what did you have in mind as far as calling on GSK? I'll put my two cents in.

Yes, I think it's time to pull a Bob Fiddaman all forces available and take GSK to the carpet.

I have the package insert right here, being I am still on 50mg. of Lamictal.

There are NO withdrawal references, only :

"Do not stop taking Lamictal or any other medicines unless instructed by your doctor."
--

GSK -Glaxo Smith Kline USA
1 888-825-5249

I called that number and it is a switchboard with an automated voice system. Just interrupt the system and say "product information" and you will be switched to a 'real' person.

I told the person I had an adverse event I needed to report. She took the report which gets forwarded to the Product Safety Group at GSK, which then by law has to report to the FDA. The more adverse event reports they receive, the consumer influence to change packaging inserts can happen.

Also, I asked for the email address that does the same thing: forwards adverse events to Product Safety group etc.

I emphasized DECREASING LAMICTAL is the adverse event.

For me for instance, I reported that when I increased up to 75mg I felt sick, and when I decreased back down to 50mg. I had severe headache, back pain and short term memory loss.

They ask for your name, address, phone number, age and if on any other meds, and your reason for taking Lamictal, of which I said "mood disorder" and left it at that.

I emphasized several times that this was a WITHDRAWAL issue that needs to be added into the package insert.

I also warned the person she might be receiving several phone calls as I am "from a product safety concerned citizen consumer group."

I thought that described us fair enough here.

Email:
GSK

USCRCWEB AT GSK.com

Asking GSK to warn about dangers of their drugs is like asking the pope would he like to be bridesmaid at a protestant gay wedding with Richard Dawkins as best man...

I'm pushing for warnings and information to be printed in the package insert information that withdrawals can happen, with a list of withdrawal symptoms patients can watch for.

That is not an impossible task, if more than one person takes it on.

I've BP II and (was) quite well medicated. Then I try explaining to my in-patient pdoc that these meds are seriously interfering with my ability to complete my doctorate, that I would like to titrate down and find a combination that is still effective but with minimal s/e's.

Oh boy. Here we go ... non-compliant patient.

And that's the end of it. So I just take their scripts and adjust the dose on my own. There is other way. There may be good psychiatrists out there who you can honestly work with, but they are by far the exception.

I just found Furious Seasons through the Daily Kos. I am a Bipolar II person currently being treated without pharmaceuticals.

At one time I was "treated" with Lamictal. My memory disintegrated to the point where I was unable to drive. I had to be driven everywhere, because I literally did NOT recognize where I was half the time.

It was singularly one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. And yes... there were withdrawal issues.

I love your site and look forward to reading more.

i wanted to make a comment to some of the bloggers. i just started my journey off meds after over a decade of total compliance and "faith". i would go to any lengths to have my life, but now i want MY life not the life various professionals, family members and society think i should have. i was a successful and thriving artist and designer from an early age. at some point, around '97, i agreed that my drinking was problematic and became willing to go to any lengths to get sober and get well. i had been given diagnosis of mental illness dating back to my childhood and teen years. from time to time i dabbled in meds but didn't believe in them (funny). but this time i agreed that i had been self-medicating, i had gone overboard and what i had been doing was somehow no longer working. sounds like AA talk...well it kind of is.

i commtted to embark on a staple of psychopharmachology, psychology and AA. i was also very careful about my diet and a very active person (which i had been since my mid-teens).

ten years later i'm so flattened...i had over five serious suicide attempts which only began after i started psychopharmaceuticals. i had an attempt when i was 23, i was on meds, but it didn't happen again until i was on this "go-round". as a child i was chronically depressed and made many suicidal gestures but as i matured i discovered other means of finding self-esteem and dealing with my issues. not all of my "means" were well adapted, but they were not suicidal.

when i told my doc, several a few weeks ago now, that i wanted a drug holiday. i had been a drunk for twenty years and started meds a year before i quit drinking. i didn't know my "baseline". for thirty years i'd had some substances mingling in my body and i had no idea what was me and what was the medication. i had nothing to really compare to.

i just wanted to know. i have the right to know these things. i had a mother go into an institution in about '70, was in therapy from there on in. i had taken so many different drugs as they became available over the years and suffered unannounced withdrawls and severe side effects never explained to me. i had been through hell and just needed to know, at 44, finaly, what feelings are mine, what is missing and what is the medication.

well, the doctor said if i wanted off of my medication he had to close my file. he would not help me titrate my dosages and come off them in a medically correct way. i think that is medically irresponsible. his only option he'd offer me was to go into the hospital which has never offered me any change or relief. they just warehouse you for 3-7 days and turn you out again. i wasn't suicidal. proper titration with good communication shouldn't have made it neccessary for me to go into the hospital. it would have just left me with a $6,000.00 bill that i can't afford. i can't afford over $1,000/mo drug expenses when i hit my doughnut hole! i can't afford to be a zombie.

