Lamictal hard ***

I was wondering if anyone out there can share their experience coming off this medication after taking it for MANY years.
I didn't have any negative experiences with this med - I've just had multiple psychiatrists (and a therapist) tell me within the last 2 years that I'm not bi polar 2 after all, and that I don't need the med.
Plus I have fibromyalgia, have had for seven years, and in an effort to just be on less medication/put fewer things into my body (let alone "things" I don't need), my doc has be going off lamictal and one other psych med (quetiapine aka Seroquel). I have been off lamictal for just over a week after being on it since it came out in 2010 and had been tapering down from 200 for about 2 months. I am down to 25mg seroquell down from 100. About a year ago I started to take trazodone bc I was having really bad sleep. Now it has replaced quetiapine.
Because I gradually tapered off lamictal and quetiapine at the same time, it's hard if not impossible to tell what's causing what. My symptoms? The most insane fatigue I have ever felt in my life. Barely able to function. Yes, chronic fatigue is a stymtom of fibromyalgia, but this is on another level. I did have some pretty bad separation anxiety when my boyfriend went on a a trip. But other than that, the process has not been dramatic (obviously the fatigue is dramatic, but nothing emotional is happening to me).
Everything I've read online is basically like once the med is out of your system you're done/good. But this medication has been in my system for 14 years. This has to be a huge shock to my system (doctor doesn't agree). Is it fair to assume that I'm not going to feel normal for a while?? 14 years is a long time!!

I am 20F, and a college student. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder the day I turned 18, and have been treated for it since I was 15 (my dad has it and I’ve always shown symptoms). I have been taking my meds for 5 years (lamictal, latuda, prozac). As a bit of a backstory… my first suicide attempt was last November, after my birthday. It was in response to my then abuse boyfriend breaking up with me. I took my entire bottle of Prozac and overdosed (I was told by doctors if I would’ve taken 10 more, I wouldve died).
Ever since, my life has not been the same. I quite literally can not function without my boyfriend, I don’t miss him, I miss the stability I had for two years of my life. EVERYTHING is different now. Every. Single. Thing. Waking up in the morning is my daily reminder that my suicide attempt failed. It’s humiliating.
In the start of 2024 in college I was introduced to cocaine for the first time. It was a social thing, but later became a daily thing. I got laced with fentanyl because I wasn’t careful, and ended up hospitalized. (I was fine within a few hours, just throwing up and rejecting the drugs in my system). My parents obviously found out through hospital bills, and they dragged me out of school immediately, made me come home, and demanded rehab. I somehow begged them out of it, given I don’t think I have an addiction. It was two weeks I was clean, now im back to using everyday. I can live without it, but knowing it makes me feel better, I use it. I’m trying so hard to not purchase any again, and just finish the bag I have.
I am unmedicated (for the absolut first time in my life) and struggling so badly. My parents want rehab, but I am fucking terrified. I’ve always been better at figuring things out by myself. I’m having issues with self esteem and boys. Ever since my ex and I broke up, everything has just been fucked.
I am so incredibly suicidal. To me, cocaine is better than death. That’s a shitty mindset, I know, but to me it’s true. I am in college for english and have dreamt of being an author since I was a toddler. For the first time in my life, I don’t care about my dreams.
Another HUGE issue I am fighting is the feeling that no one will ever love me. Boys are assholes, I just always seem to get entangled with the wrong ones. I don’t deserve to be loved. It’s just all I have ever wanted.
I don’t recognize myself. I am such a good person. I love people so deeply. But I am disgusted with who I have become. I’m stuck between wanting my old self back, and just wanting to end my suffering. I don’t have any plans or anything, but suicide is all I think about.
I don’t know what to do with my life. I feel like it’s over. If anyone relates to even the tiniest part of this, please comment. I’m truly at a loss.

