YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

I had always thought I had depression and had been treated as such. Recently, with the help of a really good therapist and a new psych, I was re-diagnosed as type II bipolar. I'm working my way up to dose on Lamictal, which is my first using meds for bi-polar. Is anyone out there also on Lamictal? I'm wondering what I'm in for, the only side-effect anyone seems to talk about is the rare possible skin rash.

I'm 7 weeks in on Lamictal, and when I was taking only 50 mg a day, it was cool. Then up to 100mg, still cool. Then my doc upped me to one giant 200mg horse pill at night. That didn't work. I found myself wired until 4am. I went back to taking 100mg in the morning and 100mg at night. That helped for a week. Now i'm on 200mg at night and its helping. So no side effects, not even the dreaded skin rash.

Its evened me out a bit. I don't feel like running and screaming away from my family. Nor do I have the constant urge to kill myself. So, yeah, not too bad.

Thanks for the response, I feel a little less worried about it now, hoping it all works well for me.

I've been on Lamictal for over a year now. I too had always been diagnosed as having depression but then it was mentioned that I fell more into the Bipolar 2 category. I always thought that what I now know is a milder form of mania was actually OCD. Anyway, when I began Lamictal it was the first time I took something that wasn't strictly an anti-depressant. I am also on a very low dose of Celexa. Initially with the Lamictal I did find some relief from the mental health issues but found that I was experiencing brain fog or sorts. At first it really bothered me, then I got used to it, and then I forgot it was even one of the side effects (pretty much because I get spacey about a lot of things since taking it). Then someone mentioned that side effect and I went 'oh yeah, right, I didn't always feel like this'. At this point I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I still have issues with depression and mild mania and I'm not sure how much the medication is helping at this point. So I'm headed to my doc this week to re-evaluate. I've also heard people say they had really positive experiences with Lamictal without experiencing the brain fog. I hope it helps you and you experience some relief asap!

I've been on 200mg Lamictal for a couple of months now, and I can tell there has been improvement. The only side effect I can say I've experienced is vivid dreams. I'm not tired when I get up in the morning, and I don't feel wired. I notice the time between cycles of depression has increased, but I still get hypomania. But, depression and sucidal thoughts were the major problem for me.

I just started lamictal last week. It was 25mg last week, 50 mg this week, and increasing it by 25 until I get to 100. Then, I have another appointment with my prescriber. Of course, I was very paranoid about the rash, but I haven't developed one...at least so far. But, I have had a mild sore throat and mild cough for about a week. This is unusual for me because I rarely get physically sick. I seem to luckily have a strong constitution in that respect. But, the sore throat seems so minor that I can't help but wonder if maybe I just developed a little cold at the same time. I guess I'll watch it and talk to the doctor if it gets worse. But, for now, I feel like I can just deal with it.

As far as my mood goes...well, I can't say it's actually getting any better or worse. But, it's early yet.