Insomnia on lamictal

I am on 50 mg of lamictal. I have had terrible insomnia ever since being on this drug. Can anyone relate? I will be calling my dr.

[Chuupachuu]

I was on lamictal for a few years. They gave me trazadone (an old antidepressant) to help me sleep during that time. Worked better than ambient or other drugs for sleep.

[Hidden in reply to Chuupachuu]

Thanks. Did the lamictal help you in any way?

[Chuupachuu]

Yes. Though I only saw an improvement after being on 100mg. I ended up at 200mg a day. But started to feel better after working up to 100mg/day. It was a great medicine. Stick with it and give it time to work.

[Hidden in reply to Chuupachuu]

Thanks...may I ask what you were taking it for?

[Chuupachuu in reply to Hidden]

Mostly for depression. Though it can also be used for bipolar. It just works more heavily on the depression than on the mania. But it worked well to stabilize my moods.

[Pineapple1986 in reply to Chuupachuu]

Chuupachuu, May I ask, did your sleep improve over time? Are you still taking Tradozone or is there a plan to wind you off of it? I see that you are taking Lamictal for depression and you don’t have bipolar, right? I have cyclothymia which is prebipolar and am taking Lamicela to get me out of major depressive episode that one of my mood swings brought upon me. I’m on Seroquil for sleep instead of tradazobe. But I’ve tried tradazone before and I liked it. Last question, how long did it take before Lamictal made a difference? 4-6 weeks? Are you planning to stay on it for a while or also to eventually wind off? And would you say you’ve been suffering depression most of your life, or is this just a single episode caused by some changes in life? Sorry for so many questions. I’m new to my diagnosis and medication and am very curious. Thanks in advance!

[Chuupachuu in reply to Pineapple1986]

I suffered from episodes of depression all my life to varying degrees. Lamictal was very helpful. I was on it for many years. I liked that it works well for depression but would still not let mania swing into the mix. I am not on it anymore just due to having to stop all medicine right now to clear out a toxic mold that I was exposed to. But I was able to take it for a long time and had little to no side effects from it. I've tried all types of sleep medicine and/or anti anxiety medication to help with sleep and Trazadone was something that worked great for me. Could take it as needed and it never became ineffective. Ambient and other meds for sleep would only work for a while then stop. There are only 3 medicines I can say were really great. Lamictal and Pristiq great for depression. And Trazadone for sleep. I never experienced any change in their effectiveness over time which is very important. Everyone is different in what works for them. They were just tremendously helpful with little to no side effects.

[Pineapple1986 in reply to Chuupachuu]

Thank you so much for your answers! I’ve been on Lamictal only for the past 3 weeks. And I’m only on 50 mg. Already am making progress with depression, but anxiety is still there and my doc does not want to put me on anti anxiety meds. He wants to see how far of a progress I can make on Lamictal alone. My psychologist today felt like o was hyper manic as my depression starts to lift and insists I ask for a higher dose of Lamictal. I honestly don’t know. I think three weeks is a bit too early to make such observations, but I’ll let the specialist decide. Seeing him this upcoming week for our first check in after the start of meds. Sleep is a larger issue. I’ve never had issues with sleep. This is the first time I’ve been having issues due to a depression. So I’m trying to desperately find an answer if most people had their sleep come back naturally after depression has lifted. I really am not planing on staying is Seroquil past maybe another month. Due to it being quite a heavy drug with major side effects after a prolonged use. And I’m also hoping that I can regain my healthy and normal sleep back without benzos or any crazy sleeping aid. I’ve been seeing slight improvement. But having issues with sleep that I’ve never had before is adding to this depression big times and becomes the main cause of severe anxiety. I’m starting to get PTSD from thinking about night time... ugh... how I wish I could hear more happy ending stories about people getting their sleep back after recovering from depression... anyway. Sorry for my rant! I am so glad you found what works for you! Wishing you lots of health and happiness! We all are on this journey. I’m hoping and wishing everyone to feel happy and healthy!

[Chuupachuu in reply to Pineapple1986]

No problem. I saw the best results when I stabilized on 200ng Lamictal. I got the antidepressant effect perfect around 100mg, but then going from 100 to 200mg I saw amych bigger improvement with anxiety. I've been on a ton of different anti anxiety meds. And honestly, you are much better off getting that effect from the antidepressant or mood stabilizer you are on. Anti anxiety meds are okay to have for an occasional issue. But when they wear off you end up feeling worse. I found that both Lamictal (200mg) and Pristiq

(100) were both good for helping with anxiety long term. What I did was stay on the Lamictal and the higher dose helped with anxiety. Then once every other month or every three months my psychiatrist wrote a prescription for just a few antianxiety meds. Like 5 pills of Xanax or (worked best for me) Ativan or Klonopin. That way if something severe hits , you have so something on hand, but I would agree with your doc. Antianxiety meds really are not the way to go. You can start to rely on them and y body for used to them too quick and they became ineffective. Your doctor may be open to something like that. But if I have to take an emergency antianxiety I plan on just falling asleep and being useless the rest of the day. I only use them in an emergency where staying awake with an anxiety attack could hurt me and my heart. So I might take one 2 or 3 times a year and that is it. Give Lamictal a good chance. You might need to increase the dose a bit until you find the right dosage.

[Pineapple1986 in reply to Chuupachuu]

Sounds good! Thank you so much. I have a general anxiety disorder. So I do not usually get bad anxiety by itself, like panic attacks or just lousy anxiety. I only have those if I have a major depressive episode, which happens every few years. The rest of the time, I am just always moderately anxious, but it never affected my sleep as this last depression did. So I do hope that Lamictal will help me to even my mood across the board. With Hypermania, depressive episodes, and underlying anxiety. I was on Klonopin 2 times in the past. My previous doctor thought I had had regular major depression and not cyclothymia, so I was put on Koloni and Zoloft. Both have lifted depression but did nothing for hypomania if not make it worse. Thank God, back then, I did not read more about what Kolonopin can do to you. So I went on it, stayed on it for a few months and came off. Now that I know how habit-forming it is, I am afraid of it even though I miss it so much because it works so well and so fast. Thank you for all your info and support. I assume we will try another 50 mg for the time being, and if symptoms would not improve tremendously, I will go up to a 100. Now I just need to work on my sleep as naturally as I possibly can. I pray God it comes back as depression subsides. I am wishing you good health and to get done with whatever you are dealing with mold ASAP!