I have a hard time coming to terms with my diagnosis, despite all the evidence to the contrary. If you met me, you would never know I'm bipolar. Nobody does. I'm ambitious and my life is "together."
Last year I (29f) started experiencing rapid mood cycling like never before. I impulsively ended a bad relationship, lost a lot of weight, had classic bipolar rage, hypersexulization, dramatic energy fluctuations, did things that weere out of chatacter, and toward the end I did feel paranoid and heard sounds. Often, i was in a state of sadness.
But at the same time, I kept moving forward in life. I felt like I couldn't trust myself but on the outside, everything was fine and nobody was worried about me.
I would have done anything for the cycling to end. I got diagnosed and put on Lamictal, which wasn't a fit for me. My psych then wanted to try an antipsychotic plus some diabetes medication to prevent the weight gain side effect. It all felt like too much. I'm not up for the trial and error. Since then, I've spent 6 months depressed and off meds. Gained all weight back.
Also, the start of all this cycling can be traced to a time when my schedule changed suddenly. Now I know better.
I've gotten into therapy again and am committed this time because I don't want to live like this. I feel like I'm wasting my life being depressed.
Today my therapist said if I'm going to manage this holistically I need to learn how to offset hypomania when it comes on. Typically I just try to enjoy the ride because it's a relief from the depression and I feel I'm a better version of myself in most cases, last year being a dysphoric exception.
I never really do anything too crazy so it's hard to see the harm in it. She told me all about the damage it can cause overtime, which I've heard about and emphasized that I need to let it go or it will get worse. This is a hard pill to swallow, I don't want to subdue it if I'm lucky enough to feel energetic and sociable and productive.
I dont really have a specific question. I don't know where to start. I guess I'm wondering if anyone can relate to this high functioning spectrum of bipolar and feeling like medication is not the way for you and worried if you'll ever feel good again without mania.

26F, had a period of denial and went off my meds for almost two years. in the time i had a raging 3 month long full blown manic episode that had a lot of social and other repercussions, crashed into depression, started seeking treatment again, had another manic episode because my medication wasn't correct... coming out of it now i'm on week 3 of going up to 200mg of lamictal, taking 2.5mg of zyprexa as well. i think i feel pretty stable... but i just don't feel as sharp as i was a few years ago. i'm constantly losing things or misplacing things, i stop talking in the middle of sentences and forget what i'm saying, i have a really hard time focusing on anything like watching tv.. it's been like this ever since the really bad episode last summer, but i think it got even worse recently. is this just part of the disorder?

that's it. i just feel so insanely bad that people have to deal with me being the way i am despite years and years of trying to control this stupid disorder that's ruined my life
i only have online friends left, had a massive falling out with IRL friends that i don't miss but three years of not having anyone to see besides my parents every day is soul crushing. i'm too disabled to work after sudden onset fibromyalgia back in 2019 and i haven't found anything to help the symptoms, i am currently seeing a doctor i trust but i've literally only been to him once so there just isn't much time to really sit down and try to find the cause. he's also treating the PMDD but we're still very early in that as well. i'm on viibryd and lamictal so i'm medicated but it's too early to see real results with the lamictal. i've been more stable the past 5 days but it's like im feeling all of it at once instead of the slow burn
idk. i have only been talking to the few friends i have left maybe once or twice month for over 2 years now and that's mostly just to say "hey i'm not dead yet" they're wonderful people, i love them so much and they're all very patient and understanding and know that the pmdd is extremely severe and that the safest thing for me to do (for myself and for them) is to isolate so i can try and rest and not potentially blow up on someone during a rage episode.
my most favorite person in the world sent me a dm a few weeks ago that was essentially "you say the word and i am driving ten hours to come see you and we're going to go have fun" and i just lost it. lost my fucking mind because i read that message and all i could think was "but what about my period what if i'm in luteal" and had the worst word vomit of my life trying to express gratitude but also that i just don't know if i will ever be ready for life again. i don't know if i will ever be pleasant to be around ever again. sure, i get my good week if im lucky that cycle but it's all spent trying to recover from 10-14 days of emotional trauma made by own fucking stupid body and trying to prepare myself for The Horrors Yet to Come
i just want to go back in time and never have met these people just to save them the pain of having known someone who ended up being so profoundly mentally ill kind of out of nowhere when i tried micronor back at the end of 2021 and have been violently depressed since. it's not even that i'm upset with them in any way at all, i just feel so guilty for having made friends and now having psychic powers to know everything would go to hell so fast
i know it's illogical, i know i can't keep myself from making a connection ever again in my life because what if a bad thing happens, i know i'm in luteal on top of a late period. i fucking wish that knowing that i'm in luteal made anything better but if anything i think i feel worse knowing it's just a reaction to a hormone my body makes. i'm transgender so it's an extra kick in the teeth that not only did i get a body that doesn't look right but it doesn't work right either- so many things that have traumatized me and made me worse off mentally could have been solved if i had just ended up with a dick and balls instead of the uterus set up
i just want it to end. i am a massive burden to my parents and i know seeing me in this much pain upsets them and there's nothing they can do about it. my only sibling killed himself years ago so i'm the only child they have left. i wish that i could say "well everyone sorry but it sucks too bad and i am ready to die now" and the answer would be "aw we'll miss you but if this is the only way to make the suffering stop we'll send you out with a bang"
i'm tired. i'm trying to distract myself until the bleeding starts but i'm so scared i won't feel better this time and it's so hard to try and stay focused on literally anything through the luteal fog. i know that it's the PMDD talking but my fucking god it makes me feel all the more insane to know this is just going to keep happening to me until we throw a dart in the dark and manage to hit something that might work for a little bit
i feel like an old dog that needs to be let go of but no one else is ready so they're keeping it alive for their sake. it feels so cruel to not let me end it when i'm the one who has to sit through this for the rest of my life that i didn't ask for
this is very long and very dramatic and i am hoping that in like 20 minutes i finally get my period and then i get a little embarrassed about crying really hard on the Internet to a bunch of strangers and then get on with it but god i am so sick of this. i wish they could inflict the emotional turmoil on cis men so someone would find a fucking cure or at least acknowledge that it's real

