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For Family and Friends

For families and friends, a diagnosis of bipolar disorder can be difficult to accept, but it can also be a relief. Finally, a reason for the extreme mood swings has been identified and treatment can begin. While it is important for a person with bipolar disorder to be active in his or her own care, your support can be valuable in helping him or her find stability and cope with the condition.

Your help can make a difference
  • Learn about bipolar disorder, its causes, and its treatment. Talk with a healthcare provider, if possible.
  • Learn to recognize the warning signs of mania (extreme highs) and depression (extreme lows). You may notice the symptoms before the patient does. If you notice symptoms, talk to the patient in a caring manner and suggest a visit to a healthcare provider.
  • Encourage the patient to stay with treatment. If treatment doesn’t seem to be helping, or if side effects are severe, encourage the patient to talk to his or her healthcare provider. If things still don’t get better, consider suggesting that the patient get a second opinion.
  • Work with the patient to help him or her keep healthcare provider appointments. Help make a list of the patient’s medications (include the name of the medication, how much to take, when to take it, how to take it, and what it treats), healthcare providers, and phone numbers.
  • Help monitor medication use - it can be dangerous to stop or restart a medication without a healthcare provider’s advice.
  • Use of alcohol and street drugs can make symptoms worse. Help the patient understand the potential consequences.
  • If the patient has a mood episode and feels your concern is interference, remember that this is not necessarily a rejection of you, but could be part of the illness.
  • Do things with, rather than for, a person recovering from an episode.
  • Consider using periods of stability to agree to certain safeguards. This can include hospitalization or withholding credit cards, car keys, or banking privileges. Be aware that during an episode, the patient may not comply with the agreement.
  • Bipolar disorder is a chronic, lifelong condition, but with appropriate treatment there is hope. Your support can make a difference.
Tools that can help:
  • A Mood Disorder Questionnaire, which is a screening tool to help detect symptoms of bipolar disorder.
  • A Mood Chart, which provides a place to track important information concerning moods, side effects, sleep, and more. It can help the patient and his or her healthcare provider figure out what therapies may be working and what more can be done to help manage bipolar disorder.
  • A Guide to Maintenance Therapy, which includes 4 steps to managing bipolar disorder, My Therapy Plan to keep track of medications, and My Plan for Action to note lifestyle information and other helpful facts.

How much help is too much?

Am I being protective — or overprotective? Should I pay off credit card debts from a hypomanic spending spree? Which of my actions will help and which will hurt?

These are hard questions, and the answers may be very different from person to person and family to family. Family members or caregivers should stay informed about bipolar disorder. Some people benefit from counseling or support groups. The stress on you can be very great. Find out how others are dealing with similar questions, and what might work for you.

Visit www.bipolar.com for more detailed information about bipolar disorder.

     "Sometimes it's difficult for my friend to gauge how he's doing, so I help him use his mood chart to track his moods."


Important Safety Information about LAMICTAL

Prescription LAMICTAL Tablets are not for everyone. Most people who take LAMICTAL tolerate it well. Common side effects with LAMICTAL include dizziness, headache, blurred or double vision, lack of coordination, sleepiness, nausea, vomiting, insomnia, tremor, and rash. LAMICTAL may cause other side effects not listed here. If you develop any side effects or symptoms you are concerned about, or if you need more information, call your doctor.

Although most patients who develop a rash while receiving LAMICTAL have mild to moderate symptoms, some individuals may develop a serious skin reaction that requires hospitalization. It is not possible to predict whether a mild rash will develop into a more serious one. Rarely, deaths have been reported. These serious skin reactions are most likely to happen within the first 8 weeks of treatment with LAMICTAL. Serious skin reactions occur more often in children than in adults.

Rashes may be more likely to occur if you: take LAMICTAL in combination with valproate (brand names are Depakene® (valproic acid)* and Depakote® (divalproex sodium)*), take a higher starting dose of LAMICTAL than your doctor prescribed, or increase your dose of LAMICTAL faster than prescribed.

If you experience any of the following with or without a skin rash, tell your doctor immediately: hives, fever, swollen lymph glands, painful sores in the mouth or around the eyes, or swelling of lips or tongue. These symptoms may be the first signs of a serious reaction. A doctor should evaluate your condition and determine if you should continue taking LAMICTAL.

Serious blood problems or liver problems have been reported with LAMICTAL, so tell your doctor if you develop symptoms such as unusual bruising or bleeding, severe muscle pain, weakness, fatigue, yellowing of the eyes or skin, and/or frequent infections.

You should not take LAMICTAL if you had an allergic reaction to it in the past.

LAMICTAL is indicated for the maintenance treatment of bipolar I disorder to delay the time to occurrence of mood episodes (depression, mania, hypomania, mixed episodes) in adults treated for acute mood episodes with standard therapy. The effectiveness of LAMICTAL in the acute treatment of mood episodes has not been established.

*Depakene (valproic acid) and Depakote (divalproex sodium) are registered trademarks of Abbott Laboratories.


Patient Information Leaflet for LAMICTAL® (lamotrigine)

Complete Prescribing Information for LAMICTAL

Complete Prescribing Information is provided in Adobe’s Portable Document Format (PDF). To view these documents, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have it and you are unable to or do not wish to download Acrobat Reader, but still wish to receive complete Prescribing Information, please click here.
 
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