Lamictal?

[madmag]

Has anyone out there been on Lamictal? My doc just gave it to me for my depression lows.

Just want to know what anyone has to say about it. Hope it works good.

[texasmamacita]

i've been on it for about a year. it's a mood stabilizer that helps w/ depression.
hope it works for you.

[shutterbug]

My new psychiatrist starting me on it (it will be 2 weeks this Thurs). He is weening me off of Depakote and onto the Lamictal.

He said that it works better for controlling the lows than Depakote b/c the Depakote focuses more on controlling the highs.

I've never had much problem with the manic phases - I actually enjoy them most of the time. The depression is what keeps me from functioning, so he said the Lamictal might work well for me in conjunction with my Effexor for the depression.

Although, since I've lowered my Depakote level and started on this I have noticed my anxiety seems to be getting worse. I actually FEEL anxious quite often, where as before my anxiety wasn't as noticable to me - other people noticed it some times, but I didn't. Now, I'm almost constantly shaking my foot when my legs are crossed - almost as if I were listening to musics with a super fast beat. ?

Anyway, I'm interested in hearing what you think about it?

[Hadenuff]

Hi,
Im diagnosed bi polar 2. I been taking 600mg of Lamictal a day plus 800mg of tegretol. been taking this around 15 months. It seems to be helping me, I think the major side effects that have to be careful of is some people may get these really bad rashes that are dangerous. I haven't had any problem.
H

[shutterbug]

Goodness, 600 mg's seems like a lot to me since I'm only at 50 mg's now ( and that is double what I started on). I'm suppose to go up to 100 mg's this week, but I guess I didn't realize that the dosage could go that high. My psychiatrist said that people usually only get the rashes if they are quickly bumped up to a higher dosage which is why he will only up mine ever 2 weeks, but he hasn't told me what the goal dosage is.

My shaking is less now that in was, but i'm still dealing with the anxiety, just not so extremely. And my Effexor has been raised from 150 mg to 225 mg.

Anyway, one or both of them are working because my body and mind are coming out of this major depression. So I know it's working for me.

Good luck and God Bless,
Jenna

[thechicksaysno]

I should have made this a seperate thread but has anyone ever been on Lithium? I starting that next week and I wanted to get some first hand experience from anyone. I've only heard good things so far but are they all true?

[MootPoint]

thechicksaysno, would you like me to move this into its own thread?

[shutterbug]

I've known of a lot of people who have been on and are on Lithium and it seems to work well for them.