Lamotrigine for Schizoaffective Disorder User Reviews

• Exhau...
• January 9, 2013

Lamictal (lamotrigine) "Nothing noticed during loading, once I got to 150 mg I felt absolutely fantastic, I have tried many other medicines. This one seems to have the least side effects for me and makes me feel like a "normal" functioning human."

• Kat
• October 29, 2019

Lamictal (lamotrigine) "Before I started taking Lamictal for schizoaffective disorder I couldn’t string a thought together and had started hallucinating, often seeing spiders crawling up the walls just out of the corner of my eyes and other nasty things that weren’t there. Been on Lamictal (Lamotragene) for almost five years now after gradually increasing dose to 300 mags. No weight gain, no excessive sleep, or any other side effects I can notice. I have actually had a good weight loss since my last increase to 300mg. Don’t know if the two are related but I had been very overweight. I would recommend working with your doctor to get to the correct dosage and the correct side meds, I take it with Latuda, since it was not as effective for me at lower doses. I have stopped having hallucinations and Have had very few manic episodes since I started Lamictal and really feel for most people it would be a very good choice."

• brick
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• May 6, 2015

Lamictal (lamotrigine) "I was on several psych meds trying to get a good combination. Everything I tried only got me so far. When I introduced lamictal it was amazing! I read someone said it was their miracle drug. That's for me also. The things I don't like about it is that (it doesn't happen so much any more) it makes me off balance. Kind of like I walk like a drunk person. Then the only other thing is that if I miss one dose it takes 2-3 days to get the brain/body shocks to stop. If you miss three days/doses I was told that you have to start taking the drug over again like you've never used it before. Don't miss getting your refills on time. I am definitely a "person" now as well. Without it life is extremely bad. I've been taking it for over 6 years."

• Bipolar...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• February 21, 2016

Lamictal (lamotrigine) "This medicine works great. With no side effects that I can remember. I wish I was still on this medicine. It's wayyy way better than Zyprexa and all those other meds that make you gain weight and make you tired all the time. This medicine makes you feel normal."

• imbunky
• March 8, 2010

Lamictal (lamotrigine) "With Schizoaffective Disorder, as well as the other psychiatric illnesses, years of medication adjustment and readjustment are necessary. Lamictal was recommended for me, at the same time, by both my psychiatrist and neurologist. Lamictal was added to my usual medication regimen. I feel it has been one of my "miracle medications". I've never experienced any side effects from Lamictal."

• Gilmore
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• October 13, 2018

Lamictal (lamotrigine) "I have been taking lomtrigine for a year now. It has made me more depressed than I was before I started this medication. My emotions are totally numb. I don't have any joy in my life. It's like I am a walking zombie just going through the motions. I would not recommend this drug. It has helped some people but it's not worth the side effects for me."

• Drug...
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• April 15, 2017

Lamictal (lamotrigine) "While on and off this medicine since I was about 17, I overlooked this drug's effectiveness only to end up realizing how well this can stabilize me. Although at initially high doses it can create some fuzziness/fog in memory and cognitive disruptions, the feelings of well-being i get outweigh its negative side effects that slowly dissipate over time. I am now 22 and will continue to be taking this until i feel that my condition won't affect my life even if that sounds like a rare occurrence. I highly recommend this medicine for mood disruptions, dysfunctional thinking processes and other similar living disturbances. Keep calm and carry on."

• Lamic...
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• May 6, 2022

Lamictal (lamotrigine) "GOOD EXPERIENCE BUT ONE WARNING. My final dose was 100mg. It worked wonders for my disorder with no side effects that I could notice. High stress used to send me into a spiral of hallucinations and paranoid delusions; now I can recognize when I'm feeling stressed and control it with a healthy lifestyle (self-awareness practices, meditation, non-processed food). However, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU NEVER TAKE IT AT NIGHT. One day I took it before bed because I forgot to do so in the morning. Big mistake. That night I had nightmares so realistic that I had no idea whether I was awake or asleep. I vividly felt the physical and emotional pain of everything that was happening to me. Take in the morning/early in the day but never close to your normal bed time."

• Fer
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• May 15, 2018

Lamictal (lamotrigine) "I've been on Lamotrigine for several months now, started a small dosage of 25mg, gradually increasing until I've gotten to 300mg per night. Each increase has improved my mood, made me content and more active. It has also taken away my depressed behavior of lying in bed watching TV series all day and overeating, as well as my sudden breakouts of irritation. I just hope I don't get the Stevens-Johnson syndrome, I don't know if the risk is less the more you've taken the medication without side-effects. Getting SJS would be extremely unfortunate given that I greatly depend on the medication."

• 3brikk
• Taken for 10 years or more
• May 21, 2017

Lamictal (lamotrigine) "I've been taking lamictal for over 15 years. I have to be on a high dose which does give me side effects. My memory is very bad and my balance is a little off. For as much as the memory thing bothers me I'd rather have that than the alternative which is crazy. I hadn't tried "everything" before I tried lamictal but I tried enough meds to know how they did not work like lamictal did. It didn't happen over night. I had to ramp up very slowly not just because of the physical but to see how my mind was. It took about a year to get to my therapeutic dose and it was worth it. Talk to your Dr about everything it does to you. Work together"

• Jubie
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• October 7, 2019

Lamictal (lamotrigine) "I have been taking lamictal for years now and can say it really does stabilize my mood and helps with the depression side of my illness. I take it with prolixin also known as fluphenazine, these combination of these two drugs have worked the best for me for my schizo affective disorder and believe me I've been on lots. The weight gain hasn't been bad either compared to the geodon which caused me to crave carbs and gain. Drugs do make me sleepy "

• Anonymous
• August 2, 2010

Lamictal (lamotrigine) "This medicine has helped me be more normal. I'm not unstable at all unless I skip my medicines and I'm even in university although it's very hard on me. When I take my Lamictal if I did an all nighter I go straight to bed and miss class so it does make you tired but I wouldn't recommend missing your medication for more than one night. Lamictal really helped me lead a normal life though. It's a great mood stabilizer and helped me have no relapses at all. I'm on Risperdal, Paxil, Lamictal and Geodon right now but trying to get off Paxil and Risperdal completely cause it's made me gain a lot of weight."

