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yellow_fleurs
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Default Jun 12, 2018 at 01:19 PM
  #1
Hi! Just curious when Lamictal started to work for people and stabilize their moods if that was the main reason they were on it? I know it is too soon to tell, but I just started four days ago at 25 mg and so far my moods have been cycling pretty fast(every day or so) from depressed, to feeling happy/calm/euthymic, to irritable and possibly hypomanic or mixed. They might be worse than before I started, though not as bad as when I as on Lexapro. Figure I am need to be on a higher dose before it works, too. Just curious to get some feedback on other's experiences, even though I know everyone reacts differently. Thanks!
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TRNRMOM
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Default Jun 12, 2018 at 01:32 PM
  #2
Quote:
Originally Posted by yellow_fleurs View Post
Hi! Just curious when Lamictal started to work for people and stabilize their moods if that was the main reason they were on it? I know it is too soon to tell, but I just started four days ago at 25 mg and so far my moods have been cycling pretty fast(every day or so) from depressed, to feeling happy/calm/euthymic, to irritable and possibly hypomanic or mixed. They might be worse than before I started, though not as bad as when I as on Lexapro. Figure I am need to be on a higher dose before it works, too. Just curious to get some feedback on other's experiences, even though I know everyone reacts differently. Thanks!
i'm female, 71 yr. hypomanic w/no depression; use 3 meds. for sleep but have been off mood stabilizer lithium about 3 yrs. after 30+ yrs. on low dose, after it ruined thyroid, parathyroids and kidneys; sleep thereafter is my main issue w/little anxiety around 2pm daily; psych nurse wanted me on 25mg. lamictal and wanted to keep me at that dose to deal w/hypomania and eventually cut back on sleep meds; i researched this med thoroughly and fri. i took my 1st and only dose and documented each and every side effect beginning w/dizziness almost immediately; became tongue-tied where i had a thought but couldn't put it into words; dizzy; nauseated, felt totally mentally slowed down; dry mouth, ears ringing; and after 6 hrs. of feeling like i was having an out-of-body experience, wrote to nurse of psych nurse and said i would not even consider taking it a 2nd time the following day. horrid horrid horrid for me.
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yellow_fleurs
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Default Jun 12, 2018 at 02:23 PM
  #3
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Originally Posted by TRNRMOM View Post
i'm female, 71 yr. hypomanic w/no depression; use 3 meds. for sleep but have been off mood stabilizer lithium about 3 yrs. after 30+ yrs. on low dose, after it ruined thyroid, parathyroids and kidneys; sleep thereafter is my main issue w/little anxiety around 2pm daily; psych nurse wanted me on 25mg. lamictal and wanted to keep me at that dose to deal w/hypomania and eventually cut back on sleep meds; i researched this med thoroughly and fri. i took my 1st and only dose and documented each and every side effect beginning w/dizziness almost immediately; became tongue-tied where i had a thought but couldn't put it into words; dizzy; nauseated, felt totally mentally slowed down; dry mouth, ears ringing; and after 6 hrs. of feeling like i was having an out-of-body experience, wrote to nurse of psych nurse and said i would not even consider taking it a 2nd time the following day. horrid horrid horrid for me.
I am so sorry you had such a terrible reaction! I really hope you find something better that works. I am not having many side effects besides the unstable moods, but I had a terrible reaction to Lexapro and it is no fun to go through those.
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diamondsuite1769
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Default Jun 13, 2018 at 10:27 AM
  #4
I was taking 100 mg of Lamictal. Really helped stabilized mood. However, my pdoc upped it because she wanted to see if an increase, of 100mg, would help my depression.
Two days after I was increased, at night, I've begun experiencing, the past 5 nights, the feeling that someone is watching me and the fear of being hurt. Slept with the lights on one night. Now keep bedroom door open with a nightlight while having to take Klonopin to calm me down.
When the pdoc gave me the script, I questioned her on whether I needed to take it step by step. Pdoc told me that is only when you start the med. In another week I will take another 100mg increase.
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Default Jun 13, 2018 at 02:48 PM
  #5
I'm at 100 mg Lamictal for 3 weeks now, been titrating up VERY slowly for about 3 months. I should be up higher by now, but it's a deal with my gdoc who started me on this but now wants me to see a pdoc to go higher. Whatever. I felt nothing at 25 mg, a little better at 50 mg, and have felt pretty good so far at 100. Given the success so far, I'm pretty stoked about the results when I eventually get to 300 mg or whatever the final dosage will be.

