Who is on Lamictal for Major Depressive Disorder?

I was given 25mg 2 times a day for dizziness from my ear Dr. It's supposed to help with my dizziness. Also I have anxiety and read that it helps with that

With all due respect, you may be experiencing dizziness from all the other anti-psychotic medications that you are on. I would advice to have a medication review with your physician and pharmacist, just my opinion

I was using 6.2 mg of seraqual for sleep, but going off of it.

Just started seraqual 6.2 for sleep, but want off of it. Not taking any other type. My dizziness could be caused from microvascular brain inshemnia?

I believe being a diabetic for the past 30 years. My eyes have become affected by diabetes. I believe my dizziness is from diabetes, not ear issue. I have insomnia that has started too. Anti pyschotics are dangerous

I have been taking 100 mg for over 10 years . It helps the Pristiq I take work more effectively. Hasn’t been a problem.

Long story that leads to Lamictal. I’ve dealt with moderate depression my whole life, and was prescribed an antidepressant some years ago. I had been on it for a while when I went through a period of multiple family losses that all occurred within a brief time, prompting me to continue its use. Ultimately, the antidepressant flipped me. This is a rare but statistically measured effect that antidepressants can have on a very small number of individuals (there are studies confirming that what happened to me, which I again want to stress is quite rare, has been documented in a fraction of patients on antidepressants). Essentially, the antidepressant amplified my depression massively, leading to all kinds of behavioral issues for several years and ultimately landing me in the hospital on the brink of suicide.

It took several months even after that to determine that the antidepressant, which they kept me on, was the primary driver in how bad things got. I took myself off of it one day without consulting my doctor. Not a smart move, but in my case the symptoms of severe depression began receding within days, an unexpected outcome even for me. I've detailed this in other posts. As I came out of the fog the antidepressant had put me in, I discovered what happened. I found studies on both PubMed and the British Journal of Medicine that described what I’d experienced pretty much in full detail. However, I decided that even though I was feeling vastly better, the extreme nature of the recent events coupled with my lengthy history of milder depression left me feeling that going med-free at the time might not be the best move. After consulting with my psychiatrist, I went on to Lamictal a few weeks after quitting the antidepressant.

Since you have to slowly introduce it, I didn't get up to full dosage for about six weeks. I've since decided to remain on it given the fact that I had suffered such massive depression. I'm telling you all of this so that you have the context of what, for me, has been a fairly rapid and quite remarkable recovery after being in the darkest place of my life. The trajectory is, I have been quite noticeably better as far as the extreme depression goes since I quit the antidepressant, and I've been doing very well since getting up to speed on the Lamictal. I’ve had no thoughts of suicide (these had become almost daily for the previous three years and eventually turned active last fall and again in February). I've had no extreme rage tantrums, which had become quite routine on an almost weekly basis. Sleep patterns have returned to normal after three years of getting by for weeks on four, maybe five hours a night before collapsing for twelve hours or so when exhaustion finally became too much to overcome. Eating habits are back to normal after losing over thirty pounds and becoming almost malnourished from basically starving myself, not from making any conscious effort at weight loss. The list goes on. Best of all, I’ve experienced genuine happiness, which had become unknown to me.

I do not know how much of this was due to quitting the antidepressant and how much is being assisted by the Lamictal. Even my psychiatrist has come to the conclusion that quitting the antidepressant was a major driver in ending my repeated efforts at self-harm, efforts which included my abrupt, rage-driven decision to quit it (I had expected things to get even worse when I made that move, and was seeking just that outcome when I stopped taking it; it was an attempt at self-harm and getting better had not been my plan). That said, I do feel the Lamictal has been a significant factor as well, and have chosen to remain on it for the foreseeable future. This is in part because the chronic depression I had experienced all my life, a depression that never veered towards self-harm until the antidepressant got me but was nonetheless ever-present, has also gone away. I don’t know where the balance point is in all of this, but I’m not messing with the chemistry right now because it’s working.

Again, very long story, but my conclusion is that the Lamictal has definitely played a role, and my experience tells me it’s worth staying on it and seeing what happens for a while. I’m glad I got on it. I’m still alive.