faroutwest Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 So many people ask about the anxiety and mood swings getting worse with Lamictal, I just had to put in a general thread. Yes indeed! You can certainly get much worse as you titrate up your dose. With every increase it changed my personality completely from Yay! better on Lamictal! to..I wanna kill everybody!!! Then I'd end up in a crisis unit where they could "keep and eye on me" till I adjusted to the increase ( couple to three weeks, but better every day) Then after I adjusted I would be better than ever. Finally after the titration horror and two stays at the crisis unit I am at 200mgs per day and cruising along better than I have in years! Why not try 250 or 225? I did. At 225 I felt like I was actually vibrating. I was sure I was shaking like a leaf, but would look at my hand and it was still. Very strange. Since I am manic prone, this was an onset of that and that's when we knew 200mgs was my max. So..that's MY Lamictal experience. One more comment, though. Since Lamictal is still pretty new, apparently the pdocs are always amazed about this worse before better syndrome. Funny we have to educate THEM on some of the side effects of these new drugs, huh? What's up with that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OreoKitty Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 I was in such a space, I couldn't tell if it bothered me when I titrated up. But I have someone in my residential program that is titrating up and he is having mood swings and very angry. I wonder if this is part of it. Unfortunately, he's at 200mg now and I don't know if his pdoc will go past the typical 'therapeutic' dose. Just thinking out loud. Oreo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick.post Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 I don't remember ramping up to 100, but 100 was not very effective for me. I wasn't raging but once every few days, but we were shooting for no Hulk moments. 200 brought the depression and reduced my rage to occasional bitching fests, but not directed at someone, behind peoples back bitching. Lithium made it all complete. I can only hope my current stability will keepup. Oh, and hi to this forum, as I've never posted here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nalgas Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 Oh, and hi to this forum, as I've never posted here. Completely and totally off topic, but nick.post as in ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tek Posted November 1, 2007 Share Posted November 1, 2007 ...unless you're me. Guess I'm one of the lucky ones. I had basically NO noticeable side effects during Lamictal titration. No increased anxiety, no bouts of rage or any of the stuff that is freaking people out. And jeez, I'm prone to some of that stuff so it's almost ironic that none of it touched me. Gotta love the mileage variance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tek Posted November 10, 2007 Share Posted November 10, 2007 ...unless you're me. Guess I'm one of the lucky ones. I had basically NO noticeable side effects during Lamictal titration. No increased anxiety, no bouts of rage or any of the stuff that is freaking people out. And jeez, I'm prone to some of that stuff so it's almost ironic that none of it touched me. Gotta love the mileage variance. Aw man, I think I spoke to soon. Is it possible to feel the nasty stuff within the first day or two of upping the dose? I've been on 150 for about a month (after 4 weeks of titrating up), and no significant improvement as far as the depression goes. So, my pdoc bumped me to 200mg; yesterday was my first day at 200mg and coincidentally my mood went to complete irritable shit (when it was more anxious due to work stuff before). Obviously, today was my second day and my mood is even worse. I can't describe it as anything but dysphoric. I feel terrible, hate everything, want everyone to go the fuck away and I want nothing. I don't even want to sleep. Any activity sounds repulsive. But, I'm physically agitated. Complete lack of (okay, defiance) motivation + physical agitation = pure hell. The agitation came out of nowhere in mid-morning. I just remember feeling like I suddenly "woke up". All throughout today, my body has ached with fatigued but my hands are shaking and I can't seem to stop doing shit or just sit down. Unfortunately, my mood ABSOLUTELY SUCKS... I'm somewhere beyond "irritable"...something with a different label, but I don't know what it is. I'm not raging, but I'm just...well, it's bad, whatever it is. If I hadn't just had a med change, I would think I was entering a mixed state like the one I had a few months back. As a side note, I don't think it's the Wellbutrin because that only made me cranky the first day I took it and I've been on it for two weeks with no noticeable side effects (yay). