofcourse killing my sex life. I have also taken some benzo's and think klonopin helped me the most but didn't want to take it as my dosage had gone very high as i build tolerance.


This might sound kinda funny, but a friend of mine suggested lithium orotate (supplement, not as toxic as lithium carbonate) a few weeks ago. I tried it and for three days i was on such a high at a low dose that i was so happy that i have found my cure! oh well, it only worked for a few days and i never understood why it didn't seem to work even when i increased the dose 4x folds. 
If lamictal is a bipolar medicine (mood stabilizer i guess) and its seems it has less side effects than lithium carbonate, i hope it can help me get back on my feet. I have no idea about the dosages and how fast i can increase it, but from what i read its best to start it about 25-50 and move it up every couple of weeks.


I appreciate all the comments i read here, it is so motivating to find a place to talk to people who hae been through what we go through and not just studied it like doctors. 

Now, if i start it in a few days at about 50 mg, how long would you guess before i feel any of the benefits (hopefully benefits) ? thanks again


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## retracekim (Jan 13, 2013)

bradfairway said:


> Does anyone here feel Lamictal also helps with social anxiety? What i mean is that i know some of us are bi-polar, but if you are just diagnosed with SA can lamictal be of any help?


From my findings I think does if your anxiety is a derivative of depression, which might be the case for me-I felt great this first week.

But it could just be the breakthroughs I've had in therapy. I'm trying to figure which is helping me, or if I need both together.


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## Burnaby (Feb 13, 2013)

retracekim said:


> From my findings I think does if your anxiety is a derivative of depression, which might be the case for me-I felt great this first week.
> 
> But it could just be the breakthroughs I've had in therapy. I'm trying to figure which is helping me, or if I need both together.


i hope that it continues working for you, i will be starting mine in a week and will share my experience as well


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## istayhome (Apr 4, 2012)

retracekim said:


> From my findings I think does if your anxiety is a derivative of depression, which might be the case for me-I felt great this first week.
> 
> But it could just be the breakthroughs I've had in therapy. I'm trying to figure which is helping me, or if I need both together.


I think that your expectations are a bit high. You will be hard-pressed to find many people who can notice lamictal doing anything at all within a week, let alone turning around bot anxiety and depression, a treatment for which it is not specifically indicated. Be careful about getting e'erybody's hopes up. I'm glad that it was so helpful to you though. Best of luck.


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## Burnaby (Feb 13, 2013)

I dont expect it ofcourse to be a cure in one week and it probably not totally cure me, but lets say out of a scale of 0-10 with ten being most anxious i am pretty much around an 8 right now. Even if lamictal after a month or two can bring it from an 8 to 4 or a 3, i will be functional enough to get all my aspects of life moving. Don't forget right now i'm on no medication after being on ssri's for 12 years with occasional kolonopin, xanax, ativan in the mix.

Yes, this forum and its members are a bliss and i hope i can share my experiences for those who need it.

As for lamictal, what would you say a fair trial period would be ? lets say i'm on it for two months and work my way up to 150 at two months, is that long enough to judge this medicine and move on to the next or it takes longer? ty



istayhome said:


> I think that your expectations are a bit high. You will be hard-pressed to find many people who can notice lamictal doing anything at all within a week, let alone turning around bot anxiety and depression, a treatment for which it is not specifically indicated. Be careful about getting e'erybody's hopes up. I'm glad that it was so helpful to you though. Best of luck.


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## retracekim (Jan 13, 2013)

Thanks hopefully I figure it out sooner rather than later. Message me and tell me how it goes.


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## retracekim (Jan 13, 2013)

istayhome said:


> I think that your expectations are a bit high. You will be hard-pressed to find many people who can notice lamictal doing anything at all within a week, let alone turning around bot anxiety and depression, a treatment for which it is not specifically indicated. Be careful about getting e'erybody's hopes up. I'm glad that it was so helpful to you though. Best of luck.


I did make the comment that I thought it might be the talk therapy thats really helping. I'm leaning towards that conclusion. Nonetheless lamictal does affect you at low dosages-people react different, I'm only sharing my experiences. I wasn't making a declaration.

I thought that me claiming that this might be a placebo affect was implied with the last statement. Maybe I''m wrong...


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## retracekim (Jan 13, 2013)

Oh yeah, I plan to tapper off of it later in the year, so I'm not saying it's a magic bullet.


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