but he closed my case and that was it. so i'm out here alone, trying to do the best i know to do. i did get through most of my masters in counseling which included psychopharmacology and i do extensive reading. i have a good deal of experience working with the mentally ill and people with addictions and dual diagnosis...what ever labels people want to put out there. thank god i have a decent background. but i'm floundering. i do not live near a decent sized city and resources are limited here (athens, ohio/meigs county).

well, it's just been good to read what people are writing. that people are getting better, getting off their meds. i hope i am as fortunate.

suzanne

Hey Suzanne

Your story is too familiar unfortunately , My heart goes out to you, just to let you know, there is hope .. :)

Suzanne,
I lied to my doc, told him my husband and I were "eager" to have a baby and I needed to get off the meds so we could try. I've always known I'd be a flop as a parent and, since you can't send the wee buggers back if it's not working well, I'd never wanted to have kids.

But the idiot bought it. He actually thought it was a good idea, would make my life better!!! As he well knew, I come from a long line of abusive women who were totally overwhelmed by the task of parenthood.

Just to put the icing on the cake, he offered to make a hospital consult after the alleged baby was born "because you're at such high risk for post-partum depression". Huh?

Anyway, it worked. He took me off gradually and I scampered away, never to look back.

Lots of people have been where you've been. You know your own body and can step back up a bit when/if you need to. This site can be a real resource for you. Good luck, suzanne.

Best wishes,
Sherry

I agree! I was on Depakote for post concussions/seizuers during med school and it was horrible for me and my board exams. My peformance was markedly impoved once the meds were stopped. GOOD LUCK!

It is good to know I am not alone in this, I can totaly relate to the med student. I am a phrmacy student in my last week of my 3rd year (the end of didactic course) and will start my 4th year rotation in a cople of weeks. I too have been stugling with mental illiness for the past 8 years, specificaly major depressive disorder and anxiety. So far I have been on every SSRI out there (zolaft, paxil, effexor, celexa, lexapro, and prozac). None of them worked for me since I was unable to take them for more than 2 week due to various side effects. Then I tried abilify, that made me drowsy and sedeting, and I stop taking it because it was affecting my concentration, recently my psychitrist put me on lamictal. It is the worst by far. I am more depressed than ever, and for lack of a better term it made realy dumb and my concentration is extremly deficient. Yeasterday I decide not take Lamictal any more. I hate to say this as a future pharmacist but I have lost my faith in medication, psychotropic medications at least. I do not want to discourage people form taking medication since some patient have to be medicaitoin and most people respond to treatment and tolarate the side effect better. If I had to things all over again, I would have tried other alternatives before begining medication, such as councelling among other things. I am planing to excercise reguraly, eat healthy, take vitamine supplments, sleep normally and Just pray to God that things will gett better.

Hey

I am on 30 mg of Lamotrigine and i am going crazy, my clarity and memory has gone for a big toss and i feel so detached and disocciated from my own self.

I can't feel anything, can't think coherently. I feel flat and non-existent. i want to go off it but don't know how, i tried to taper off on my own but my anxiety multiplied many times, i was ruminating badly and my left side of the brain was throbbing.

I have become so confused, i can't explain i am very sad from within but i can't emote, i loose my thread while thinking.

I kept wondering if it was due to meds but now i am sure its because of Lamictal.

Could anybody please tell me how to get off this soul killing drug?

Please tell me how can i get off it asap?

I just want to say I have Bipolar disorder. Was given 100mg of Lamictal. It made my manic high even worse. I felt like I just quit paying attention to stuff/people around me. 2 months ago I told the dr. I wanted off of it. He told me to cut it down for one week. Then be off it. Well, I had a bad experience. A fire right beside me. I didn't smell it or notice it. I am now out of a job. I told my husband I believe the lamictal is still in my system. I was not thinking clearly at all when on it, or 2 months after. Lamictal ruined my life!!!!

I am in the same boat. I'm EBD or ABD (everything/all but dissertation) in my doctorate program, but can't concentrate more than five minutes (literally) on any one task. I have been on and off meds for years, mostly off because of side effects. Last round, coming off Effexor, agitated and suicidal, I awoke in the ER after a stomach pump. My sleeping pills were helpful, in as much as in a fugue state I called everyone I knew and told them I was killing myself (interesting side effect) and the EMDs were able to break down my door. Started Lamictal in September and my anxiety is much worse. My memory is more like that of a 78-year-old and I have acne for the first time in years. Yes, acne is a major side effect. And I'm not bipolar. I just had a really, really lousy childhood, but am waking up to the fact that no medication will fix it.