Lamictal Tastes Terrible
Monday November 19, 2007
Once again this morning I half-choked taking my Lamictal - and now my mouth is full of a nasty aftertaste. Whose idea was it to make these pills in a shield shape with six - SIX - points? Except for giant pills, these are the hardest pills to swallow I've ever taken. And the chewables, which are shaped conventionally, only come in 5 or 25 mg dosages. Do you have trouble, too? Leave a comment.
Comments
I sometimes have the same trouble with getting the pills down, but you are spot on with nasty taste of those things!!! whew
I recently switched from the 100 mg to 200 mg pills and they’re even harder to swallow. While Lamictal don’t taste as nasty as some other medicines I’ve been on, it’s still pretty bad.
Ugh! Dead on! These things are the nastiest pills I have ever taken!
Soda [pop] makes the pill disolve quicker in your mouth, and makes the taste hard to swallow.
I take mine with Milk.
I took 100mg this morning (12 hours ago), and I still have the taste in my mouth.
My lamital is 200mg PER pill.
I don’t notice a taste? Xanax is THE nastiest pill I’ve ever taken. I hate those.
I once got a Lamictal caught between my cheek and my teeth. The more I drank to wash it down, the more it dissolved in my mouth. I had the nasty taste in my mouth all day. I found warm, bottled water does the trick.
Lamictal was bad, but I was allergic so I ended up off it.
But you know what tastes worse? Topamax.
And worse than that: Neurontin.
And worst of ALL (and Ive been on, like, everything): KEPPRA. UGH! For as much as they charge for these stinkin meds they could at least coat them (OK, so the Neurontin I accidentally bit into a capsule but the others, guuuuhick!)
I have that problem with generic Zoloft - I break up and put in gel caps I get at the health food store. That solved the problem! Then I take with applesauce sometimes also.
I’m quite surprised that Lamictal is shaped like a sextagon. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and my doctor gave me Lamictal; but here in our country, Lamictal is circular, either very small (for a 50 mg tablet) or medium in size (for 100mg), thus I have never found any difficulty taking it. I find it odd indeed to have a tablet shaped with six sides… that truly is difficult to swallow!
The shape of Lamictal is terrible for swallowing. I’ve found it helps a bit to put the tablet in the mouth, fill the mouth with water and then swallow with as much force as possible. If it gets caught in my throat one more time, I’m going to get my doctor to give me enough 25s to meet my doseage.
Not once speck of a problem
The way I swallow pills I almost never have to taste the pill, including Lamital. I take a drink of water so mouth isn’t dry (pills stick more to a dry cheek.) Next I fill my mouth about half way with water. I put my head back, throw in the pills then swallow. This gets the pills in the water, not on your tongue. Then drink more to make sure it is all down. Make sure to keep your head back until you swallow the pills. I’ve found I can take several pills at once this way. But if I don’t do it that way I will throw them up, especially the lamictal. If the pill is too big I do cut them in half. The lamictal is scored so it can be cut. Hope this helps…I just swallowed 5 pills at once, lamictal 200mg, 2 BIG capsules, 2 asprin size. I never could have done that the regular way. Good luck!
I agree this is a hard pill to take. I sure wish it was coated like seroquel or triliptal. I always tilt my head back and most important hold my NOSE. That sems to help. Altough it still gets stuck sometimes! It scares me ! Xanax tatses the worsed!
I have not had the kind of Lamictal made to chew up and if I have I swallow them along with several other meds in my morning dose of meds. For me when I try to swallow my Neurontin it tastes very bad even uncut and my dosage is 1 1/2 at bedtime and 1 in the Morning but have found that I really don’t need the half in the morning so I take 2 at bedtime but the 2 1/2’s are in that dose since my wife sets up my med bottles.
Re. the lingering taste, does anyone have a feel for how Lamictal might affect one’s breath?
With all the meds I have to take, I’ve never even noticed!
Lamictal is the most weirdly shaped pill I’ve ever taken and believe me, I’ve taken most of the psych meds. I don’t think it tastes as bad as Klonopin and even though that one’s smaller I have trouble with it too. I agree that the lamictals are awkward to swallow and pretty awful tasting too. I wish Topomax worked for me because I lost weight on it and gained weight on so many others but it didn’t help. I hate Lamictal but if I go off it I fall apart completely. I appreciate above suggestions. I’ve developed the art of being able to swallow a handful of pills but I still have to swallow the Lamictal separately and I do hate that. The weird thing with the Lamictal though is that it’s supposed to help with the mania but when I go off it I actually get more depressed. Go figure. I guess that just proves once again that we all react to medications differently. Anyone else get depressed when going off Lamictal or am I truly weird and unique?
I admit it does not taste that great, and I notice it every night when I take them, the shape of the pills make no difference to me.
Either way, and more imporatntly, as someone who was on at least three other meds before this one, Lamictal is a blessing - the only one thathas worked for me. When I started taking it, it was like a long night was over.
I take a huge mouthful of meds twice a day, including 200 Lamictal b.i.d. and I have never had a problem with taste. My pdoc did tell me that it helps with both mania and depression. It has helped my moods more than any med I have ever taken.
I agree it’s awful. I take mine with milk, as I see some others have done.
