psi81

Hi all, I had a look at the previous lamictal posts but didn't see any topic about this so apologies if it's been covered recently, but... I am currently taking Lamictal 100mg (for one week) as an augmentor to my Lexapro (40mg) and Wellbutrin (300mg). Ever since I started taking the Lamictal my mood has worsened. I am almost certain that it is a drug effect, not a psychological effect, because I can tell the difference between the two. The way the fall in mood coincided with the Lamictal has made me reasonably sure that the Lamictal is the cause. Depression is listed as a side effect in SOME descriptions of the drug, but not on others, so I suspect it isn't that common. The clincher is that I was on Valproate about a year ago, which has a similar mechanism, and it gave me the same problem. I only took the Valproate for about 10 days because it made me so much worse. So what I am wondering is, first, has anybody else had experience with Lamictal worsening depression? This is probably not a terribly good forum to ask this in because if anybody has they won't be taking it any more and probably won't be following this forum. :) But what I'm wondering most of all is whether it's worth continuing to take the Lamictal in the hope that it may stabilise as my body gets used to it. I know Wellbutrin has this effect often. I stuck it out when the Wellbutrin made me worse because so many people had told me it's a common start. But I really don't want to put up with two months or so of Lamictal if it's going to keep making me worse. Any insight would be very much appreciated...

Hang in there, my friend! I'm two weeks in and in exactly the same boat. I have noticed a couple of times when I've woken up in the night I've been in the middle of a honeymoon-up, but the rest of the day and night is horrible. I've shut down too. Even worse, my job at the moment requires me to be here but I don't have more to do than an hour or two's work a day. And I'm in the middle of the Australian outback in a town of 300 people. I stopped drinking so the pub is out, and I am nowhere near sociable enough to stay in a pub without drinking. So I basically retire to my office and sit online all day. I just can't do anything else, it's hell. At least I'm getting paid, I guess. The plus side is, I'm not quite as bad as I was earlier, and my depression scores have come down from borderline moderate-severe to squarely in the moderate range. It's not great, but at least I seem to be heading in the right direction, albeit it slowly. I'll update again in another two weeks.

This is really interesting. I find it all fascinating too... what I am wondering though, is why the anti-depressant effect works for some people in spite of the potentially depressing mechanism you're talking about - could it be there is another, separate regulation happening that's responsible for the anti-depressant effect? Dopamine is also cited as a major neurotransmitter responsible for anhedonia, low motivation and low libido. Could it be the reason that the SSRI/Wellbutrin combo works better than either drug alone is because the SSRI balances the increased depression, while the Wellbutrin resolves motivation and anhedonia issues? Of course this is all completely speculative and is no indication that it will work for anyone - but then, selecting medication is a fairly random process much of the time anyway. As I posted recently, I'm in the middle of the "feel like crap" phase and wondering just HOW much of mood raise I can expect. The responses to my post said that, for the respondents at least, they felt better after 4 weeks than they did before they started taking it. So there will be a few of us who will be able to provide you with some empirical data over the coming months! Sure, it won't be an n=400 double-blind placebo-controlled trial, but then it won't be influenced by a drug company either so you'll know the results aren't being manipulated. But thank you very much for posting that - you have further convinced me that, if I can put up with the horrible month ahead of me, it's worth sticking with it. I have about eight failed trials of nearly every class over the past five years, the dopaminergics are the last of the major ones, so in my case it's worth a try.

Thanks for your reply. I had a good two or three days as I was building up my dose too - I think it was a temporary placebo effect caused by knowing I was starting a new medication that I had high hopes for. This also made the downturn that much worse! I'm glad to hear you are better off, and you've only been on it four and a half weeks. It will probably be another two months or so until you reach the optimal effect so it sounds good for you! If I can match your results I'll be satisfied. That's the plan - I'll give it two months I guess. Thanks - I hope I can say in two months that it's changed my life too!

Hi all, I just joined! This looks like a really good forum, hopefully I'll be able to help as well as be helped here. I have dysthymia with occasional double depression, and I've just started taking Wellbutrin SR (day 6 today) and most of the side effects I am used to from other meds and they don't disturb me: increased anxiety, bad insomnia, no appetite. All of which appear common for this drug and the insomnia at least I expect will gradually pass. But I've run into another problem - starting on day 2 of my 2x150mg dose, my mood suddenly plunged and I've been on the edge of an MDE since. I can only assume the Wellbutrin is the cause. I've done some research online and found that some anti-depressants CAN (though not commonly) apparently make your depression worse before they make it better. I've known for a long time about the suicide risk of some ADs which is usually ascribed to increased motivation, but NOT to increased depression. What I want to know is, has anybody had any experience with this happening, either with Wellbutrin or another? And if so, did it get better eventually and turn you into a responder, or did the increased depression stick around until you stopped the drug? I have had many ineffective meds before and changing med is not an option at this stage. I don't have a lot of choices left so I need to give this a good trial. I'm just wondering whether I have 8 weeks of borderline MDE ahead of me, or whether it might clear up in a week or two. Obviously, it's not nice! I'll put up with it if it means it works later, but if it's not it's going to be a long 8 weeks. I've never had this happen before, either. I suppose at least I am getting SOME effect from the drug, even if it is in the wrong way. I am hoping (almost against hope) that perhaps this is a good sign - all my previous drugs have just had zero effect. But I doubt it - guess I will soon see. Thank you for reading my post and I wish all of you the best for your battles!