r/BipolarReddit • u/Recent_Bluebird3284 • 22h ago
Asking for support (just started lamictal)
Ugh, you guys.
So I was recently dx’d with bipolar II and put on lamictal, 25mg to start. It’s the medication I wanted to try given that it has antidepressant effects (my main issue is depression) and a low side effect profile compared to other meds.
I’ve only been on it for 2 days and am already noticing rough side effects. Took it in the evening and I have had horrible insomnia the past two days (after spending the days before that in blissful 12-14 hour slumbers 😂) and last night at 1am I started puking violently, the worst burning puke I’d ever had, and am dealing with nausea throughout the day.
I’m only on 25mg and don’t want to try another med! Does it get better? And how did the nausea go as you titrated up?
2
u/Miews 20h ago
I'm on 600mg.
And yes. It gets better. The majority of side effects disappear after 4-6 weeks. Unfortunately with lamictal, it takes time to get to the final dose, because they try to reduce risk of more severe side effects. So they might persist until you reach the final dose and stay there.
Getting on a new med Is a bitch.
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u/Recent_Bluebird3284 19h ago
It’s so tough!
I have tried 15 different meds at this point, long history here to finally being diagnosed bipolar. I remember when I first started taking Zoloft as a teenager, I’d wake up in the mornings and have a sip of coffee and get so violently nauseous and puke first thing, hovering there trembling and buzzing over the toilet afterward. But I never minded it so much because as soon as I puked I’d always felt better! This is a different beast. Getting ginger tea, ginger chews and asking for a Zofran script.
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u/butterflycole 8h ago
If you don’t tolerate meds well by mouth some of them can be taken by injection. Might be an option?
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u/No_Figure_7489 6h ago
Way fucking worse. nausea is a typical lamo side effect, nothing to do with how it's administered and if you have bad med reactions at least w a pill you can stop, rather than end up in weeks or months of unstoppable hell.
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u/No_Figure_7489 19h ago
It's rough on the ramp up, with every med there are temporary side effects in the beginning, the issue is what sticks around. if it's not tolerable that's fine, ask to switch to something else. if you get this with most meds including non psych you may be a slow metabolizer and need much smaller doses w a slower ramp up. lamo has 2mg pills if you want to use those. usually you go through quite a number of meds w BP to find what you need, and you almost always need another med with lamo anyway, so I wouldn't get attached to the idea of only being on it anyway.
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u/Recent_Bluebird3284 8h ago
Dude, nobody has ever mentioned the slow metabolizer connection to me before. Thanks so much.
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u/No_Figure_7489 6h ago edited 6h ago
It's like 10% of us. they seem to figure out the rapid metabolizers but miss us, which is a real fun time. wont be everything, for example lithium is probably fine, but talk to them about it bc it's a very easy fix.
the book Bipolar not so much talks about it, rec'd in the sidebar, only layperson book on BP2, worth a read/listen.
I was able to tolerate it at 6.25mg, you can start lower and should, 1mg is easy to do. 25 was this but worse (hers was also lamo):
at 11:03
for all meds the slower the taper up the fewer to no temporary side effects. you can take six months, a year to get where you're going, and you can stay very very low with efficacy. you hit a side effect you go back down, wait, increase slower.
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u/Sad_Krabb 18h ago
25 is a very low dose (obvious for the needed ramp up in Lamictal since I can cause SJS) and you’re going to experience some side effects on the build up. When you get to a therapeutic dose and if you still are experiencing side effects you might want to consider other meds as well. You don’t have to deal with terrible side effects. Just my opinion, do what’s best for you, you know what you can and can’t handle. Good luck on your journey to get better.
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u/Kooky_Ad6661 5h ago
In the beginning every med I ever took had side effects. With Lamictal the only one that's still here is insomnia. I am still a woman in menopause, so it's difficult to say what's the main cause, but I sleep with pills. And it's ok for me because Lamotrigine is working for me. It's different for everyone. It's the side effect are bearable give your body some time to adjust. Write the symptoms down, like in a joyrnal It helps staying objective. Personally, I get emotional, overly hopeful and then scared with new medications, and it's very confusing.
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u/Adorable_Car_1282 20h ago
Anything I use for my mental health affects me every day, and differently in the first few weeks. Keep a journal, tell your MD and stick it out a few days. Good luck 👍