Lamotrigine and sedation

[thedyingswan]

I was on 25 mg of lamotrigine for a week. It made me really tired. It did numb somewhat my bad feelings. BUT I got so tried that taking care of daily stuff started to be too much. My self harm has increased because I felt so useless. I skipped yesterday's dose and today I have energy again.. well enough to do necessary things. The sedative effect might go away with time but I just can't wait so long.

Does anybody have experience of this and does it go away?

[torcat]

Hello, I wish it made me feel tired! No seriously, I am on 25mg as well and it's really stopping me sleeping, takes ages to get to sleep and I wake up multiple times. Now I have never been a good sleeper and take amytriptiline at night for that, but I am sure it is being caused by the lamotrigine. I've only been on it since Saturday. I was on it once before and I didn't have this problem, but I was on Zoloft at the same time too, so don't know if that made a difference. When I first went on Zoloft I had horrendous problems sleeping initially and then it went away. So sorry I cannot speak to exactly your symptoms but I do know that when on other drugs the bad effects have gone away after a week or so, so I'd stick with it. Maybe you could take your pills at night and the sleepiness might have gone away by the morning?

[thedyingswan]

Hi torcat. First two days I was pretty restless but then the tiredness hit me. I have now stopped taking lamotrigine. The tiredness was too much. I took it in the evening. Hopefully your sleep gets better.

[JenBehavingBadly]

It takes a while for the initial side effects to wear off, but then it becomes pretty side effect free.

I'm on 250mg a day now after starting on 25mg. It really knocked me for the first couple of weeks, but since then its really stabilised my mood and done me a lot of good.

[thedyingswan]

I am on lithium too. I think it is the combination which makes me so tired. I have been on this combo years ago and I felt tired all the time.

[torcat]

That's shame dyingswan, when I was on Lamotrigine last time, it literally changed my life and I didn't need the antidepressants after a while, just lamotrigine. I hope this nasty bit passes.

[luckywinner]

I'm on lamotrigine for bi polar and take 400mg. Sounds a lot when I write it down like that. I felt a bit away with the fairies when I first started taking it but now I couldn't be without it.