About The Lamictal Diaries

This blog is a diary of my experiences using Lamictal (lamotrigine in the generic) to treat my refractory or "treatment resistant" major depressive disorder with psychotic features.  Lamictal is an anticonvulsant/mood stabilizer that has been shown to be very effective in treating bipolar depression.  Some pdocs believe it's a better antidepressant than SSRI's, and should be used as a first-line treatment in unipolar depression.

The catch?  Side effects include a deadly skin rash.  The other catch?  Not all skin rashes are the deadly one.

There are other side effects to Lamictal as well.  Hair loss.  Nausea.  Insomnia.  Hypomania.  Dry skin.  Horrible acne.  Worsening depression.  Possible suicide attempts.

Yeah, my depression is pretty bad for me to be risking this crap.

I'm keeping this diary to track my mood on Lamictal, as well as to keep track of any side effects I might experience.  I'm keeping it in blog form in case it's of value to someone else out there on Teh Interwebz.  Wish me luck.