lamictal side effects dosage

ve been on Wellbutrin for 4 weeks now and my sexual side effects have not subsided. I specifically chose to take Wellbutrin because of its reputation for rarely causing sexual side effects, because even while depressed I had a pretty healthy sex life. However, I recently read that studies have shown that, although less common than with SSRI antidepressants, Wellbutrin can cause sexual side effects, such as decreased libido and impotence.

and now Lamictal, for the past two years. Of all the many meds I have taken, Lamictal has produced the least side effects. No sleepiness, no weight gain, ( that I can attribute to my meds anyway..ahem) and no englargement of the gums. In short I would say from my personal experience it's the best anti-seizure med out there. I only take 200mg a day, so it may be different for others who take a higher or lower dosage. Hope this gave a little insight.

That is the starting effective dose of Lamictal from what I believe though you could ask your psychiatrist. I did have some heavy side effects from Lamictal when I started it but they went away in time. I am not sure if all those side effects are from the Lamictal but you should definitely discuss them with your psychiatrist and you could look on the medication website as well and ask your pharmacist in the meantime for more information.

However an anti-depressent by itself would not treat the manic aspects of bipolar and could potentially worsen it so you would need to stay on a full mood stabilizer as well (which is what Lamictal is).

As for side effects, I have had almost none with Lamictal. Not even sexual side effects. Maybe a little upset stomach once in a while, but no weight gain at all from it. Keep in mind that about 1 in 300 people can develope an allergic reaction to Lamictal shortly after starting. This will show itself as a rash around the neck or chest. IF YOU GET THIS RASH THEN DISCONTINUE THE LAMICTAL IMMIDIATLY AND CALL YOUR DOCTOR. This is rare, but can happen to some people.

Your psychiatrist is not very thorough then. Lamictal has a lot more side effects than just a rash.

Sorry to hear about everything! I know how you feel...have been on a number of different anti-seizure meds for 14 years now, and totally understand how you feel. If it helps, things usually improve somewhat after you've been on the meds for 5 or 6 months....kind of get used to the dosage, although it isn't easy to deal with all the side effects.

But he said we also have to wait and see if Lamictal alone will control my bipolar symptoms, and I may have to go back on the other meds as well. Anyone else having success with just Lamictal? If so, do you have any side effects, particularly weight gain, hair loss, etc. Thanks a bunch.

I thought I remember a while back someone posted that they were doing OK on Lamictal but when the doc increased the dosage, the person started having anxiety attacks. Is that true? I recently went up to 200mg/day and I've started having anxiety and now wondering if I should ask the doc to decrease the dosage. He also discontinued the Seroquel but now I'm having major depressive episodes.

Detecting drug levels in the blood help in proper seizure control and reduction of side effects of the drug. It helps us in identifying whether the drug is in a therapeutic range or not. The decision of dosage adjustments depends on the doctor’s discretion and varies person to person. Do write to us again with more information. Take care and good luck!

He gave me some reading material and we discussed the side effects. Many of the side effects were similar to that of the other meds that I had already been on. The main issue for me is that it has raised my sugar levels. So I have to watch what I eat more than what I did before. BUT, ..... It has been the only medicine that finally helped me! (There was a small timeframe that Abilify was added, but I no longer take it).

ve been titrating down from 300mg by 25mg/wk and the side effects have been horrific; nausea, headaches, blurred vision. The side effects from toxicity still exist; itching,burning/tingling, pins &amp; needles, bone ache and stiffness in legs all still exist as well.

5 is an acceptable level provided your son can tolerate it. lamictal has few side effects. permanent drowsiness being the main one. patients respond best if the dosage is spread out over the day. make sure that your son is taking the drug every 12 hours and not just when he gets up or goes to bed. timing is crucial. 9.5 for 400 mg is fairly high but is probably due to the timing when the sample was taken. has the cause of the seizures been ascertained?

If you would Lamictal (many medications because they are available under different brands or types such as coated or extended release have different spellings) when I was on Lamictal experienced extra pyramidal side effects (temporary movement disorders such as akathesia and dystonia that can be treated with a side effect pill) but that is statistically rare. Regardless since it started at that specific dose that might be one potential reason.

Denicalis does bring up a good point. Some times side effects will disappear, and it really depends on the dosage you are current taking. Certain doses of medication have higher risks for particular side effects. More than likely you will be tinkering around with different dosage levels, if you find a medication that works for you, but are trying to find less adverse side effects. I am curious if your Psychiatrist weaned you back down to 50 mg from 150 mg.

My doctor said that 200mgs of Lamictal was therapuetic range, though I have meet people who found 50mgs to be effective and others who needed 400mgs. Comparing drugs doesn't really work for many meds. You are comparing a mood stabalize to an anti-seizure medication, they work in totally different ways, so no dose would technically be an equivalent. I believe close monitoring of titration is a better gauge of dosage than anything else.

I had some minor nausea when I was on Lamictal. Like all medications I took it with milk instead of water. That helped. Sometimes having some food (a light non fattening snack) does as well. That coats the stomach. As for the other side effects I didn't experience those. As I transferred from lithium to Lamictal I got more of my personality back as well as energy without being manic.

i have decided to stop getting lamictal ( currently on a 200 dosage). I am afraid of withdrawal symptoms but i want to get off it. I was thinking i probably need to follow some sort of plan regarding how often or how much of it i should be getting as a dosage daily. I know i cannot do it over one day. Is there anyone that had stopped taking lamictal after a couple of years and did not suffer any physical symptom? If so how did you go about it? thanks, love, lotuspond.

My titration was slow, reaching to 200mg. All along the way I had bad side effects that did not go away with time. We tapered back down and the side effects are almost gone. We have one more taper, to a dose of 125mg. Our bodies really do react diff to diff drugs. Some more sensitive than others. Sometimes very small doses work for people. I don't know if you felt better and had no side effects on 25mg and everything changed at 50mg.

I never had suicidal ideations from those drugs however, I did get prediabetes from Risperdal and psuede parkinsonism from Geodon. Lithium made me shake badly, depakote made me essentially stop doing anything and lamictal caused me other side effects which I can't remember but the dr pulled me off of it. Neurontin drove me up the wall. Made me so nervous I couldn't function. I am now on tegretol and so far so good.

I'm currently on Lamictal, and I haven't experienced too many negative side effects aside from a general forgetfulness (i.e., I will sometimes get up to retrieve something in another room, but I forget what it is I need to get once I'm there). When I increased my dosage from 50 mg to 100 mg, I also experienced some 'flu-like symptoms', but that dissipated within a week or two.

There are some good meds out there that have fewer cognitive side effects. Lamictal is one of them. Unfortunatly Lamictal also carries the risk of life threatening rash called SJS. Still though, IMO it is one of the better AEDs. The problem with not medicating is that the seizures can become more frequent and eventually they may generalize. If side effects are significant and intolerable from meds, there are other options. My daughter is off meds and doing a modified Keto diet called LGIT.

Lamictal can occasionally cause extra pyramidal side effects and as an adverse side effect tardive dyskinesia. That is where I acquired it from. Go to the medication website (the prescription information part) under "adverse side effects" and print that out for your psychiatrist. They can determine whether its e.p.s. (in which case it can be treated with a side effect pill) or tardive which means it must be changed to another medication.

Lamictal side effects dosage

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