Any experiences with Lamictal?!
Question: I went to the Dr today and he says I have bipolar, OCD tendencies and depression. He basically gave me the choice of lithium or lamictal. He told me lithium has more side effects and can cause kidney damage so I chose the Lamictal. He said I have to start it slowly then after a month or so we can start anti depressants. I was just wondering if anyone is on lamictal and what are your pros/cons? Also if you are on anti depressants as well, what seems to work for you? I know everyone reacts differently, Im just curious. Ive been on paxil, prozac, and zoloft and none of them worked for me. Zoloft helped a little but I had horrible side effects. Also...did Lamictal help anyone with anxiety? Sorry so many questions, Im just new to this and want to learn more, thanks!
Answers: I went to the Dr today and he says I have bipolar, OCD tendencies and depression. He basically gave me the choice of lithium or lamictal. He told me lithium has more side effects and can cause kidney damage so I chose the Lamictal. He said I have to start it slowly then after a month or so we can start anti depressants. I was just wondering if anyone is on lamictal and what are your pros/cons? Also if you are on anti depressants as well, what seems to work for you? I know everyone reacts differently, Im just curious. Ive been on paxil, prozac, and zoloft and none of them worked for me. Zoloft helped a little but I had horrible side effects. Also...did Lamictal help anyone with anxiety? Sorry so many questions, Im just new to this and want to learn more, thanks!
AMAZING STUFF.
i take 100mg of lamictal...the reason why he said you need to start it slowly is because the company makes it in high doses from 100mg+ and they give you a "starter pack" which is two weeks on 25mg once a day....then the next two weeks is 50mg (two of the 25s) each day...then by week 5 you are on 100mg.
ANTIDEPRESSANTS ARE HARMFUL TO PEOPLE WITH BIPOLAR DISORDER!! it increased manic episodes...so it's not very advisible to be on antidepressants with an antiseizure medicine for bipolar disorder (at least i think that's what it's classified as)..everyone has side effects to every medication they take the first week or two....but the good thing is, the only bad side effect(well yeah i know all side effects are bad but whatever) is a "Body rash" and if your doctor didnt tell you this already, if you break out with a rash you MUST stop taking it.
and to let you know (not to make you feel stupid or anything) bipolar disorder is about the highs and lows a person can have, such as anger that can increase into total rage as the "high" and depression/anxiety as the "low". but i learned that from the internet cause my psych (not to be racist, i swear i'm not and i don't want to offend you or anyone else who reads this) is from a foreign country so he has a big accent..and god i cannot understand it because he talks to fast...andi'm slow sometimes! so i didn't really understand bipolar disorder at first...and my parents don't really talk to me about my issues cause i guess parents don't typically like knowing that their son or daughter has mental issues.....but anyways, you'll be fine with this medicine it just takes a few weeks for it to build up in your body but once you're on week 5 you will start to feel a lot better with it...the reason why you had bad side effects to paxil, zoloft, and prozac is because it's an antidepressant...and like i said, it can cause your manic episodes to increase, which probably was those side effects you talked about....zoloft coulda just helped with your depression and anxiety...but it isnt good to take that though foryour prob. good luck! i hope you feel better!
also, i have read about omega 3 and fish oil supplements can help reduce your manic symptoms (you can get "bayer nutritional science" medication that is about 10 bucks at target) and eating fish helps too!! just be sure that you have a good diet, exercise helps too....because some stuff you eat can worsen your anger and depression(i just found that out). so remember, do not be mad when you are feeling like your bipolar and OCD is not getting better, cause the medicine is starting to flow through your body and soon it will start to balance your chemicals in your brain correctly. tell your doctor you do not want to take antidepressants, as it may help some people who take bipolar medication with their depression...that's probably only if they have incredibly severe bipolar disorder...just read up about bipolar disorder on webmd and search it on google. also search "bipolar disorder nutrition" there you will find a bunch of stuff obviously about what is good to eat/balance diet and fitness...stuff like that. hope this helps! remember, the only way to recovery is being motivated enough to have a balanced diet, exercise appropriately, and stay away from stressful things because medication only helps so much.
i love lamictal, almost no side effects, but it helped with most of my symptoms.
a friend almost died on it though.
so, it goes either way