{"id":594,"date":"2015-12-10T17:37:54","date_gmt":"2015-12-11T01:37:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/2009\/01\/21\/reader-comment-medication-side-effects-lamictal\/"},"modified":"2018-05-15T09:56:48","modified_gmt":"2018-05-15T16:56:48","slug":"medication-side-effects-lamictal-lamotrigine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/medication-side-effects-lamictal-lamotrigine\/","title":{"rendered":"Bipolar Disorder Medication Side Effects: Lamictal (lamotrigine)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

I’m reading over my older posts- so much of what I’ve written can still be used today- medications don’t change and our needs don’t change. I was on Lamictal for many years and it helped me get through a serious four\u00a0year depression. My depression is better now and I am off the drug. \u00a0Medications can help us through tough depression times- and when we are better, we can lower doses or go off the medications. \u00a0Unfortunately, it’s not the same with mania. For many people, staying on mania drugs as a prevention tool is essential, but even then, doses can change and different medications can be found that have less side effects. No one and I mean no one really wants to take medications for bipolar disorder, but if you’re like me, medications are sometimes\u00a0the only option. \u00a0Keep an open mind- keep using the management plan I write about in my books and always keep looking for new and better ways to manage this illness. \u00a0If medications are needed, I highly recommend Lamictal. It save my life and helped me move into a depression free world. You can get better! Here is the question!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hi Julie,<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was taking generic Lamictal for 4 weeks during December, but around Christmas the side effects-headache, anxiety-became too much on 50mg.\u00a0 I know you’re not a doctor, but in your experience do these subside over time. I’m a street musician in Portland and just getting turned on to your bi-polar crusade.\u00a0 Your work looks pretty amazing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Regards,<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ted<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hi Ted,<\/p>\n

Well, side effects are so tricky as they depend on the person. For example, I take 500mg of generic Lamictal (also called generic Lamotrigine) and have more side effects when my dose gets too low!<\/p>\n

The normal Lamictal dose is 250mg- but that is just an average. What matters is that it works- the dose depends on the person taking the meds.<\/p>\n

My first question would be just that- did it work? If it did, you may want to wait out the side effects if you can- if they are even moderately tolerable. It\u2019s such a great drug when it works, but the side effects can be tough. I had them for three months until they got better. Mine were severe neck stiffness and breathing problems. Now I get the restless legs and twitching! It is an anti epileptic drug, so it makes sense it would really affect our nervous systems. If the side effects really are impossible to live with, you have some options.<\/p>\n

If you are well enough to function in terms of bipolar- then you can talk to your doctor about going onto a lower dose until you can tolerate the side effects and then very slowing going up in dose.\u00a0 You have to be really careful about going down in dose though as withdrawal can be tough and painful!<\/p>\n

This is definitely something to talk about with your doctor. I would have a list of questions to ask so that you can get the most out of an office visit. I don\u2019t suggest doing this on your own as you need to be closely monitored for mood swings. I went down too quickly once and got super depressed.<\/p>\n

It can take many months for a medication to work and many months for the side effects to lessen. Sometimes, they don\u2019t go away and you have to switch meds. I hope your side effects can get better as Lamictal is such an amazing drug.<\/p>\n

Good luck, maybe I will see you when I walk around in Portland!<\/p>\n

Julie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I’m reading over my older posts- so much of what I’ve written can still be used today- medications don’t change and our needs don’t change. I was on Lamictal for many years and it helped me get through a serious four year depression. My depression is better now and I am off the drug. Medications can help us through tough depression times- and when we are better, we can lower doses or go off the medications. Unfortunately, it’s not the same with mania. For many people, staying on mania drugs as a prevention tool is essential, but even then, doses can change and different medications can be found that have less side effects. No one and I mean no one really wants to take medications for bipolar disorder, but if you’re like me, medications [ Read More ]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11184,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594\/revisions\/11184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}