Demographics: 31M. 5’11” 220lbs
Dx: depression, ADHD, OCD(much worse in childhood, well managed now)
Meds: Prozac 20mg daily, Adderall 5mg BID, Lamictal 50mg daily (titrating up, problems started before this med)
Hi. I’ve had problems with fatigue and depression for quite a while but they have recently gotten worse. I saw my PCP to run some labs, but everything looked more or less alright and no explanation for the way I’m feeling.
I had a sore throat and a swollen lymph node in my neck with debilitating fatigue that put me down for days. I was negative for Covid, flu, strep, and mono (and maybe other viruses on a panel). They gave me augmentin and said follow up with PCP if swelling doesn’t go away.
So I’m about a month post that appointment. My lymph node is still palpably swollen but not very tender anymore. No sore throat. Still very fatigued. I’m scheduling with my PCP.
The fatigue has been something I’ve been treating as depression/ADHD for years now and it feels like I’ve thrown everything and the kitchen sink at it, and still hardly any relief besides some momentary improvement when starting a new med that eventually doesn’t work anymore.
I feel like something is really wrong with me and this is really touching every aspect of my life. Any insight or advice?

I am in a bad spot in my life and I would just watch movies all day and whatnot but I am not depressed. I have anxiety but not depression
I find it very very hard to wake up. It is not like “I don’t want to live I don’t want to wake up” but rather “I am so sleepy I need to sleep more”
Also, I am studying in the day so when I have to wake up I always delay it because I think I am getting less sleep and my work wouldn’t be productive.
I am now sleeping at 2 AM or so. And wake up at whopping 2 PM…
I don’t really remember when this started but for the record I started to take Lexapro recently and I’ve been using Lamictal for almost a year now.
Please help ;-;

I have extreme anxiety, to the point I can't hardly leave the house except to work. I also have depression. The anxiety also causes health anxiety. So my psychiatrist really wants me to try Lamictal. I have had genesight test done a d it's in my green category and my gene test says I'm a low risk of SJS. So right now she had me on 0.25 xanax twice a day for a month to help the anxiety while the Lamictal gets in my system. I am terrified to take Lamictal! I'm worried about tremors or hallucinations or HLH syndrome. Is this medicine really that great for anxiety? I just want my life back!!! Please share success stories and what I can expect. She is actually starting me at 12.5 mg (yes I know it doesn't come that low but we are halting the tablet).

Seriously, not to be negative, but it is so fucking hard every single day to live with BPD. How do you guys manage?
I knew I had it for a while but was a bit unsure. I was just formally diagnosed this week in my outpatient program and put on Lamictal (mood stabilizer if you’re unaware.)
My outpatient program was very helpful but I’ve since discharged. At first my diagnosis was a relief because I had a name to my struggles and didn’t have to wonder anymore. Now as the days have gone by it is hitting me how unfair this all feels. And how exhausting.
I guess what bothers me most is the cause of it; this could have been avoided if I would have had a stable home life. But I did not and now I’m here.
How did you all come to terms with your diagnosis and what are some resources/BPD specific coping skills that work for you?

