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Talking to Your Healthcare Provider

Only you know how you truly feel. Although your healthcare provider is a medical expert, it is up to you to ask questions and openly share your feelings and thoughts. By taking an active role, you can help your healthcare provider recommend the treatment option that is best for you.

Helping your healthcare provider help you
Unfortunately, bipolar disorder may be under-recognized by many healthcare providers. Like other mental illnesses, bipolar disorder cannot yet be identified by just a blood test or a brain scan. Sharing information about your symptoms, the course of your illness, and your family history will help your healthcare provider make an appropriate diagnosis. It is also important to talk about your concerns and your long-term treatment goals with your healthcare provider.

You can help your healthcare provider by writing down your thoughts, feelings, activities, and physical symptoms. A Mood Chart, where you can track all of these things, can help.

Some questions to ask your healthcare provider.


	"Bipolar disorder is a chronic condition that can cause a person's moods to become extremely high or low. Be proactive and don't be afraid to talk to your doctor. You have to be straightforward about what you are experiencing."

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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