I'm new to this board, but I have been reading some of what people are saying and it is very helpful! I was wondering if anyone else is on Lamictal and how do they feel on it. I have been on it for 3 weeks now and for the past few days I have been very depressed and down. Should I call my doctor or keep taking it?
I think u should keep taking it. I am also an lamictal and like u, I've only been on it for a little over 3 weeks. Started out on 50 mg/day and my doc has been slowly increasing the dosage. At this point, I'm up to 100 mg/day.
When he first prescribed it, he told me to immediately stop taking my prozac and explained that taking an anti-depressant alone w/o a mood stabilizer can infact cause manic symptoms to get worse. When I expressed concerns about my depression, he assured me that once he gets me up to a theraputic dose of lamictal he will put me on an anti-depressant again. Told me to hang on and try to bear with it and I think u should do the same. Let your doc know what's going on though.
I've definately noticed a major difference as far as the mood swings go. Have you??? Gotta admit though, I'm pretty darn depressed today myself. Been crying on and off all day, but I'm trying to focus on things that make me smile...namely my kids.
Thank You Robin, I feel better hearing hearing that I'm not the only one that is feeling this way on this medication. I'm still on my zoloft while I'm taking Lamictal, maybe that is the problem also. My doctor has not stopped my anti-depressant I think I'm going to give him a call.
Your welcome, Laurie. Glad I could help ease your mind a bit.
And Weasel, maybe it's just in my head, but I noticed improvements on lamictal w/in 1 1/2 to 2 wks. Had a couple of hairy situations come up and have actually been able to handle them quite well without losing control. My doc says that because everyone is different, that it is infact possible to notice changes right away. But regardless, whether it's in my head or not, I guess it really doesn't matter to me. All I know is that I'm feeling a little better (more at ease) and that is a very good thing!
Anyway...good luck, Laurie and try to keep a POSITIVE attitude!
hey just wanted to let you know that lamictal takes 6 weeks to work
I've been on Lamictal for about 5 1/2 weeks now. Of course I'm still at 100mg/day. I do feel very depressed. Crying spells. Anxiety. Nausia. But when you get enough lamictal, that is, when you get to a higher dosage, do you start to feel some relief from anxiety and depression? Cause I gotta tell ya, along with the Lamictal I'm taking 1.5mg/day of Klonopin and it hasn't been helping my anxiety at all. I go to see my pdoc tomorrow but he's so cut and dry and its always up to me to suggest sertain things, I'm just wondering what I should suggest or atleast have a little more knowledge of what to expect from certain things.
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-DERANGEA
"All credibility, all good conscience, all evidence of truth come only from the senses."
ok first, by the book it says it may take up to 6 weeks to work. however. everyones "theraputic" levels are different. for me, i started at 25 (cause you know you have to work your way up etc...) and by week six was at 100, and i was still depressed, but i did notice a diffference from the SUPER depressed that i was (trileptal contributed to that though) im on 150 now and for the most part feel ok. i still have my days when i am down, but i just have to remmeber that even "normal" people have bad days. ive been on it for a year and a half now and its pretty good. not really any intolerable side effects. i do have insomnia a lot, but i had that before. anyway, patience is the key and you have to remember that 100mg is not enough for lots of people.
one thing i did notice though is a rise in anxiety. ive just learned to deal and i have klonopin in case i just cant deal.
to sum it up.........................lamictal works great for me. i can be an almost normal functioning being. ive been working 30-40 hours a week for a month and a half now (before that i was averaging about 20-25) and i havent freaked out yet. but i also really know my limits, and worked very slowly to get to this point. its not worth it to push yourself too hard. for about 2 1/2 years now, ive just been reminding myself one day at a time. i think we can get really paranoid that a medication isnt wokring because they dont always work right away....which doesnt mean they wont work...ok i rambling....sorry......
I just started Lamictal 5 days ago. I must admit though, my shaking, already bad from
the lithium I take, is horrble. I can barely type this. Has anyone else noticed this increased shaking?
I have noticed my hands shaking, like this morning when I put nail polish on my little niece. It was all I could do not to get it all over her. Thought it was just too much coffee. The possibility of it being the lamictal never dawned on me. Thanks for bringing that up. Hmmm...
I take 200 of Lamictal, and I do have tremors. In fact I am going for a MRI today for that and other symtoms. I did a quick search on Lamictal and tremmors are a side effect.
