# Lamictal!



## Sasha (Mar 1, 2006)

I explained my whole life story to my psychiatrist today from the beginning to present in huge detail! I have never been completely honest with a psychiatrist before and it felt really good. It's a huge load off of my shoulders. He previously told me that I simply had anxiety, then switched to thoughts of bipolar, but he didn't have all this information. With everything I said, he decided that I have an ADHD subtype (more than likely ADHD-I) and gave me a questionnaire to fill out for the next time I see him. It's possible that I do have a mood disorder (bipolar) stemming out from that since I have a million anxiety disorders as well as depression that seems to be chronic (I've had it since I was a child) which is a secondary illness to ADHD if left untreated, which is the case for me, but we're going to look into it more after we can be more specific about the ADHD.

I suggested Lamictal like everyone on here suggested and he was more than willing to let me try it! He thought it would be a really good approach. I start taking it tonight.

I'm supposed to take it before bed, but I go to bed at various hours, so I'll probably take it with supper when I take my birth control pill.

I'm not taking Nardil anymore, but on 1 mg of Clonazepam 3 times a day as needed.

I'm so excited! Maybe this will be what I actually needed. I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere. I'm finally finding out what's wrong with me and it's a HUGE relief.

Now, since I'm starting Lamictal today, well in a few hours actually, I have a few questions.

1. Do you notice anything different after taking the first pill?
2. How long does it take to make you feel better?
3. How long does it take for the whole effect to kick in?
4. What exactly does it do? How does it work?

Thank you! I would really appreciate it if someone could answer these questions!


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## 99x (Oct 4, 2007)

Awesome, I really hope it works out for you. I wouldn't personally take the clonazepam everyday because I'm always paranoid i'll become tolerant and I only need it for very specific situations but when I need it, I really need it. 

The first day after I took lamictal I woke up and felt good and attributed that to the medication, but I really think it was just wishful thinking. It took about 3 or 4 months(dont get discouraged right away, its different for everyone) to affect me. I would go see the doctor and he would ask me how I felt. I would just say "well, i guess its working, i dont know" I was at 200mg and came to the conclusion that it wasn't doing **** for me so we tried increasing one more time and made the leap to 300mgs and within 2 weeks I felt it work. 

The way I view my moods is like a needle on the Richter scale. Some event will come along(pretty often, doesn't take much) to throw me into low valleys and high peaks and would slowly level out. Well I started to notice that I was in the same mood(fairly good one at that) for 2 weeks straight and things that would usually set me off just kinda bounced off me. I was also able to go out in public and felt comfortable. It's kinda funny but I noticed that when I got my last hair cut I sat there telling the girl "clean this up, this side isnt even, I need it shorter" normally I'd sit there with my head down, get up, pay and leave with a haircut I didn't like. Thats when I knew it was working.


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## michellejl (Aug 20, 2006)

Lamictal has definitely changed my life for the better! Good luck with it.


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## Sasha (Mar 1, 2006)

I took my first pill today and i ended up cheating on my girlfriend of 6 months with my ex! 
this is something i would have never done! Ever!


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## KurtG85 (Sep 19, 2008)

Lamictal has a tendency to give a lot of people the 'stoopids', but... thats a whole different brand of poor decision making. Sorry to hear you made such a choice.

Not that I am saying you are but I hope you don't try and blame this choice of yours on the med. This is a med prescribed to counteract exactly such types of impulsive behavior unlike SS/N/DRI's which can induce mania in bipolars sometimes.

1. Different people will notice effects at different times. I can feel at least moderate effects from every med I have ever taken within an hour but this is obviously not the norm.

2. Varies from person to person; some a day, some 6 months.

3. Ditto.

4. I believe it is theorized that it limits the release of excitatory amino acids such as glutamate and aspartate by inhibiting sodium channels in the brain. My understanding is that this leads to a general lowering of all the other mood regulating neurotransmitters soaking in your brain. All those feelings those neurotransmitters regulate become less intense as a result and this is why it chills people out and helps them to make better decisions (rampant, intense emotion has a tendency to cancel out logic).

PS- Nothing to be overly concerned over but be sure to communicate with your doctor if you break out in any kind of rash. There is a *certain kind* of rash that lamictal can cause (although I believe other kinds of non dangerous standard rashes on lamictal are not that uncommon) which can kill you if left untreated for a few weeks. I got this rash all over my legs after having been on lamictal for two days.

Crazymeds.us has a pic of the rash midway down on this page http://www.crazymeds.us/lamictal.html


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## Medline (Sep 23, 2008)

Sasha, you really can't blame one Lamictal pill (at the lowest dose) for you cheating your girlfriend. It doesn't have an acute effect, it takes up to 2-3 months at the therapeutic dose to do ANTI-impulsive things.


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## 99x (Oct 4, 2007)

I really don't think it was the med. You just made a bad decision. Lamictal isn't so powerful that it's going to change your behavior so drastically..of course I'm no doctor but I really think it's a poor excuse and maybe not a good thing to put into the minds of people wanting to try the medicine.


