PatientsLikeMe : Lamotrigine Treatment Report

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What is Lamotrigine?

Lamotrigine is an anticonvulsant that is used alone or in combination with other medications to treat seizures in adults and children who are at least 2 years old. Lamotrigine is also used as maintenance treatment for bipolar I disorder.

Reasons taken & Efficacy

Reasons and Efficacy
Reasons taken	# of patients	# of patients evaluated by
Treat my mood condition(s)	308	74
Bipolar Disorder	242	76
Other	53	13
Depression	51	11
Bipolar, rapid cycling	29	7
Mood swings	26	3
Support another treatment	22	7
Seizures	11	2
Epilepsy	9	3
General health	6	0
Pain	5	1
borderline personality disorder	5	0
Anxiety	4	1
Bi-Polar Disorder	3	0
Bipolar, mixed episodes	3	0
Migraine Headaches	3	1
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)	3	0
Emotional lability	3	0
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD	2	0
disease-related symptoms	2	0
mania	2	0
Insomnia	2	0
Muscle tension	1	0
burning feet	1	0
Seizures (partial complex)	1	0
Bipolar	1	0
Stiffness/Spasticity	1	0
Bipolar, depressive episodes	1	1
Seizures (grand mal/tonic-clonic)	1	0
Seizures (partial/focal)	1	0
Major Depressive Disorder	1	0
Treat Bipolar Disorder	1	0
Leg pain (both)	1	0
tremor	1	0
I have no idea.	1	0
Help with OCD treatment	1	0
all of them i think	1	0
mood management	1	1
anger	1	0
Balance problems	1	1
Migraine prevention	1	1
Slow my ALS progress	1	0
mood stabilizer	1	0
Suicidal thoughts	1	0
Mood Stabilizer	1	1
Muscle Fatigue	1	0
mood stablizer	1	0
treat my mood condition	1	0

See all 48 reasons taken ▼

See all 747 patients currently taking Lamotrigine

Mouse over the table for more information

Side Effects

Side effects as an overall problem

Severe	19	11%
Moderate	26	15%
Mild	60	34%
None	72	41%

Most commonly reported side effects

Headaches	35	20%
Difficulty concentrating	32	18%
Dizziness	28	16%
Sleepiness	27	15%
hand shakes/tremors	18	10%
Insomnia	16	9%
Nausea	15	8%
Nightmares	13	7%
Weight gain	13	7%
Vivid dreams	13	7%
Word fishing	7	4%
Heart Palpitations	4	2%
Forgetting Words	4	2%
Menstrual cramps (dysmenorrhea)	3	2%
Muscle Pain	3	2%
Depression	3	2%
Suicidal thoughts	2	1%
Blurred Vision	2	1%
"the stupids"	2	1%
Rash/skin problems	2	1%
slowed reaction time	2	1%
dry mouth	2	1%
Acne	2	1%
Intense Anger	1	1%
Blurry vision	1	1%
hair falling out	1	1%
feet and legs	1	1%
falling and clumsy,	1	1%
absent minded	1	1%
Memory loss (short term)	1	1%
hair loss	1	1%
rash and itching	1	1%
Loss of coordination/balance	1	1%
short term memory loss	1	1%
Sex drive (libido) decreased	1	1%
swelling of tounge	1	1%
"stupids"	1	1%
word recall	1	1%
Night sweats	1	1%
swelling ankles & feet	1	1%
itchy all over	1	1%
walking problems	1	1%
Nasal congestion	1	1%
Itching (pruritus)	1	1%
Skin dryness, itchiness	1	1%
Flu-like symptoms	1	1%
Swollen glands	1	1%
Memory problems	1	1%
Sedation	1	1%
hostility	1	1%
Double vision (diplopia)	1	1%
Anxiety	1	1%
Clumsiness	1	1%
shortened temper	1	1%
Mouth sores/ulcers	1	1%
see tiny sparkles	1	1%
eye pain	1	1%
Runny nose (rhinorrhea)	1	1%
Jitters	1	1%
Balance problems	1	1%
poor sleep	1	1%
Enlargement of lymph nodes (lymphadenopathy)	1	1%
itchy ears	1	1%
Forgetfulness	1	1%
Dissociation	1	1%
Self injury or harm	1	1%
Emotional numbness	1	1%
Sexual dysfunction	1	1%
SEVERE SWEATING	1	1%
increased anxiety, agitated	1	1%
Rash/feet/face	1	1%
Fogginess	1	1%
despondant and irratable	1	1%
sore throat	1	1%
Difficulty sleeping through night	1	1%
mixing up words	1	1%
calf cramps	1	1%
Nerve pain (neuropathic pain)	1	1%
Aggression	1	1%
Cognitive impairment	1	1%
Hair loss (alopecia)	1	1%
hyperactivity	1	1%
Vestibular/Balance Problems	1	1%
joint pain	1	1%
Allergic reaction	1	1%

