New Meds

[mjett37]

Hi to all in this forum I don't post here too often as Iam totally embarrased that I have a mental disorder but I went to the pdoc and he put me on Lamaticial says that it doesn't cause weight gain like the Lithium did, the Lithuim was what caused me to gain all that weight. Well I will see over as it takes 6 weeks to see some kind of effect. If anyone knows a little more about this med please let me know.

[lbrowne]

Don't be embarrassed. If anything, it shows you're a strong person dealing with this -- whether you feel that way or not! Some people don't admit there's a problem or won't do anything to help themselves.

Maybe this info will be useful? I hope you don't mind the fun title of the site!
http://www.crazymeds.org/lamictal.html
just a few quotes from there....

Interesting Stuff Your Doctor Probably Won't Tell You: This prima donna medication is even picky about your ethnicity. If you're not White, you might get up to a 25% discount in how much Lamictal (lamotrigine) you might need.

Depression - follow the guidelines for bipolar, but you may as well stop at 200mg a day. There's rarely a point in going above that amount. Again, as soon as you stop feeling depressed, hold at whatever dosage you're at. Even if it's just 25mg a day. You can wait to move up when symptoms return. A return of symptoms doesn't mean that the drug has stopped working. Hardly. You're always tweaking the dosage of anticonvulsants. That's the nature of them. You'll be going up and down on the dosage here and there all the time. This is way more complicated than rocket science.
How Long Lamictal Takes to Work: Like all anticonvulsants it works best once you reach the proper dosage, but the proper dosage is especially variable with Lamictal (lamotrigine). Its antidepressant properties will kick in somewhere between 25 and 100mg a day, depending on what other meds you might be taking. Its mood stabilization and anti-epileptic effects will take place between 100 and 400mg a day, again depending on what other medications you're taking. So it all depends on the titration schedule you and your doctor work out to reach those dosages.

Lamictal's Half-Life & Average Time to Clear Out of Your System: Get out a dartboard or some percentile dice, because a random number is going to be just as good as anything. The folks at GSK really tried to pin down a number for Lamictal (lamotrigine), but it so depends on what other medications you're taking, if you take it once a day or twice a day, how much you're taking, how old you are and where a woman is in her monthly cycle. Taking Lamictal (lamotrigine) once a day with no other medications produced a range of half-lives from 14 to 103 hours with an average of 32.8 hours. Taking it twice a day produced a range 12 to 62 hours with an average of 25.4 hours. The aggregate half-life given for Lamictal is 26 hours.

I found this old thread that might be of general interest (in the fact that they're talking low carb):
http://forum.lowcarber.org/archive/index.php/t-44750

And here's the basic info you probably already have, if I got the right one?
http://www.drugs.com/lamictal.html

And here are some more links from Google.

Keep us updated on how this med works for you! Good luck with it.

~ Linda

[Devi]

Definitely look up the real medical information, but from everything that I understand (I'm on Depakote, the anticonvulsant that causes ALOT of weight gain), Lamictol does not have a weight side-effect. I'm sure it might have others though! Best of luck on your new meds. I'm thinking of switching to Lamictol around Yule to try and alleviate my weight gain problem.

[mjett37]

Thank you Ibrowne for the links I checked them out and they are helpful. Devi I used to be on Depokote that is one of the meds that helped with weight gain and also hair loss, well I will see how this one effects me.

[Devi]

Luckily, I haven't run into the hair loss thing. I've always had really thick hair though, so maybe I did lose hair and just had enough that I didn't notice! I checked out that crazymeds.com site and really liked how they presented the information. Makes me kinda leary of switching, however. Other than the weight problem, I haven't had any prob with the Depakote...so maybe I should just stay with it?? We'll see. If I can drop this weight, perhaps I will keep it as my mental-health buddy after all.

[punkin50]

I've been on Lamictal for about 4 years now. I've had no side effects with it. It has caused no weight gain. It is a mood stabilizer. When the pdoc wanted me to take a mood stabilizer I told him I would only take one if it did not make me gain weight. He said this is the only one that is like that. I've had no ill side effects from it. Although there is a potential rare side effect of a rash that can lead to skin sloughing off that can occur only rarely. To avoid this, they start you off at a very low dose and gradually increase the dose every 2 weeks and they don't see it then. It is a very helpful drug with depression. I am an RN and I wouldn't take it if it wasn't safe.

[mjett37]

ok I started the lamatical and the next day my vision became very blurry and I almost fainted, well no matter what I stopped taking it.

[Devi]

My mom had that vision problem...but it was because all 4 meds she were on had the blurred-vision side effect. Way to notice that one, doctors. Sheesh.

Sorry you had that side-effect. Hope they find something that will work for you.