Lamictal question

Medications
1

Hey. If you’ve taken Lamictal for a mood stabilizer, what was your experience? Did it help you?

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2

It helped me, I’m on 200 mgs…

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3

How long did it take to make a noticeable difference?

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4

About a week for me.

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5

It was prescribed to me a few years ago but I no longer take it. No negative side effects except skin rash.

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6

A weeks, bc of steven-jonson potential syndrome.
It’s why initially you start low dose, as skin rash may occur…
You gradually rise the dossage…

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7

I take 150mg. It keeps me pretty even keeled. I never got the rash, or any other side effects.

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8

Ok. Good to know. Hopefully I hear from more people. I’m trying to get as many opinions and experiences as possible.

9

I’m bumping this back up in hopes of hearing a few more opinions. Thanks everyone!

10

What do you exactly want to hear?
It’s a good med for being stable…
Also is good antidepressant.

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11

Just how it is for more than just a few people. That’s all.

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12

No, it didn’t help me.

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13

It helped me at 100mg

I don’t remember to take it, though

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14

Lamictal helps me a lot. Its a real good mood stabilizer. It is one of the few mood stabilizers that specializes in treating the depression portion of sza/bipolar. Most of the other mood stabilizers treat more of the mania.

There are some AP’s like Risperidone, that have mood-stabilizing affects that treat the depression, but still you will still need a mood stabilizer in addition to the Risperidone in that case.

Overall Lamictal is a very good mood stabilizer. Its the only mood stabilizer that I tried that treated my depression. The only issue I have with Lamictal is that at high dosages it makes my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder pretty bad. However if you dont have OCD you have nothing to worry about. Even if you do, you might not get those side effects.

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15

Interesting. I had no idea Lamictal affected ocd.

16

I’ve been on it for years. No issues so far.

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17

@trelos , does it help both your ups and downs? Do you need additional meds?

18

Absolutely helped me. I was at 200mg, 2x/day, I think. On Tegretol/carbamazapine now, and it’s good, too.

ETA: Was on it for a good eight years. I have OCD but never noticed an issue with that. I am on several other meds. APs and ADs, among other things.

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19

I feel better on Lamictal than anything else I’ve ever taken. I still go up a bit but I don’t get depressed anymore. I’m far better off that I used to be. I get seriously manic on antidepressants (effexor)
I still get some grandiose ideas, but I’m quite content to stay on Lamictal forever.

Go over to youtube and see what other people have to say about it versus lithium or Depakote.

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20

I’ve been on an extremely low dose of Lamictal and it completely eradicated my depression.

It’s been a lifesaver

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