• Lano
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• May 1, 2020

"Lamotrigine has worked wonders for my mood. It’s been a difficult road to finding the right medication, but I think this is the one. It took some time to adjust to it, but once it started to work it really worked for me. I have schizoaffective disorder"

• Anonymous
• January 11, 2012

Lamictal (lamotrigine) "Makes me a speed freak, can't sit still constantly moving my hands or my face or something, like a panic attack without anxiety! It seems to have helped with anxiety though, but I still take Xanax for when I just literally cannot stop moving around, grinding my teeth or jerking my neck around. I have severe muscle spasms in the neck. I think it has helped me in some ways but not others, it made my already severe insomnia worse, so now I have sleeping pills (which still don't work sometimes). It has sort of improved my mood some people say I'm less erratic. I am not sure though. I'm giving it a 5 because the neck pain is bad, and the increased paranoia is bad and I don't really think it has helped with disassociation too much. "

• El Loco
• December 25, 2015

"After 7 Years of trying to get my heavy bipolarity under control with 20 different combinations of pills, I am stable now since January 2012. 300mg of Lamotrigine to keep me going during the day and 750mg of seroquel before bedtime to make me sleep. No side effects whatsoever no problems when I forget to take one of the 100mg doses of lamotrigine during the day, except a little fatigue. When I forget my 750mg of seroquel before bedtime, I don't fall asleep, so I get up to take them. When I forget them entirely I have a cold turkey all of the next day. Shivers, diarhhea, fatigue etc. Hope that I'll be stable for the rest of my days :-) Michel 61 years and still going strong, thanks to this wonderful medicine."

• Grapost
• January 12, 2017

"I've suffered from clinical depression and a severe explosive disorder all my life. My doctor prescribed this specificallly for my explosive disorder. Since I was depressed and negative most of the the time, I was easily annoyed and angered. When angered, I became quickly stressed out and would "blow up" and go off "like a rocket" in fit or rage yelling, screaming. pounding and smashing things. The Lamotrigine successfully controls my explosive disorder. It also helped my depression and improved my mood. The doctor started me off at 100 mg a day. However, I had a adverse reaction to that amount. My heart would start racing and I felt wired up and couldn't relax or sleep. So I reduced my dosage to 25 mg a day, and I'm able tolerate that."

• Mom...
• September 16, 2013

"Best medicine for mood stabilizer/antidepressant qualities I've ever had. Struggled for 10 yrs with bipolar, mainly depression (mild shizo-affective disorder). Lead very normal life, much due to my faith in God and my regular meds. Lamictal, Seroquel & citalopram. Good mix for me."

• lossil
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• December 8, 2017

Lamictal (lamotrigine) "I have taken this medication twice for Major Depression/Psychosis and both times I have felt horrible. I never felt hungry, my thinking and processing were extremely slow and I felt that "flat feeling." I began it again maybe a month ago and things have gotten worse. I don't recommend, especially for adolescents."

• Justi...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• July 18, 2018

"My doctor has me on a half tablet of lamotrigine in the morning and half at night (100mg a day) and abilify in the morning. The abilify makes me so tired I can't function and take care of my kid. What other medications can I take with the lamotrigine? I need to be able to stay awake with my kid."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• July 9, 2018

"This is the first drug my psychiatrists convinced me to try after months of talking. I have extreme paranoia concerning medications and I refused to take any antipsychotics so he suggested lamictal because he claimed it was the safest medication. I took it for about two months slowly increasing the dosage to 100mgs. I didn't feel any better or any worse, it was all the same. I suddenly woke up one day with dots all over my arms and I felt like I was dying and my family had to take me to the ER AND I had to be hospitalized for a week. I didn't have Stevens–Johnson syndrome (SJS) but they couldn't figure out what was wrong with me."

• Brendan...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• December 7, 2015

"I was introduced to 100mg of Lamictal originally in combination with 20mg of saphris. At this point I was hallucinating frequently and suicidal but no crying spells. I had to reduce the saphris to 10 mg because of unbearable akathisia. My doctor tried to counter the lowering of my saphris with an increase of Lamictal to 200mg to attempt to keep a hold on my mood disorderliness. My depression continued to be the same but my psychosis increased with the lowered saphris dosage. We then tried 400mg of Lamictal in a last grasp for hope with its usage as a mood stabilizer, but it failed miserably and I was hospitalized after horrible crying spells and hostile psychosis. Lamictal was for me at best a placebo and at worse counter effective."

• S0CRAT
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• April 24, 2016

Lamictal (lamotrigine) "Been taking this for yrs and has helped me so much."

• Jovial
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• July 7, 2019

Lamictal (lamotrigine) "Lamitcal has be effective and working well at controlling suicidal ideation with Bipolar disorder. Take it along with Prozac and Zyprexa."

• Damip...
• February 17, 2018

Lamictal (lamotrigine) "Works"

• Dylan
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• August 28, 2021

"I'm on 300 mg of Lamotrigine and I feel really awesome, I'm not in depressed mood and I've returned my routine"