lithium or lamictal?

i know some people who take a combo of both lithium and lamictal. but i only want to take one of the two. cuz i dont want to be too zonked out on meds. which one would you recommend out of the 2 and why?

Creative,

Personally I would do the Lithium I myself was on it and never had any side effects nor did I get the weird feeling like I was on too many meds or too much. I did however find that I felt well the only way to say it was more in control. I didn't cycle as rapid and when I did it really wasn't that bad. Just my opinion but that is what worked for me.

I react well to most medications, so I could probably reccommend either of these meds to you and be okay with it. Lamictal I was actually on for my epilepsy and was on that for about 5 years. Never had any problems, and never had any bipolar episodes. I was diagnosed as bipolar after stopping my Lamictal, so I think the Lamictal stopped me from having bipolar symptoms, which is awesome. However, Lamictal is very expensive, even for the generic...so that's something to consider.

Never had many issues with Lithium to be honest. It was harder to feel emotion, but I wasn't by any means a "zombie". It's a lot cheaper than Lamictal. Very affordable, especially if you are a broke college student like me! Haha. I still experienced some episodes while taking Lithium, although they weren't as long and they weren't as bad.

Hope this helps!

I've taken both, and stopped both due to side effects. The Lamictal caused less side effects than the Lithium (for me). Lamictal is more expensive (but there are generics), and there is a serious life threatening rash warning. On the other hand, Lithium gave me intolerable side effects, it was cheaper, but you need blood tests all of the time. It's hard to choose. Let the doc pick, and give it a try. If it doesn't work, the other is still available. Good luck.