Last updated on 5 June 2024 (4 weeks ago) by ALDennis
I'm a 28 year old female struggling with severe depression. I am not epileptic or bipolar. My psychiatrist prescribed me lamotrigine since it had the least amount of side effects and I didn't have much luck without SSRIs in the past. I am currently on week 2 of taking 50 mg - the goal is to reach 100 mg (doubling the dosage every two weeks). In total I've been on it almost a month. I still have daily headaches, fatigue, and constant suicidal thoughts. The symptom that concerns me the most is how it seems to have impaired my cognitive reaction. I feel a lot "dumber" and slower and clumsy. I work with power tools and cannot afford to be this "out of it." I've read that symptoms go away with time but I am very reluctant to increase my dosage for fear of this getting worse, and especially since I have not seen any improvement with my depression - in fact it has gotten more severe.
I am really concerned with it making me so much "slower" I'm every way and even more reclusive - it has been quite frustrating. Has anyone else experienced this? Does it get better or should I start tapering off? My psychiatrist has not been helpful at all. Any information is appreciated.
I've titrated up on lamotrigine twice. I go up on it at half the recommended rate or even more slowly than that as I just did increasing the dose from 150 mg to 200. That gives your body a chance to adjust to it, especially if you are sensitive to medications.
The only cognitive issues I notice are a bit of trouble with word finding, but find if I just relax the word comes to me. The other thing I've noticed occasionally is that if I'm looking for something, example in the kitchen, I sometimes don't see it, though it's sitting where I can see it. To adjust, I just search more carefully, instead of just glancing when trying to find something.
Hope you're doing better. I was feeling suicidal when starting lamotrigine. It helped me greatly. However, I do take other meds with it for depression - the lowest dose of lithium (150 mg) and 150 mg of extended release bupropion. At low doses lithium treats depression and is also very good for treating suicidal thoughts, in my experience. I stated away from SSRIs because they can cause sexual dysfunction.
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JI
jimmy2822
27 Aug 2017
My wife was bumped up to 350 m per day and conversation became difficult. It was like we were speaking different languages. It frustrated her as much as me. She is now tapering off with the doctors help. She wants off completely.
Votes: +0
JA
janiebme
15 March 2017
Hi Maggiedog- You really need to find something that may work faster then Lamictal. It takes time, months sometimes to reach a therapeutic dose. You seems to be struggling now. It also can 'dumb' you down until it reaches a theraputic dose. Since you work with power tools I do not think this would be a good match for you. It is also usually given with an antidepressant to help the depression from reoccurring. Have you tried a SNRI or Tricyclic? Try not to let your depression get worst. Hope you find something that works for you soon.