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nalgas Posted November 10, 2007 Share Posted November 10, 2007 Aw man, I think I spoke to soon. Is it possible to feel the nasty stuff within the first day or two of upping the dose? Every single time I raised the amount I was taking, with no exceptions, I pretty quickly got a random new side effect or two for a few days. Most of the time it'd happen the day after raising it, last for three or four days before (mostly) going away, and then it'd get a bit better, but eventually at some point I got high enough that they didn't go away entirely by the time I raised it again, which is what eventually led to having to stop. It's definitely not that unusual for stuff like that to happen when raising the dosage of meds in general, not just Lamictal. The question is whether or not it'll be nice and go away again after you get used to the new level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AirMarshall Posted November 10, 2007 Share Posted November 10, 2007 ...unless you're me. Guess I'm one of the lucky ones. I had basically NO noticeable side effects during Lamictal titration. No increased anxiety, no bouts of rage or any of the stuff that is freaking people out. And jeez, I'm prone to some of that stuff so it's almost ironic that none of it touched me. Gotta love the mileage variance. Aw man, I think I spoke to soon. Is it possible to feel the nasty stuff within the first day or two of upping the dose? I've been on 150 for about a month (after 4 weeks of titrating up), and no significant improvement as far as the depression goes. So, my pdoc bumped me to 200mg; yesterday was my first day at 200mg and coincidentally my mood went to complete irritable shit (when it was more anxious due to work stuff before). Obviously, today was my second day and my mood is even worse. I can't describe it as anything but dysphoric. I feel terrible, hate everything, want everyone to go the fuck away and I want nothing. I don't even want to sleep. Any activity sounds repulsive. But, I'm physically agitated. Complete lack of (okay, defiance) motivation + physical agitation = pure hell. The agitation came out of nowhere in mid-morning. I just remember feeling like I suddenly "woke up". All throughout today, my body has ached with fatigued but my hands are shaking and I can't seem to stop doing shit or just sit down. Unfortunately, my mood ABSOLUTELY SUCKS... I'm somewhere beyond "irritable"...something with a different label, but I don't know what it is. I'm not raging, but I'm just...well, it's bad, whatever it is. If I hadn't just had a med change, I would think I was entering a mixed state like the one I had a few months back. As a side note, I don't think it's the Wellbutrin because that only made me cranky the first day I took it and I've been on it for two weeks with no noticeable side effects (yay). Tek, your experience is similar to mine though a bit worse. So, yes, I notice side effects a within a day or two of upping the dose. They have typically eased off within 6 or 7 days enough to go up to next dosage increase. The good news is that with time (months), I became much less sensitive to dosage increases. You are right the 'irritibilaty" is NOT documented in the PI sheet though many members report it here. Good luck. a.m. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loon-A-TiK Posted November 10, 2007 Share Posted November 10, 2007 very oddly, and i've heard this before, when i started Lamictal coincided with when i suddenly, after doing it my whole life, stopped biting my nails. i wasn't even paying attention to my nails, and one day i noticed that they were long and pretty. i haven't bitten my nails since. i was wondering if it was anxiety decrease due to feeling more stable, or what in the world caused that. it was just too weird that that's when i stopped the nail biting. i'd been trying for years to stop and couldn't. i'm not complaining! my hair also started seemingly growing faster. i have to get it cut every 2 months instead of 3 months now. it grows an inch in that time, so i really need it cut when i go in. i think the cosmetic industry should look at this wonder drug! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nalgas Posted November 10, 2007 Share Posted November 10, 2007 i wasn't even paying attention to my nails, and one day i noticed that they were long and pretty. [...] i'm not complaining! my hair also started seemingly growing faster. i have to get it cut every 2 months instead of 3 months now. it grows an inch in that time, so i really need it cut when i go in. Luna (as opposed to Loon-A...argh, my brain) has noticed and been saying the same thing about it for a while, too. Her hair grows extraordinarily fast (and so do her nails). I had a head start of probably a foot or so, and even though she got four inches cut off at some point, she was still gaining on the length of mine before she got it cut short. I keep joking that if she doesn't like her hair after getting a haircut, she'll only have to wait 20 minutes or so for it to grow back out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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