Aspergers / Bipolar mix anyone taking Lamotrigine!! !

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Is anyone taking Lamotrigine as not a fan of medication, but as I get older harder for me to cope at times and I am quite hopeful that this may help me, mainly I guess for bipolar I have type 1 but also Aspergers, ADHD... a complex neurological individual and av eno problem with my differences....I have tried some medication in the past, but not for long just made me tried and quite like my over active mind, but hoping this will help stabilize my moods at least a little, any advice would be appreciated.

I have both and am on Lamictal. I've been on lamictal for five years. You're right that the bipolar illness tends to worsen as we get older. Lamictal has helped. In my case, I've had to add tegretol too to supplement the lamictal. I just started it about three weeks ago. Lamictal worked well as a "stand-alone" for the first 4 years though. No side effects for me.

I do not have bipolar disorder, but my AS makes me have very intense mood swings. My doctors thought I was bipolar at one point, and my psychiatrist put me on Lamictal in the fall of 2005. I've been on it ever since. It really helps me. My mood swings are AS-related, though. They always occur because of a sensory issue, special interest, unpredictability, or lack of sameness/sudden change. I like the medication. It doesn't have a lot of side effects for me. It does make me incredibly tired, so I recently have started Concerta to keep me awake, but the Lamictal has "mellowed" me out so much that I feel tiredness is a small price to pay for stability.

One note, though- Lamictal works very well for bipolar depression. It's often used as an add-on to another mood stabilizer. So, if you find that it does not prevent your manic phases, definitely talk to your psychiatrist. It mignt not be that the Lamictal doesn't work at all for you, but rather that you need two medications: Lamictal for depression and another mood stabilizer for mania.
-OddDuckNash99-

Thanks for the replies makes me hopeful for a change

I have never felt depressed more like I simply do not fit, I am simply different and use to always feel like I was looking at the world from behind a glass screen. Now of course I realize its because I am so neurologically complex having a combination of differences, while I need to help stabilize my moods to help keep me more in-tuned with everyone else, to be honest happy to be more in-tuned with the world and like my world within this world most of the time, when allowed, but society often gets in the way of me being me.

They keep trying to cram me into boxes I do not quite fit into, let it be their problem the professionals trying to figure... society often my disabler. I often feel forced to fit into situations that simply do not work for me, apart form bipolar, Aspergers means sensory wise the world often too much and ADHD means often I am much faster than many, I have extremely fast processing skills along with dyslexia I tend to visualize the bigger picture, so often many things seem irrelevant or bore me. Add on dyspraxia and often like an awkward elephant when around what doesn't work for me, society often when not on my terms, like minded individual often brilliant intriguing intelligent and a lot less judgemental, maybe I am an .

One of the few anticonvulsants I have never taken. But that's mostly because I'm epileptic. I was misdiagnosed as bipolar though because it runs in my family, and some other things including med reactions were mistaken for mania.

Well that's strange because its used for epilepsy first, but they have found works with other neurological differences and as I have quite a few I am quite hopeful for a change, I know used for bipolar and as a mood stabilizer may help with aspergers (but please do not quote me on this, no expert that's why I am asking) but hopefully may help with all of my neurological differences and still allow me my differences without feeling like a zombie or side effects... will update once taken for longer, but would love to hear others on, so far sounding could be ok.

I don't know if I'm bipolar or not, but I know I didn't have horrible rages while taking lamictal (I think the rages might have been because I replaced it with Keppra, known to cause KeppRAGE). However, lamictal started a permanent twitch that was worse when I was taking it and has never gone away. I don't know if it's tourettism or some kind of dyskenesia, but I never had it before taking lamictal and there's no one I know of who I can sue for it since it's not listed as a side effect.

Go slowly (verrrry slowly) on getting the dose to the "right" level. Don't be afraid to really take your time with it.

About 4 years ago I was diagnosed with bi-polar. I took Lamictal with an anti-depressant for a while until I got so overwhelmed I was not working full time and I eventually could not buy meds or even go to work any more.

I was on extremely high doses of Effexor and Lamictal, and it wasn't enough, but that may be because I was not actually bipolar. I had success with the meds for a while, but in the end I crashed and burned. I think I just needed to stop working with the general public full time. I had a lot of responsibility for others, and that can be too hard for some people. The only way I could cope was by taking medicines.
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My lifestyle is completely different now- I work from home and communicate via Internet mostly. This takes away that pressure I felt before. I know that is not an option for everyone, so maybe Lamictal for mood swings is a good alternative

heh, I haven't been here in a while...

I'm schizoaffective bipolar and take Lamictal. It works pretty well, but I still cycle through moods sometimes and my moods were really strong. Once, they increased my dose and I felt no emotions for three days, then they came back.

I have been on it for 5 years and it has done wonders for me. I had been wrongly dx'd with depression for 3 years prior to that. I had started seeing a therapist at the autism society and she brought up the fact that many people with ASD are wrongly dx'd with depression instead of bi-polar since we don't show the classic signs of mania. My signs that were hard to see was that I'd snap for no reason and I would feel so much anger inside that I would be shaking and my heart was pounding. The SSRI's I had been taking made the mania worse to the point I did something that got me into trouble with the law. At that point too the depression became worse and worse to the point I attempted to kill myself. Due to one serious side effect the Lamictal/Lamotrigine will need to be ramped up over a period of time. Don't expect it to do wonders for your mood straight away, it was take several weeks as you ramp up the dosage. On last thing, the shrink I see for medication mgnt has stated that for her patients with ASD that this drug has worked the best of any she has seen and she specializes in people with ASD. Hope this helps.

I've had hypomanic symptoms, most lately the recent week, after stopping (once again) taking Klonopin (Ativan before that).

Other than that I take Citalopram and Methylphenidate - so they alleviate hypomanic symptoms, and now I have rebound effects. I'm trying to keep off of benzos for a while... My pdoc didn't want to prescribe Lithium or other mood-stabilisers, because he didn't want me to take meds unless I have to - at first I didn't take benzos everyday, just by feel, so it was better. He was also afraid that I will lose my happy attitude, because mostly I didn't suffer from the hypomania when it came, rather enjoyed it, and it was under control (just couldn't sleep, and sometimes felt it's too much when with people).

I do have to admit - hypomania helped me socially. It's like alcohol, it gave me the courage to speak, sometimes being a fool, but learning from it.

Both SSRIs and stimulants are notorious for inducing hypomania or mania, so if you have a history of bipolar disorder and are not currently on a mood stabilizer, you should talk to your psychiatrist right away.
-OddDuckNash99-

I was put on Lamictal 2 1/2 years ago & it immediately eased my depression. I went from being very suicidal to feeling better than I had in years in just one week. I think it's a great medicine & I've never had any side effects from it.

Thanks everyone, so far all good and does seem to be helping, well takes the edge off of things and makes it easier to cope.

Hi there, I hope this isn't a really old thread, but I just wanted to say that I've recently been diagnosed with bipolar, and have been put on mirtazapine and lamotrigine. The lamotrigine is being increased gradually, but the doctor thinks I need it as anti depressants have caused mania in the past. (I didn't realise it at the time though, I thought I was getting better, stopped taking the pills entirely, then crashed and burned.) I feel like I'm gradually getting my head back together (only been on this combo five weeks) and am having days when I can actually do housework, pay bills, etc. I'm very carefully monitoring that I don't go too far the other way from depression, and am seeing a psychiatrist and my GP regularly to ensure that doesn't happen.

So far I really like lamotrigine. This is the only thing that seems to have worked without sending me off into a tale spin... but it's early days yet.