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## KILL__JOY (Jul 30, 2008)

Well I dont know but every med affects people differently especially if youre bipolar. I know that for me, taking one little dose of a pill will turn me into a completely different person.


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## Sasha (Mar 1, 2006)

KILL__JOY said:


> Well I dont know but every med affects people differently especially if youre bipolar. I know that for me, taking one little dose of a pill will turn me into a completely different person.


My psychiatrist said there is a possibility that I am bipolar.
We are supposed to discuss it at my next appointment.
That's exactly how I felt. This morning I actually had to THINK about what happened last night because I was in a totally different state of mind. It's as if I wasn't doing it, but watching myself do it and unable to control anything. I was being weird ALL night, actually. Not just that one situation.


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## KurtG85 (Sep 19, 2008)

This med is not in the classes of meds that have been known to induce manic symptoms in bipolar. Bipolars take this med because it has the opposite effect of stabilizing their mood. 

I hope you recognize there is no excuse for cheating. Even if you found a med made it easier to disregard the pain you are inflicting on someone you have committed yourself to in a relationship it still comes down to you making a decision that your immediate physical gratification is more important than the pain you inflict on someone you have made an implied promise to. I am not trying to make you feel bad, I know we all make mistakes, but it would be extremely disturbing to me if you in fact think this is more the meds fault than your own.


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## Sasha (Mar 1, 2006)

I know it's still me.
Maybe because my relationship was downhill anyways.
My girlfriend treated me like **** all the time.
I think it was just something I should have known deep down; that we weren't right together and I deserved much better.
However, it's not an excuse for the cheating. That was horrible. I should have just dumped her first.


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

Lamictal was a sugar pill to me. It did absolutely nothing, neither positive nor negative. I'll make a wild guess that's because I'm not bipolar (and never have been).

My moron of a GP last year gave me samples to try. Dr. Dim Bulb seems to have an absolute obsession with mood stabilizers, despite the fact that even he agrees that I'm not bipolar. In fact, if you read the definition of bipolar mania you've just read the exact opposite of what I am.


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## 99x (Oct 4, 2007)

My old doctor tried pretty much every antidepressant he could think of and didn't seem to grasp that I was in a different league with my moods. My new one refused to try anymore because of my past experiences(I usually got much worse) so he put me on this mood stabilizer. I thought it was a sugar pill also but since I had no side effects I stuck with it and it took months for me to notice the difference. But I've always been a moody guy, theres not one med that works for everyone so its all about finding the one you need. Luckily I found mine, but I know it was a pain in the *** getting there.


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## Redefine (Jan 11, 2005)

I was just proscribed Lamictal too by my doctor. I've always had the problem of cycling through moods. I'm probably not full bipolar, more like cyclothymia. Anyway, he only prescribed me 25 mg and said "take one or two a day". Is this too small a dosage to affect me?


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## 99x (Oct 4, 2007)

I honestly don't think its enough to stabilize your moods, but I don't know the facts so I can't say for sure. Doctors have to start you off at such a low dose because it really lowers the chance that you'll get the rash. It's dangerous to give you a dose like 100mg to start, at least that's what my doctor says and I've done really well with the meds hes prescribed so far so I trust him. He also said that if you take a high dose and run out of it, forget to pack it on vacation, or anything else that prevents you from taking it for more than 2 weeks; he's obligated to start me back from 25mg..I'm at 300mg right now and it's the only dose that has stabilize my moods. From what I've heard most people take 100mg-300mg.


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## guitarguy (Aug 12, 2008)

KurtG85 said:


> This med is not in the classes of meds that have been known to induce manic symptoms in bipolar. Bipolars take this med because it has the opposite effect of stabilizing their mood.
> 
> I hope you recognize there is no excuse for cheating. Even if you found a med made it easier to disregard the pain you are inflicting on someone you have committed yourself to in a relationship it still comes down to you making a decision that your immediate physical gratification is more important than the pain you inflict on someone you have made an implied promise to. I am not trying to make you feel bad, I know we all make mistakes, but it would be extremely disturbing to me if you in fact think this is more the meds fault than your own.


so is lamictal only for people with bipolar? what about other mood satabalizers?


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## KurtG85 (Sep 19, 2008)

No. I didn't mean to imply that. Lamictal is used off label for pretty much everything. 

Its not a bad idea to give it or similar meds a shot even if you dont suspect you have bipolar because it can help people with just about anything like I said.


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## guitarguy (Aug 12, 2008)

KurtG85 said:


> No. I didn't mean to imply that. Lamictal is used off label for pretty much everything.
> 
> Its not a bad idea to give it or similar meds a shot even if you dont suspect you have bipolar because it can help people with just about anything like I said.


how long does it take lamictal or lyrica to kick in? Also do people use lithium anymore? What about that?


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## KILL__JOY (Jul 30, 2008)

guitarguy said:


> how long does it take lamictal or lyrica to kick in? Also do people use lithium anymore? What about that?


I just started lithium.


