I started this blog one year ago today. Since then I've been through a lot: marital problems and the loss of the two cats who'd been keeping me sane all these years. And that's not even getting to the drugs.
Ah yes, the drugs. I'm on a lot of things besides 300 mg of lamictal. I'm also on 5 mg of Abilify, 70 mg of Vyvanse (for ADHD), 1.5 mg of Ativan, and (soon) 5 mg of Adderall (also for ADHD). That's not even getting to my allergy meds. I worry about my liver sometimes.
But this blog isn't really about the other drugs, it's about my experience with Lamictal -- how it's affected my mood, and what side effects I've had to put up with.
Lamictal has definitely stabilized my mood. A year ago, my mood was more positive than not, but still unstable. At 12.5 grams of lamictal, I started to feel better, but I definitely still experienced my 3pm to 7 pm trough. I didn't start to feel stable until I hit 100 mgs. I titrated up to 150 mgs, and did pretty well until the Autumn Equinox.
Since my depression is so sensitive to light, I went up to 200 mgs and broke out the sun lamp. As the days continued to shorten my mood continued to destabilize. After a few weeks at 300 mgs, I needed to start Abilify to smooth things out and to ease my depression.
I've been pretty stable since then, especially considering the deaths of my two cats in the space of two and a half months. The cast have thrown me for a loop. I'm sleeping more, and my motivation is shot to hell, but soon I'll be taking Adderall in an attempt to address that.
And now is the part where we address the side effects.
Lamictal seems to rewire your whole nervous system. Like other brain meds, you might get headaches, dry mouth, dizziness, gut trouble, and sleep disturbances. Unlike other brain meds, it affects your skin, muscles, sense of balance, and sometimes your bladder too.
Personally, I've experienced everything but the headaches (and the dreaded Stevens-Johnson syndrome) at one time or another. Here's the breakdown:
Urinary Problems
I occasionally have trouble peeing, and this has been especially true since starting Abilify.
GI Problems
I've had occasional diarrhea and loose stools, but by far the worst thing was the severe constipation I experienced at 200 mgs. The weird thing about this is that I had no constipation at any other dosage.
Sleep Disturbances
In the beginning, I also had severe sleep disturbances (this is by far the biggest side-effect tag on this blog). The meds gave me delayed sleep phase -- I could sleep a normal eight hours, but only between 3 am and 11 am. Since I had been sleeping much more normal hours, this was incredibly frustrating. This problem went away when I started using my sunlamp in the Fall, and it hasn't returned since I stopped using my sunlamp in the Spring.
Balance Problems
Before I injured my shoulder, I was lifting weights a lot. As I recover from my injury, I'm doing yoga. Both exercises require pretty good balance, and I notice that I sometimes have more trouble with this than I used to. However, it's gotten better the longer I've been on my meds.
Muscle Tension
This is actually a positive side effect. Whereas some folks notice that they're muscles are tight and sore, my muscles have loosened up significantly. I'm much more flexible, and I don't get delayed onset muscle stiffness anywhere near what I used to get. (Delayed onset muscle stiffness is that thing where you get stiff and sore hours to days after exercising). Since I was lifting weights, and plan to return to lifting weights, this is pretty sweet.
Skin Problems
Aside from the Dreaded Rash of Deadly Doom, aka Stevens Johnson Syndrome, lamictal can mess with your skin in all kinds of ways. And indeed, I've had skin issues since Day 2. Anything that happens to my skin seems to be amplified, whether it's heat rash, sunburn, or insect bites. This is another side effect augmented by Abilify (which actually warns you away from direct sunlight).
To give you an example, a month ago I wrote about a sunburn that I had gotten three weeks previously. It was still messing with my skin. It has now been eight weeks since that sunburn, and my skin is still a weird texture, and it only stopped peeling a few weeks to.
The moral of the story is, SUNBLOCK.
The Most Important Thing I Have Learned About Lamictal
One of the posts that makes the consistent top five on this blog is the one about where to find Teva lamotrigine. Why does this matter?
For whatever reason, lamotrigine's bioavailability can vary by something like 20%. Isn't it great that we regulate drugs in this country? Anyway. If you want the same bioavailability as the brand name, you need the Teva generic. I personally had a disastrous experience on the NorthStar version, and I know I'm not the only one. I got the NorthStar version at the Costco Pharmacy. As for Teva, Walgreens always carries it. To be safe, I fill my scrips at Walgreens.
