Lamotrigine (Lamictal) seems to be missing from your list. It is weight-neutral, but of course it, too, has a list of possible side effects. In my case, I really liked it as a mood stabilizer, but over time it caused pronounced hand tremors. The big one to watch out for is the risk of a severe and potentially dangerous rash. If Lamotrigine is ramped up very slowly, that risk is greatly diminished.
Good luck!
Although there are other mood stablizers out there such as Depakote and Lamotrigine. I take lamotrigine. Fairly low side effect profile, fairly weight neutral, although my understanding is it is better for bipolar depression and Lithium is better at controlling manias. I don't know much about Depakote. I don't think it is used as much now.
If you don't see a psychiatrist I'd get a referral to one when you see your GP on Monday.
Only a few interactions between lamotrigine and other drugs have been identified. Lamotrigine increases the plasma level of carbamazepine and its metabolites. Carbamazepine lowers the concentration of lamotrigine in the blood.
Valproate doubles the plasma level of lamotrigine, and the level of valproate is decreased by about 25% in people taking lamotrigine.
Phenobarbital and primidone lower the plasma level of lamotrigine by about 40%.
I think they're confused. If you read the full prescribing information, it's the PILL that screws with the lamotrigine, not the other way around. It's not like a lot of other anticonvulsants. From http://epilepsy.med.nyu.edu/treatment/medications/lamotrigine "Lamotrigine has no effect on other seizure medicines. And unlike some other seizure medicines, it does not reduce the effectiveness of birth control pills.
I am currently taking Wellbutrin XL 300mg, Lamotrigine 25 mg, Zyrtec, Levothyroxine 75mg, and Atenolol 50mg.
I started Lamotrigine (lamictal generic) 2 weeks ago. On day 9, I developed severe diarrhea and cramps. It was slowed down with 1 pill of Immodium, but after 2 days I decided to eat a "regular" meal and got diarrhea again. So it's been on an off for 6 days, and this morning it was worse than it was the first day!
i was just wanting to know if lamotrigine and quetiapine can cause sore throats I've been taking these meds for 4 days and I started getting sick after day 2
My understanding is lithium helps more with the mania than lamotrigine does. Lamotrigine is really good for bipolar depression.
On a side note. It may be very odd to do so but buying your daughter something like a vibrator may keep her out of trouble. She can't control the hypersexuality urges and if she doesn't have an outlet that is safe she'll go to the unsafe ones. It may also be a good idea to take her to a planned parenthood advisor so they can teach her about safe sex.
And the studies do show that the risk to baby in second trimester from medications is a lot lower - being depressed however is associated with pre-term labour, and unproductive labour resulting in c-sections. So there are risks both ways. From my research lamotrigine is one of the better ones. It has been studied more because it is also used in epilepsy.
I am considering getting preggers myself so I have been doing a lot of thinking over the meds/no meds debate.
Since being on lamotrigine I have had broken sleep and weird dreams- anyone else had this? ALso at the moment I'm waking in early hours with tingling/itching in my feet. I have tried alsorts to relive it- the best I have found is to get and ice pack from the freezer and put that on. I hope freezing my feet doesn't do any harm! I think I'm going to gradually come off the lamotrigine cos it hasn't made any difference to my symptoms anyway.
is it safe to take lamotrigine when u have hepatitis c? My psychiatrist just started me on 25 mg..is it safe for my liver..I'm not being treated for my hep c..any info will help..
I take 200 mg of the generic, Lamotrigine but I have taken as much as 400mg. I have never had a problem with mania from it. However, lamotrigine works best in keeping depression away and does little in deterring mania. The mania you have been having may have nothing to do with lamotrigine but because it doesn't do anything for it when it comes on. Other mood stabilizers, like lithium and Depakote work well for mania. I would discuss the option of adding one of them to the lamotrigine.
I´ve been taking 200 mg of lamotrigine for a while -about 3 years. But. My swinging moods along the year have not really changed. My doctor insists in the 200 mg. doses. I´m esceptic. Conclusion: I´m about to drop lamotrigine and start all over again. I´m a natural optimistic. Thanks for answering.
My son is 25 and has seizure disorder. This past Thanksgiving, he had a total of 5 seizures over 24 hours necessitating a hospital visit and stay. They put him on a third seizure medication (Lamotrigine). I spoke with a neurologist at USF who didn't like that a 3rd medication was added before his previous two were maxed out--he was already on Keppra (max dosage) and Depakote (sprinkles--very low dose), so she titrated him up on the Depakote so we could get rid of the Lamotrigine.
I HAVE BEEN ON LAMICTAL( lamotrigine) (FOR YEARS. NEVER MESS AROUND WITH THIS DRUG. IT YOU INCREASE YOUR DOSAGE BY MORE THAN 25MG AT A TIME FOR A WEEK, OR 50MG FOR 2 WEEKS ( AFTER YOU HAVE BEEN ON LAMICTAL FOR SOME TIME AND YOUR DOCTOR FEELS THAT IT IS OK TO INCREASE IT BY 50MG EVERY TWO WEEKS) YOU CAN HAVE SOME TERRIBLE SIDE EFFECTS. YOU CAN GET A RASH THAT YOU BETTER GET TO A HOSPITAL RIGHT AWAY. IT CAN CAUSE DEATH.
Lamotrigine has been successful in controlling rapid cycling and mixed bipolar states in people who have not received adequate relief from lithium, carbamazepine and/or valproate. It also appears that lamotrigine has significantly more antidepressant potency than either carbamazepine or valproate.
Lamotrigine is also useful as part of the treatment of some people with major (unipolar) depression.
Havent been in the sun. Ive been taking lamotrigine for about 2 weeks and I know its associated with some serious rashes. Went to GP when the rash wasnt this bad and she said its probably something viral and possibly the medication, talk to the person who prescribed the lamotrgine. Finally got a hold of prescribing nurse practioner who, over the phone, said to stop taking it and just take benedryl, it will be gone by this weekend. Benedryl is putting me to sleep but not doing anything.
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