vectorgirl Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 I've taken Lamictal before and remember feeling this way, but it turned out I had mono. Anyway, I'm titrating up from 25 to 50mg, and I'm absolutely exhuasted all day. When does this go away? I don't remember feeling this way at 25mg a few days ago. Emotionally I feel great but right now I'm taking 50mg Lamictal 300mg Wellbutrin 150 Nuvigil 40 mg Adderall and i still can't get out of bed to do even clean my bedroom, much less my apartment. I'm taking a medical leave from work. I was supposed to start back today but there's no way I can make the hour-long commute this way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissaw72 Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Have you gotten checked physically, like for anemia, thyroid, etc. Sometimes the problems are stemming from something we never would have thought of. And being on the stimulating meds makes me think that it is something more physical than a side effect of the Lamictal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comfortably Numb Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 im on 100mg of lamictal and i have no fatigue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tryp Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 I was very, very tired on Lamictal, to the point of literally falling asleep in the middle of whatever I was doing at random intervals - I literally wondered whether it was possible for a medication to give you narcolepsy-like symptoms, that's how rapid and random it was. The random sleep attacks did wear off after a few months. I am still tired, but that could be due to any combination of Seroquel, depression, my stressful life, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Emperor Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 It made me really tired at first. I definitely had to take it at night. That went away after a while. Mixed with the Abilify (which I find sedating) and the Valium, it made me pretty damn tired. Not as tired as tryp was, but I could definitely drink six cups of coffee with NO effect at all, I was so tired. So yeah, for me it went away. I can't remember when though. Sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimsy Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 I'm on 300mg and I take it before bed because my psychiatrist claims it will help me sleep. Never has, though. Is it an option for you to take it before bed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moody Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 It makes me tired too. I am also on 50mgs. I had to start taking it at night when I was still on 25mgs, because when I took it in the morning I was completely exhausted by 2PM. Switching to nighttime dosing helped a lot. I am still tired but it is manageable now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AirMarshall Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Fatigue? Absolutely. That is a well known side effect for Lamictal, especially while titrating upward. I certainly experienced it. Lamictal has a variable half life, that is different for each individual. A ballpark number is 32 hours. Which means that after a dosage change you won't be close to a steady blood level until the 8th day. Then your body can really start to get used to that dosage. You don't say what your doctor ordered, but it is pretty common to keep upping the dose each week. Which means you tend to never steady out for four or five weeks. grrrr. There is typically no race on dosage changes, especially with the quite debilitating side effects Lamictal can have. The approaches can be: -Drop back to the next lower dosage -Wait for things to stabilize -Use half the previous increase -Do not increase dosage again until side effects have abated. [edit] spelling Lamictal is a great drug when it starts to stabilize that mood roller coaster. But many people find you can't be as cavalier about dosage changes up or down. "Finesse it". a.m. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vectorgirl Posted June 18, 2012 Author Share Posted June 18, 2012 I was very, very tired on Lamictal, to the point of literally falling asleep in the middle of whatever I was doing at random intervals - I literally wondered whether it was possible for a medication to give you narcolepsy-like symptoms, that's how rapid and random it was. The random sleep attacks did wear off after a few months. I am still tired, but that could be due to any combination of Seroquel, depression, my stressful life, etc. This is how I feel. My blood and thyroid have been tested multiple times and they're fine, brain scans come our clear or inconclusive and same with sleep studies.BTW I"ve been taking it at night, but I take Wellbutrin in the morning and oddly Wellbutrin makes me sleepy. Maybe I'll try Wellbutrin at night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VioletB Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 Yes, Lamictal makes me sleepy, and makes it harder to wake up. I had to scale back the Lamictal because it was making me too tired. Defined as, normal non-depressive sleep pattern is 8 hours a night. Early Wellbutrin with 25 of Lamictal (which is almost nothing)= 6 hours. By the time I got to 100 of Lamictal, I was sleeping 9 hours a night. Just scaled back to 75 a couple of days ago with pdoc's permission, and I'm back to 7.5 or 8, but this is new, so we'll have to see what happens next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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