Hey there. I'm just posting this to vent and share experiences I guess. I've been treated for a variety of mental illnesses since I was young, and was diagnosed Schizoaffective at 16. I have been on antipsychotics since about 10 years old to 21. Once I moved away from my home town and started working at college, my symptoms lifted almost completely in a year. I was off medication until I was 25.
This summer I had a psychotic break and was put on Lamictal and Olanzapine. I almost never have break downs, never cry, never have extremely elevated emotions due to delusions or hallucinations. A lot of the time, I feel nothing. I feel totally detached from the parts of me that can be extremely happy, that can be excited, or that can shed a few tears when I see an emotional movie or show. Even though my emotions were big and at times hard to handle, having no connection to them makes me resent being medicated.
I try to access this side of myself with substance use, which I know is bad. But it feels like the only thing that for sure quiets the noise and self violent images/phrases I see and hear. I don't want to increase/change my medication in fear that I'll be the same tremor ridden, emotionless alien I was from my childhood to my adulthood. I am fortunate that my medication has stopped my self destructive delusions, but I mourn the version of me that can feel human.
Idk. I just needed to say this somewhere, and nobody around me shares my diagnosis or my experience. The idea of being this person forever is so bleak.

Hi there, I hope you are all well! I am currently on Lamictal, Zonisamide (Zonegran) and Briviact. Why I am on this amount of medication currently is I am going off Lamictal in two weeks (tapering) due to it not working for my absent seizures and my doctor wanted me to immediately start Briviact due to absent seizures he warned me I may feel a bit off while being on all these medications for 2 weeks. I started this medication on Monday (25 mg and will eventually increase to 50 mg next Monday) and yesterday I started getting hit hard with dizziness I was walking and just like fell into the couch I didn’t pass out or anything but I am just feeling the same way again today.. I’m assuming this is because it’s officially more in my body now would you guys agree? Thank you all for your support! :)

So I started Lamictal 25mg about 15 days ago, and within a couple days I noticed my mood dropping considerably and some mild suicidal ideation, along with tearfulness. I was doing pretty solid on Latuda beforehand so this shook me up.
I decided to continue along anyway, and it hasn’t really gotten any better. I’m fatigued all the time and my nightmares have come back. I’m due to go up to 50 mg tonight but I’m scared.
I always see everyone praising this med so it’s hard to find anyone who decided it wasn’t for them. Did anyone else experience this, and if so did it get better?

i have a hard time in general with starting new meds. just started lamictal 25 mg at night and am supposed to titrate up to a therapeutic dose. the intention to start the med was to help dissociation and stabilize me during this “crisis” period… however my suicidal thoughts have revved up, i feel so far from everyone in my life and can’t even be present at work. i’m scared i wont feel normal again and right now it’s agony. i guess my question is could the new med be making this worse? it’s my last ditch effort at medication and it hurting my soul knowing this made have just made things worse

Hello, I have been on Lamictal for a little over a year. When I first started it. My body was getting adjusted so it was a little bit hard but after a month, it started working very well. My mood was pretty stabilized and I was doing good about a month ago I have noticed that my moods have gotten so much worse, and the duration of my mood is longer, so i am thinking my Lamictal doesn’t work anymore and I am on the highest dose that I can be. I have tried anti-depressants but of course they didn’t work. . Should I get off Lamictal and get on a different mood stabilizer. After the month of my body getting adjusted to it, I didn’t have much side effects. I am scared to get on another mood stabilizer because I don’t want the weight gain or the other side effects especially weight gain. Any advice?

i just cant keep pushing thru im so over this shit last month and a half been so hard for me i genuinely feel like i cant do this anymore got 2900mg of lamictal and 560mg of vortioxetine ,will this help enough to end my suffering or am just just gonna end up brain dead

Note: I have been taking lithium for 6+ years now and this post is a vent
Called my psych office today to get a refill on one of meds (that wasn’t even my lithium) and had no problem and hung up. They call me 15 minutes later randomly saying that the doctor wants me to stop taking my lithium and taper down WITH NO EXPLANATION. I got upset as this was completely random and the office worker gave me no reason to this and I have to wait 2 1/2 weeks to see this doctor. Which this guy isn’t even my primary psych anymore in that office I see a NP so like it makes no sense. I get my blood work every six months and I got a full metabolic panel at my physical in oct. Saw my therapist today and she’s never in her twenty years of work heard of a psych pulling someone of a medication like this and so unprofessionally. Has anyone had this happen to them???? Like i said, I’ve been on lithium since 2017, almost 7 years, and for me it is a life changing and life saving medication. Tried seroquel and lamictal and then lithium saved my life for real. It’s so scary that a doctor would just do this, especially for a severe condition like this, and be ok with making someone wait like this to see what BS they have to say. This psych sucks so bad which is why I stopped seeing him, but stayed at that office cuz it’s so hard to find one in network. Working on finding a new doctor but I needed to get this off my chest as it has left me so beyond speechless.
UPDATE: the office called me back today and apologized for yesterday 😭😭😭 they said that the doctor wants to talk to me about getting bloodwork more often and talk about the long term effects of taking lithium lol. Couldn’t be a worse time for all of this 🤦‍♀️ at least they apologized. Also for everyone ask my last lithium level was a 0.6 and my GFR in October was a 125