And that pretty much wraps up my first year on lamictal. This blog has gotten 11,538 page views since its inception a year ago. I hope it's helped a few people along the way.
Ah yes, the drugs. I'm on a lot of things besides 300 mg of lamictal. I'm also on 5 mg of Abilify, 70 mg of Vyvanse (for ADHD), 1.5 mg of Ativan, and (soon) 5 mg of Adderall (also for ADHD). That's not even getting to my allergy meds. I worry about my liver sometimes.
But this blog isn't really about the other drugs, it's about my experience with Lamictal -- how it's affected my mood, and what side effects I've had to put up with.
Lamictal has definitely stabilized my mood. A year ago, my mood was more positive than not, but still unstable. At 12.5 grams of lamictal, I started to feel better, but I definitely still experienced my 3pm to 7 pm trough. I didn't start to feel stable until I hit 100 mgs. I titrated up to 150 mgs, and did pretty well until the Autumn Equinox.
Since my depression is so sensitive to light, I went up to 200 mgs and broke out the sun lamp. As the days continued to shorten my mood continued to destabilize. After a few weeks at 300 mgs, I needed to start Abilify to smooth things out and to ease my depression.
I've been pretty stable since then, especially considering the deaths of my two cats in the space of two and a half months. The cast have thrown me for a loop. I'm sleeping more, and my motivation is shot to hell, but soon I'll be taking Adderall in an attempt to address that.
And now is the part where we address the side effects.
Lamictal seems to rewire your whole nervous system. Like other brain meds, you might get headaches, dry mouth, dizziness, gut trouble, and sleep disturbances. Unlike other brain meds, it affects your skin, muscles, sense of balance, and sometimes your bladder too.
Personally, I've experienced everything but the headaches (and the dreaded Stevens-Johnson syndrome) at one time or another. Here's the breakdown:
Urinary Problems
I occasionally have trouble peeing, and this has been especially true since starting Abilify.
GI Problems
I've had occasional diarrhea and loose stools, but by far the worst thing was the severe constipation I experienced at 200 mgs. The weird thing about this is that I had no constipation at any other dosage.
Sleep Disturbances
In the beginning, I also had severe sleep disturbances (this is by far the biggest side-effect tag on this blog). The meds gave me delayed sleep phase -- I could sleep a normal eight hours, but only between 3 am and 11 am. Since I had been sleeping much more normal hours, this was incredibly frustrating. This problem went away when I started using my sunlamp in the Fall, and it hasn't returned since I stopped using my sunlamp in the Spring.
Balance Problems
Before I injured my shoulder, I was lifting weights a lot. As I recover from my injury, I'm doing yoga. Both exercises require pretty good balance, and I notice that I sometimes have more trouble with this than I used to. However, it's gotten better the longer I've been on my meds.
Muscle Tension
This is actually a positive side effect. Whereas some folks notice that they're muscles are tight and sore, my muscles have loosened up significantly. I'm much more flexible, and I don't get delayed onset muscle stiffness anywhere near what I used to get. (Delayed onset muscle stiffness is that thing where you get stiff and sore hours to days after exercising). Since I was lifting weights, and plan to return to lifting weights, this is pretty sweet.
Skin Problems
Aside from the Dreaded Rash of Deadly Doom, aka Stevens Johnson Syndrome, lamictal can mess with your skin in all kinds of ways. And indeed, I've had skin issues since Day 2. Anything that happens to my skin seems to be amplified, whether it's heat rash, sunburn, or insect bites. This is another side effect augmented by Abilify (which actually warns you away from direct sunlight).
To give you an example, a month ago I wrote about a sunburn that I had gotten three weeks previously. It was still messing with my skin. It has now been eight weeks since that sunburn, and my skin is still a weird texture, and it only stopped peeling a few weeks to.
The moral of the story is, SUNBLOCK.
The Most Important Thing I Have Learned About Lamictal
One of the posts that makes the consistent top five on this blog is the one about where to find Teva lamotrigine. Why does this matter?
For whatever reason, lamotrigine's bioavailability can vary by something like 20%. Isn't it great that we regulate drugs in this country? Anyway. If you want the same bioavailability as the brand name, you need the Teva generic. I personally had a disastrous experience on the NorthStar version, and I know I'm not the only one. I got the NorthStar version at the Costco Pharmacy. As for Teva, Walgreens always carries it. To be safe, I fill my scrips at Walgreens.
And that pretty much wraps up my first year on lamictal. This blog has gotten 11,538 page views since its inception a year ago. I hope it's helped a few people along the way.
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