lamictil and birth control please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[thesea]

Ok, so ill be very brief.
I'm bi polar, and was taking lamictal,
It was working great, but the type of insurence I had at the time, i was no longer able to afford it so I switched around on other meds and ended up on seroquel, I could have slept my life away!

I became pregnant last October, and had a hard pregnancy due to hormones and of course the bi polar, talk about mood swings!!

My daughter is now a month old and I am not yet back on lamictal, but I go to my psych in a few days.

I need this med! I'm so manic its crazy I can cope when it comes to my daughter but I get so sad with feelings like I'm not good enough for her.

I got the pill, but reading the information, I did not know that lamotrigine (lamictal) interferes with BC and vice versa.

Someone out there are you or have u been in a similar position with this,med?

I need birth control but I need both that and my meds to be fully effective.

[thesea]

Thank u for the insight! Much appreciated.

[Anonymouse88]

I think they're confused.  If you read the full prescribing information, it's the PILL that screws with the lamotrigine, not the other way around.  It's not like a lot of other anticonvulsants.  From http://epilepsy.med.nyu.edu/treatment/medications/lamotrigine "Lamotrigine has no effect on other seizure medicines. And unlike some other seizure medicines, it does not reduce the effectiveness of birth control pills."

I was taking Altavera (also known as Portia and Nordette), and have just started Viorele (aka Mircette), but I started the Viorele yesterday, so I can't comment yet.  As Lo loestrin fe has a very low dose of estrogen, it probably won't affect your lamotrigine levels very much, although you might have to play with them a little bit, depending on how symptomatic you are an whether you're getting side effects.

[thesea]

I called the pharmacy and They told me that the higher my dose the more it would affect my pill. So I'm just so confused because the pill I got is a low side of hormones, its Lo loestrin fe, what birth control do you take??

I will be working back up to 200 of lamotrigine

[Anonymouse88]

There's no evidence that lamotrigine decreases the effectiveness of the pill.  The interaction is that the estrogen in the pill lowers your lamotrigine levels, which means you'll need a higher dose than you would off the pill.  If you're really worried about pregnancy, consider a copper IUD or just use condoms with the birth control.

I am on 200 mg lamotrigine and birth control pills right now.