Mild
Moderate
Severe

See all 85 reported side effects ▼

Dosages

Top 10 dosages based on patients currently taking Lamotrigine. See all 31 dosages ►

100mg as needed	2 100mg as needed	25mg as needed	daily	monthly	5 mg daily	12.5 mg daily	18.75 mg daily	20 mg daily	25 mg daily	35 mg daily	50 mg daily	75 mg daily	100 mg daily	125 mg daily	150 mg daily	175 mg daily	200 mg daily	225 mg daily	250 mg daily	300 mg daily	333 mg daily	350 mg daily	375 mg daily	400 mg daily	450 mg daily	500 mg daily	600 mg daily	750 mg daily	900 mg daily	60000 mg daily
1	1	1	37	1	1	1	1	3	47	1	45	13	141	8	78	1	193	4	16	79	1	3	1	67	2	5	3	2	1	1

Stop Reasons

Why Patients Stopped Taking Lamotrigine (multiple reasons could be selected)
Reason	# Patients	Percentage of patients
Side effects too severe	46	37%
Did not seem to work	39	32%
Doctor's advice	33	27%
Other	23	19%
Expense	13	11%
Course of treatment ended	9	7%
Personal research	7	6%
Not indicated	2	2%

See all 117 patients who’ve stopped taking Lamotrigine

Duration See details about how long patients take this treatment ▼

Currently Taking Lamotrigine

0-1 month	1-3 months	3-6 months	6 months-1year	1-2 years	2 years or more
7	17	35	116	67	123

Stopped Taking Lamotrigine

0-1 month	1-3 months	3-6 months	6 months-1year	1-2 years	2 years or more
25	20	21	17	13	21

Adherence, Burden & Cost See details from patient evaluations ▼

Adherence

Taking treatment as prescribed

Always	137	77%
Usually	33	19%
Sometimes	4	2%
Never	3	2%

Burden

Difficulty being on treatment

Very	14	8%
Somewhat	18	10%
A little	39	22%
Not at all	106	60%

Cost

Paid out of pocket

$200+	5	3%
$100-199	10	6%
$50-99	6	3%
$25-49	22	12%
< $25	76	43%

See more information, including instructions, precautions, side effects, and interactions.

Patient Evaluations

See all 177 patient evaluations

fragiletruth

Sex: F

Depression: 0

Emotional: 0

Compulsion: 0

Anxiety: 0

Mania: 2

Physical: 0

External Stress: Low

24 F

Function: High

Distress: Low

See profile
fragiletruth

100 mg daily

since Sep 18, 2008
Efficacy Major for Treat my mood condition(s)
Side Effects Mild
Advice/Tips Keep your dosage as low as possible. - 200mg is about where it stops being more helpful for depression. I had very vivid dreams, which had included mild hal... See full evaluation

devinrocksmyworld

Sex: M

22 M

See profile
devinrocksmyworld

100 mg daily

since Sep 27, 2008
Efficacy Moderate for Treat my mood condition(s)
Side Effects Mild
Advice/Tips Don't take more than 100mg for Bipolar a day quickly. The side effects go from mild to moderate. The distorted sparkes went crazy, slight pains like growin... See full evaluation

onsatu

Sex: F

Depression: 1

Emotional: 2

Compulsion: 1

Anxiety: 2

Mania: 1

Physical: 2

External Stress: Severe

30 F

Function: Moderate

Distress: Low

See profile
onsatu

150 mg daily

since Jun 09, 2008
Efficacy Can't tell for Treat my mood condition(s)
Side Effects Moderate
Advice/Tips Just because some people have adverse or unexpected side effects doesn't mean you shouldn't try a new medication. It is also nice to have a support system a... See full evaluation