I've read a lot of reviews about Lamictal and this is definitely one of those that's totally hit or miss. Either it works great, or it does not at all and makes people miserable. I had a weird feeling it would work for me based on similarities in my condition and the positive reviews I found. The other 5 or 6 psych meds (non SSRI) were pretty terrible for me. Depakote was the most decent in terms of bad side effects, but I acted like a miserable old fart all the time, mumbling under my breath and all. Good times.

Think of each individual and our symptoms as like keys on a piano that's out of tune. Nobody is the same. Everyone has different keys that are out of whack there's just no way of knowing exactly what needs to be fixed without trial and error. These meds all kind of hit different keys like fingers pressing down at different points along the keyboard. For one person, the fit might be great, but terrible for another because it's hitting the wrong 'keys' if you know what I mean.

A past doctor I had, one who was really great at listening and taking her time to understand her patients, gave me that analogy. I try to remember it when I try any new meds. It can take a long time to figure out the right combinations for each individual which is why it is so critical that we all understand as much as we can about ourselves and our treatments.. Just don't be afraid to keep trying new ones if you sense any med isn't working. And don't be afraid to communicate any of that to your doctors. They better listen.

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Current meds : Lamictal 100 mg, more coming soon I'm sure, other meds for non-MI issues like Pramipexole for RLS but it's probably doing more for my mood I don't know about
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Default Jun 20, 2018 at 07:45 PM
  #6
Quote:
Originally Posted by diamondsuite1769 View Post
I was taking 100 mg of Lamictal. Really helped stabilized mood. However, my pdoc upped it because she wanted to see if an increase, of 100mg, would help my depression.
Two days after I was increased, at night, I've begun experiencing, the past 5 nights, the feeling that someone is watching me and the fear of being hurt. Slept with the lights on one night. Now keep bedroom door open with a nightlight while having to take Klonopin to calm me down.
When the pdoc gave me the script, I questioned her on whether I needed to take it step by step. Pdoc told me that is only when you start the med. In another week I will take another 100mg increase.
100mg increase as in from 100mg to 200mg? I'd be careful with that. I'm not a doctor — I'll be first to admit that — but I work alongside psychiatrists every day and they're always careful about going up on Lamictal 25mg at a time. I don't remember the time between each dose increase, but it usually takes a couple weeks to months to hit the target dose. Not that it'll directly harm you, but if you go up too quickly on it or do things like stop taking it and then start it back again at the same dose, you can put yourself at a greater risk of a life threatening side effect called Stevens-Johnson syndrome.
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still_crazy
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Default Jun 21, 2018 at 08:18 PM
  #7
i take 200mgs/day. my current shrink is adamant that people with my label/diagnosis/form of Bipolar I need 200mgs, minimum. On the plus side, he tapered and stopped the trileptal, which...I now kind of suspect was making depression more frequent and more severe. bummer.

my other psych drug is Abilify. Both help. I think its a 70/30 split...Abilify takes care of the "please commit that individual"-level crazy, the lamictal helps pull my mood up to a decent baseline and also (somehow...) keeps agitation under control, more so at 200 than at 100.

My former shrink said he had some patients on 600mgs/day. I'm hoping they had epilepsy. One problem with the anti-seizure drug is that they work quite well for some people, but some other people develop new or more severe psych problems. True story. I guess my advice would be to work with the prescriber, find a new shrink if yours is not so great (seems to be a fairly common complaint, actually...), and adjust lamictal or anything else slowly, hopefully 1 drug at a time (if you're cocktail-ing, like most psych people are these days).

hope this helps. good luck.
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Default Jun 21, 2018 at 11:31 PM
  #8
Had no problem starting it. I was on all sorts of doses and it didn't help.

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