Lamotrigine experiences anyone? Xx

[MarmadukeM]

Anyone tried/is on lamotrigine?
im coming into week 4 and i actually feel worse! Have a lot of crap going on in my personal life which is obviously having an impact but I am starting to feel shaky and my sleep is getting worse plus mood is terrible (very dark thoughts). I felt better before I started it but I can’t sift the life events from the mental health problem if you know what I mean so I’d like to hear of anyone else’s experiences? Good or bad! Xxx

Sorry you're having a rough time of it at the mo

Thanks xxx

I had to google alexithymia!

Glad you are doing ok. Bipolar depression sucks

It’s certainly hard to find combinations that work without intolerable side effects 😖

Sleep was worse again last night and massive anxiety when I woke up. With bad stomach.I’ve got 5mg diazepam to take when I wake up and it doesn’t touch the sides, has 5hrs Kip I reckon. This sounds awful but I was thinking very dark things this afternoon, to point where I was thinking of effective quick ways of doing myself in including jumping off the local road bridge or infront of a train. Lasted about 4 hours and has gone now but I felt very out of control and it was scary. My son is at home so I stayed in the house so I could hear him and stop myself doing anything impulsive out of guilt. I got weighed and I’ve lost 5kg in the 3 and bit weeks I’ve been on this, I was overweight anyways but still - I feel like utter shite! I feel like stopping it but I’m worried about the psychiatrist being annoyed with me if I dont give it 6 weeks - I can just picture his face and his shitty attitude and then I don’t know what to do. I feel stuck 😖

I'm sorry you went to such a dark place today- you need to ask for help- contact the psychiatrist.

Thanks, it’s so frustrating, it’s like not something you can control is it? And you feel so ashamed for feeling this way. I do need to tell them, it seems to be getting worse. I’ve had SE from other meds before (venlefaxine was particularly bad) so I know I can be susceptible to it. I’m covered in scabs and spots as well as I’m picking away at my face. Grim

It really is all a bit crap isn't it. I started quetiapine 19 years ago, and every since I've been hoping that the pharmaceutical companies would invent something better. This year I finally braved trying to switch off the quetiapine onto lamotrigine, which failed and then I tried lithium and that has failed as well. So I'm pretty much down to aripiprazole or valproate and I don't really fancy either. But equally another 20 years of quetiapine is really not going to do me any good at all, health-wise. And when we change meds, how the hell are we meant to know if things go wrong, is that the meds or the bipolar in general?

I’m not too bothered about the quetiapine, I’ve got high cholesterol and put a lot of weight on from it but I’m not that bothered about that side of things. I think I can’t get by on just that alone tho, it helps me sleep and I don’t get high but it doesn’t stop anxiety or low mood. I met quite a few people on apriprazole when I was hospitalised recently and they seemed to be doing well on it. They weren’t unhappy with side effects or anything and all seemed pretty functional x

Oh, that's useful to know. My CPN has been putting me off that one, saying it causes anxiety. I'll ask her again about it.