Note: I have been taking lithium for 6+ years now and this post is a vent
Called my psych office today to get a refill on one of meds (that wasn’t even my lithium) and had no problem and hung up. They call me 15 minutes later randomly saying that the doctor wants me to stop taking my lithium and taper down WITH NO EXPLANATION. I got upset as this was completely random and the office worker gave me no reason to this and I have to wait 2 1/2 weeks to see this doctor. Which this guy isn’t even my primary psych anymore in that office I see a NP so like it makes no sense. I get my blood work every six months and I got a full metabolic panel at my physical in oct. Saw my therapist today and she’s never in her twenty years of work heard of a psych pulling someone of a medication like this and so unprofessionally. Has anyone had this happen to them???? Like i said, I’ve been on lithium since 2017, almost 7 years, and for me it is a life changing and life saving medication. Tried seroquel and lamictal and then lithium saved my life for real. It’s so scary that a doctor would just do this, especially for a severe condition like this, and be ok with making someone wait like this to see what BS they have to say. This psych sucks so bad which is why I stopped seeing him, but stayed at that office cuz it’s so hard to find one in network. Working on finding a new doctor but I needed to get this off my chest as it has left me so beyond speechless.

My whole life I’ve literally never opened up to anyone. I struggle so hard to tell my psychiatrist how i feel because my lexapro isnt working for me at all and it feels like its making me worse, im only on lexapro and lamictal but i dont feel like any ssri has worked for me, only med that works is lamictal.

I (27F) started lamictal just under a year ago. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was immediately given the drug. no side effects on 100 mg. Went through a really long depressive episode…we’re talking months. My psychiatrist upped my meds to 150mg and everything went downhill from there..fast. I immediately started having a runny nose and sneezing every morning and night. Called the psych. She said take benadryl bc that’s not a symptom of an allergic reaction???? WHAT. but ok whatever. take the Benadryl damn near every day. then i notice small raised red patches on random parts of my body. cool. no itching…YET. i had no idea the hell i was in for with the itching i developed insomnia because the rashes were so frequent and i also had shortness of breath. One day a rash was starting. Typical bubbly bumps. Ok…this one was particularly annoying bc it was on my breasts (which has happened before) and i knew that when it was on my breasts i was gonna have trouble breathing eventually so i popped a benny. I laid down in bed and my throat started itching. i started to itch my throat with my tongue. then my throat closed. i got up and frantically was trying to take in air. talking was hardly possible. i told my bf to call 911 then started puking and blacking in and out but started breathing again bc luckily i decided to take the benadryl..JUST IN TIME. my entire back was covered in hives. went to hospital they sent me home w a breathing treatment an epi pen and a spacer and inhaler. cool. weeks later a doctor visit and a new allergy med, im still getting rashes that aren’t itchy but raised, and still wheezing/having trouble breathing daily even with the use of the inhaler. nobody has explicitly told me i have sjs but i obviously have sjs. now im just waiting for that one rash to send me to the burn unit. im scared for my life every single day. it feels like im living through an asthma attack every hour. just thought id share as a warning before you decide if this med is right for you. i wish everyone here the best and i hope it works out for you 🫶🏼

Hi all. I’ve been on fluoxetine for two months now and three weeks ago we increased it to 40mg from 20mg. Which feels like it’s been helping except for this last week.
I just got off a session with my psychiatrist and had an abrupt crying burst about my relationship with my boyfriend. She was concerned and said she wanted me to trial a low dose of lamictal on top of the 40mg of fluoxetine I’m on. She said it would help with how I’m feeling right now since I’ve been feeling a lot of intense emotions this past week (I also want to mention I was on my period this last week, so it’s been hard to decipher if that has anything to do with my emotions as well). I’m really scared because I have no idea what this medication is. She said it treats epilepsy but I don’t have epilepsy. She also said it has a calming effect but if I don’t like it, I can just stop taking it. Can anyone give me any advice being on it? Or what you can tell me about the medication? What has your experience been?