Lamictal Activating?

[VioletB]

I will change my signature in a minute, but if you see this before, here's the story.

Diag'd cyclothymic, started on 150 Wellbutrin and 25 of Lamictal 2.5 weeks ago. For four days I have been up to 50 of Lamictal and today I feel like I might crawl out of my skin. I feel like on the outside I look fine (though I work from home, so who knows), but all that awesome concentration I had and a sense of generalized calm is shot to hell today. I don't feel manic exactly, just extremely caffeinated. I also recently started back on caffeine, but I had caffeine at 9 this morning, it's 6 PM, and I'm still feeling agitated inside.

Thoughts? Is it the Wellbutrin, the Lamictal? Do I stick it out past one day of agitation, see how I do for a couple of days? Does it leve lout? Do I go back to 25? I cannot "just call" the psychiatrist, but I might be able to make an appointment with her for tomorrow or Wed, depending on her schedule. I hesitate to do this to be seen as hysterical. But I can't keep feeling like I feel right now, and god only knows how I'll be able to sleep tonight. The good news is that I have a 1.5 hour bike ride this evening, so maybe that might tire me out a little.

Other things I noticed, was sleeping more since the new dosage, sleepy early at night (like 10 or 11), which is new for me. My pulse is elevated, but not crazily so.

Thanks!

[Guest Vapourware]

Personally I found lamictal to be quite activating. I had more energy once I started lamictal and I felt like I could do more during the day. I'm currently on 50mg of lamictal, and it took a few weeks for the feeling of activation to subside for me.

[Antigone]

Lamictal was activating for me in a good, happy way, but Wellbutrin made me EXTREMELY caffeinated in the beginning. That feeling did abate after a short period. I would NOT drink coffee with it. I did successfully take Wellbutrin for 12 years and it worked very well for me until my psychotic mania.

[notfred]

Both are activating for many. The Welly accounts for the increased pulse. That never went away for me, I am at 100 BPM resting. It is a non-issue.

You have to be willing to endure some startup side effects with psycomeds, most often they tend to wane with a few weeks. A few days in not enough time to see if a side effect will go away. For instance Lamictal gave me migraines, which I have never had, while I titrated up but with time proved to have no side effects at all once I was at a stable dose.

[mmasters]

I just started lamictal too, I had to stop drinking coffee and watch the nicotine too because of soreness in my heart, I've been checked out recently and know everything is fine. Hopefully the side effects will subside in a few days, I'm going up to 50mg in 3 days though. I am getting amazing results at 25mg though, it's a big breakthrough for me.

[VioletB]

thanks for the info, all. I just went back to coffee (full octane, etc) about ten days ago, and everything was fine, I didn't even feel as caffeinated as I used to. But I'm thinking that may have had something to do with it.

When I say my pulse is elevated, it was 67. I should be around 60 or lower.

I will say something else, that might have been the problem, is that I used to be an anxious eater. When I was anxious, I would eat. Thus the fact that I am overweight. It's not from not exercising, believe me! Anyway, since I've been on my combo (wellbutrin 150, lamictal 25), I feel hunger in a completely different way. Like I can feel it, but not panic about it, and I feel sated much faster. I think I might just have not eaten enough food, and that's why I was freaking out. I felt fine in the morning (After breakfast), and then awful around 2 PM, ate lunch and felt better, and around 5 started feeling bad again. I think my lunch was too light. If this is the problem, I will just add more food in. I have to find the new normal, you know?

or maybe it is just the startup blues. I feel fine now, after two bike rides (commute), 45 min and 35 min. I also just ate dinner (and yes, it is 10 PM, but I have class until late).

Anyway, maybe it's much panic over nothing. I will keep on the Lamictal 50, I was thinking of going back to 25, but I'll take your advice and try it out.

Mmasters, sounds like we're at about the same stage on the Lamictal. I have no idea if it's the wellbutrin or Lamictal, but with the exception of today's freakout, I feel better than I have in probably years. I smelled grass after the rain and smiled. Smiled, I tell you. It's wild.

[wj74]

In my case I had a lot of flushing and heart rate increase when I started Wellbutrin. I couldn't drink coffee for a little while but that faded and I started up again.

[VioletB]

wj74, I really hope I can drink coffee again, because I'm going to Colombia in a couple of months, and I would hate not to be able to drink coffee while I'm there! And I'm still sussing out the alcohol thing, am kind of afraid to drink much, and so instead I drink none. I don't particularly crave it, but I'm not a teetotaler, and everyone drinks wine near me. It looks awkward when I don't pick up a glass, myself. Any suggestions? From what I can tell, drinking one drink shouldn't be a problem.

[mmasters]

Mmasters, sounds like we're at about the same stage on the Lamictal. I have no idea if it's the wellbutrin or Lamictal, but with the exception of today's freakout, I feel better than I have in probably years. I smelled grass after the rain and smiled. Smiled, I tell you. It's wild.

I've had some difficulty with both but the activating side effects from wellbutrin were too much for me and I had to stop.

[VioletB]

Yeah, I don't know why I blame the lamictal, it could just as easily be the wellbutrin, but since I have felt great for 2 weeks, and have been on very low dose of Lamictal, I assumed that that step up was what was making me loopy. This morning I scaled back the caffeine, and will see how jumpy I get in the next few hours. I just took the meds about 20 minutes ago. I just want the pdoc to have gotten this right on the first try, which is totally unrealistic, but optimistic at the same time. Hope you continue to see great results with the Lamictal! I'll post back with my experiences when I have something else to report.

[stormyseas]

Hi VioletB,

Just letting you know my recent experience with lamictal is very similar to your situation- I started on 25mg for two weeks and felt my mood lift a bit. Then when I went up to 50mg I found it really activating. In the few days after going onto 50mg I was really jumpy, and my body felt really geared up, it felt like my heart was pumping harder in my chest and I had a sense of excitement/bordering on anxiety. It was the first time in 2 years that I started to feel not depressed, my mood lifted back to normal and I started feeling happy again which is awesome! I had to breath through and use relaxation to get through the initial "buzzy' agitated feelings but they settled out after about 1.5 weeks and then I just started to feel normal. After discussing with my psychiatrist I have opted to stay on the 50mg for now and I am very happy to say that i have been stable and happy/ normal now since the change 8 weeks ago!

It also sounds like wellbutrin can have similar effects but i have never been on it.

Hope all goes well with you in finding a sweet spot with your meds!

[SheilaNZachary]

Lamictal was wonderful at treating my depression but it gave me a terrible rash that itched so badly I couldn't sleep at night. The rash was just little bumps under the skin and I really did feel as if my skin was crawling.