Lamotrigine at age 10?

[Anonymous]

My volatile depressive 10 year old seems to really need a mood stabilizer. She becomes easily overstimulated on typical antidepressants. She’s better with a mood stabilizer in the mix but has gained an extraordinary amount of weight over the past year on risperdol and abilify. I’m talking 35 pounds. I’ve heard lamotrigine is better but it’s not labeled for this age group. Given this level of weight gain would you push for the change despite the age? Being suddenly obese surely isn’t helping her mood either.

[Anonymous]

Cant speak to the age issue. But we had the same weight gain experience on Abilify and Respiradol. Weight disappeared as fast as it came when meds were discontinued. Lamectal has been amazing - it works and no side effects.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cant speak to the age issue. But we had the same weight gain experience on Abilify and Respiradol. Weight disappeared as fast as it came when meds were discontinued. Lamectal has been amazing - it works and no side effects.

Thank you.

[Anonymous]

I assume you've tried several classes of antidepressants, not just SSRIs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I assume you've tried several classes of antidepressants, not just SSRIs?

Yes. And genetic testing revealed she will likely respond poorly to many more.

[Anonymous]

Lamotragine is and excellent stabilizer that is weight neutral. I would strongly suggest you gave the Dr write the script as “name brand only”. “Lamictal” is the name. This particular drug does not perform as expected in generic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lamotragine is and excellent stabilizer that is weight neutral. I would strongly suggest you gave the Dr write the script as “name brand only”. “Lamictal” is the name. This particular drug does not perform as expected in generic.

Thank you. Will do.

[Anonymous]

My 12 year old has been on it and it has been GREAT. She was on abilify and gained 30 pounds rather quickly. We were in the throws of in patient treatment and a ton of stress so the weight gain wasn't top of mind. But, like you wrote it certainly doesn't help a kid's self esteem or mood to be overweight. She has slowly lost some of the 30 pounds but mostly because she's grown about 4 inches. In any case, she doesn't have the voracious appetite she did with abilify. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lamotragine is and excellent stabilizer that is weight neutral. I would strongly suggest you gave the Dr write the script as “name brand only”. “Lamictal” is the name. This particular drug does not perform as expected in generic.

We are having an excellent response to the generic.

[Anonymous]

My teen was on it for a while and it REALLY helped stabilize his mood. My concern was the possible severe side effect (Stevens-Johnson syndrome) which seemed scary. For this reason, I would not start my child on this med unless I was sure I could get them to take it on a rigorous schedule.

[Anonymous]

Update: our psychiatrist (who we only see on zoom and hasn’t seen the ballooning weight in person) was reluctant to make the switch from abilify but will do so even though they say it may not work as well. We are slowly introducing lamictal and then will taper off abilify. She also said to add metformin for appetite suppressant, which I don’t love but we need to do something!!

Any experience with metformin?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My teen was on it for a while and it REALLY helped stabilize his mood. My concern was the possible severe side effect (Stevens-Johnson syndrome) which seemed scary. For this reason, I would not start my child on this med unless I was sure I could get them to take it on a rigorous schedule.

My kid got a rash three months after starting Lamictal. The doctors swore it wasn’t SJ but couldn’t determine what was causing it. In addition to his psychiatrist, we saw a GP, allergist and dermatologist. They all found the rash to be a mystery and declared it was a coincidence that he and recently started Lamictal. We stopped the medicine and restarted three months later and the same rash appeared. There’s nothing they can say that will make me believe it’s a coincidence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My teen was on it for a while and it REALLY helped stabilize his mood. My concern was the possible severe side effect (Stevens-Johnson syndrome) which seemed scary. For this reason, I would not start my child on this med unless I was sure I could get them to take it on a rigorous schedule.

My kid got a rash three months after starting Lamictal. The doctors swore it wasn’t SJ but couldn’t determine what was causing it. In addition to his psychiatrist, we saw a GP, allergist and dermatologist. They all found the rash to be a mystery and declared it was a coincidence that he and recently started Lamictal. We stopped the medicine and restarted three months later and the same rash appeared. There’s nothing they can say that will make me believe it’s a coincidence.

Our psych said this side effect was most common with folks of Asian or Latino heritage. Does that apply to your kid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My teen was on it for a while and it REALLY helped stabilize his mood. My concern was the possible severe side effect (Stevens-Johnson syndrome) which seemed scary. For this reason, I would not start my child on this med unless I was sure I could get them to take it on a rigorous schedule.

My kid got a rash three months after starting Lamictal. The doctors swore it wasn’t SJ but couldn’t determine what was causing it. In addition to his psychiatrist, we saw a GP, allergist and dermatologist. They all found the rash to be a mystery and declared it was a coincidence that he and recently started Lamictal. We stopped the medicine and restarted three months later and the same rash appeared. There’s nothing they can say that will make me believe it’s a coincidence.

Also what did you do after that? What mood stabilizer did you move to?

[Anonymous]

Our 13 yo girl developed a yeast infection and vulvar dermatitis after being on lamictal. They are also sensitive to SSRIs (daily bad nose bleeds).