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## TexKnight (Feb 25, 2012)

*I didn't know what it was for*

My Doctor prescribed this for Anxiety. There was some question at the pharmacy when I was picking up my meds and she said it was for Seizures. I was shocked by this, which is why I started researching it and found this site. It seems to only cause me more feelings of anxiety so I quite taking it. My Doctor dosen't seem to care much about what I have to say. I got in a pretty long conversation with her about some feelings and she told me I should see a Psychologist or theripist. Generally just blew me off. I have six bottles of Lamictal sitting on my fridge that I won't take because of the increased feelings of anxiety. Maybe I didn't give it time to work but I certainly don't need anything that causes more anxiety. Everytime I see her she ask me how I'm doing and I just say fine because I don't want to cause her to have to actually LISTEN to what I have to say. I've been on things before that did seem to help but this doesn't at all. I'm thinking of switching Doctors but I hate doing that because I hate having to go back through everything I'm feeling and having problem with. I have determined that a lot of doctors either don't take this seriously or just don't care and that's difficult to deal with when it affect my life like it does. Any comments, suggestions or questions are welcome.


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## FormerOptimist (Feb 15, 2013)

*Lamotrigine causes more anxiety!!!!*



TexKnight said:


> My Doctor prescribed this for Anxiety. There was some question at the pharmacy when I was picking up my meds and she said it was for Seizures. I was shocked by this, which is why I started researching it and found this site. It seems to only cause me more feelings of anxiety so I quite taking it. My Doctor dosen't seem to care much about what I have to say. I got in a pretty long conversation with her about some feelings and she told me I should see a Psychologist or theripist. Generally just blew me off. I have six bottles of Lamictal sitting on my fridge that I won't take because of the increased feelings of anxiety. Maybe I didn't give it time to work but I certainly don't need anything that causes more anxiety. Everytime I see her she ask me how I'm doing and I just say fine because I don't want to cause her to have to actually LISTEN to what I have to say. I've been on things before that did seem to help but this doesn't at all. I'm thinking of switching Doctors but I hate doing that because I hate having to go back through everything I'm feeling and having problem with. I have determined that a lot of doctors either don't take this seriously or just don't care and that's difficult to deal with when it affect my life like it does. Any comments, suggestions or questions are welcome.


YES, same here! I have extreme anxiety and have been housebound for almost 2 years now to avoid the panic attacks. I was put on generic lamictal (lamotrigine) and have been in a state of disabling anxiety for the entire 3 days I've been taking it! Chest feels crushed, can't get air in my lungs, heart pounding out of chest -- this went on last night for a solid 9 1/2 hours!!! With normal panic attacks, I sweat and get dizzy in addition to the aforementioned symptoms; but with this stuff, there is no sweating, and I only got dizzy and nauseous when I was standing in the sun today. It's primarily a pounding heart, crushed chest, and can't get oxygen.

Called my pdoc who told me 25mg of this med isn't causing this -- told me to lay off caffeine, but I only had 3 glasses tea the day before! I've never been so miserable. I'm going to really try to stick with this for the 8 weeks he's recommending -- he said if it helps me, then it will give me a bipolar 2 diagnosis in addition to the GAD and endogenous depression diagnoses I already have. I don't normally get manic, just swings in mood.

This is such an awful feeling.....I hope I get through it.


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## metamorphosis (Dec 18, 2008)

Sasha said:


> I explained my whole life story to my psychiatrist today from the beginning to present in huge detail! I have never been completely honest with a psychiatrist before and it felt really good. It's a huge load off of my shoulders. He previously told me that I simply had anxiety, then switched to thoughts of bipolar, but he didn't have all this information. With everything I said, he decided that I have an ADHD subtype (more than likely ADHD-I) and gave me a questionnaire to fill out for the next time I see him. It's possible that I do have a mood disorder (bipolar) stemming out from that since I have a million anxiety disorders as well as depression that seems to be chronic (I've had it since I was a child) which is a secondary illness to ADHD if left untreated, which is the case for me, but we're going to look into it more after we can be more specific about the ADHD.
> 
> I suggested Lamictal like everyone on here suggested and he was more than willing to let me try it! He thought it would be a really good approach. I start taking it tonight.
> 
> ...


Hope these help:
http://www.socialanxietysupport.com/forum/1060541712-post1.html
http://www.crazymeds.us/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Meds/Lamictal


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## jimmythekid (Apr 26, 2010)

FWIW, when I started Lamictal, I experienced hypersexuality, possibly part of a hypomanic episode (I'm bipolar). I have heard of other stories of it triggering hypomania during the start-up period and also of increased sex drive.


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## jimmythekid (Apr 26, 2010)

guitarguy said:


> how long does it take lamictal or lyrica to kick in? Also do people use lithium anymore? What about that?


Lithium is still the first-line treatment for bipolar disorder. Many people take it. It's also used in lower doses as an adjunctive treatment for resistant depression. I take 1 gram daily.


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## loophole (Apr 15, 2012)

After a year of lamictal and klonopins as well I can personally say it will take ur highest anger moods a d take them down a few notches.. not as many lows but still there... bit lethargic and felt like my short term memory is fading a bit. Dr added wellbutrin to hopefully help me feel more happy and focused.. shall see. Gl


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