Even my doctor said he didn’t understand why they didn’t coat it. It’s a common complaint from most of his BP patients who take it…
I take such a huge medical cocktail in the am that I wouldn’t usually notice. However, I have had the lamictal lodge on my braces or get stuck anywhere in my mouth. It is by far the WORST taste ever. And, like someone mentioned before the more you drink the nastier it gets.
I too can’t stand the taste or shape of Lamictal, I’m on 300 mg. I’ve found that if I chew a couple of crackers or dried fruit and then swallow them with the pills, (tough with dry mouth, I know), with a water chaser, I can usually get them down - only one at a time, though. I’m taking 16 pills a day, so it makes the process even longer to have to follow these steps, but whatever works!
It doesn’t taste like anything, it’s really helped me balance my moods as an addition to my other medication!
yesssss i know EXACTLY what ur talking about this is crazy haha i was thing the same thing about the weird ass shape of it and when u cant swallow it the tast is NASTY
Lamictal is very difficult to swallow. I have to align it “just-so” before swallowing to make sure it travels easily. Many times I have choked on this odd shaped pill. Reconstruction should highly be considered.
I know what you mean about the Lamictal hard to swallow. The taste is yucky! Yucky! Never had a problem until 3 months ago told my Dr. I was fed up so he put me on Depakote easy to take.
I take 200mg twice a day as well as a bucket full of other stuff (7) morning and night 2 of them a horse pills I tell you, but I just throw them in tip my head back and swallow the whole damn lot ASAP, then slam it down with coffee!!
Lamictal has made everything taste bad! I’m a smoker and it has made that taste and smell bad to me!~maybe it will help me quit, although, makes me not want to eat either!
I have never had a bad taste problem, but I did get a rash when I first started.
Lamictal has been a genuine blessing for me. It stabilized my mood and acts as an effective anti-depressant. I had no idea how poorly I felt many days until I started taking Lamictal. No, I am not a drug rep. or associated in any way with the manufacturing of lamotragine. I simply wanted to give my opinion that this compound is unique in that it isn’t an SSRI - which drove me to two genuine suicide attempts - nor is it hell on one’s liver like Depakote or Depakene (valproic acid or sodium valproate:valproic acid, 1:1). Depakote is a genuine liver toxin, one would do just as much damage by consuming large amounts of bacon grease daily, which contains dozens of compounds very similar to valproic acid - and may even have a slight amount of it in it - these compounds are termed “fatty acids”. Some fatty acids are hell on the liver. So, let’s stop for a minute and be glad that, despite it’s ridiculous shape and terrible taste it is a wonderful addition to the medications available to those of us affected by epilepsy or mood disorders (me).
My daughter doesn’t speak. She has Rett Syndrome. She doesn’t swallow pills, she just chews them. We tried several things to see how they taste: to have a pharmacist mix with chocolate - it was awful!!! Now we are glad she isn’t allergic to peanuts cause we find that some natural peanut butter and a cheerio with a “pulmocare” (soya based food supplement “chaser” the taste is not so bad. (we taste before giving to her!).
Taking the 100mg tables. I’ve taken much larger pills than these, but these are the worst. If you don’t swallow immediately, they quickly dissolve and the taste is revolting. Wish they would coat these or make capsules!!!!! Also, half the sites out there say not to cut these, yet they have scoring.
Go figure.
Also, water or milk seems to be the best to take with. Anything acidic, like oj, makes it even worse. Jerk your head back so they fall towards the back and swallow quickly works for me.
I take the 200mg twice a day and have never had any trouble swallowing them. When I took 300mg in the am, the scored one used to sometimes get stuck in the back of my throat, but I never noticed any lingering aftertaste. I see a lot of people say Xanax tastes nasty - I chew mine, they work faster. The taste doesn’t last long and it’s worth it to get it in my system that much faster. When I need it, I need it NOW.
I think you guys are insane. hehe These Lamictal pills are small - my multivitamin is 10 million times bigger. Fill your mouth with water and drop the pill in your mouth with your head back so that the pill is swimming in your mouth not touching anything and swallow. The pill will never come in contact with your mouth which is probably why I am sitting here scratching my head saying what the heck are they all talking about. Did you ever watch a bird drink water?? they tilt their heads back…good luck!
Ha! Lamictal is a decadant chocolate compared to the taste of “Go Litely.” It
is the drink you have to drink before
you have a colonoscopy. Not only is it the nastiest thing on earth, you have to
drink a gallon of it, in one night! The first 2 times I tried it, I vomited all of the Go Litely back up, so I couldn’t do the test. Finally I got it right, and I got the test done, which by the way is a real pain in the ass, no pun intended!
SOmeone here said that they feel Oj makes the taste worst, but it is the only way I will take my Lamictal. It[’s the only thiong that disguises the taste for me. If we are out of OJ I will admittedly miss a dose until we get OJ in the house. The sweet sour of the OJ covers the bittterness.
I’ve been on lamictal for two years now, and I have never been so stable in all my life. I wouldn’t care what it tasted like as long as it is keeping me healthy.
I take 300mg everynight. I have found it best to put them close to the back of my tongue, gulp water and throw my head back. I used to take it with other drinks like soda or juice, ack! My husband can tell when it doesn’t go down right by the look on my face and the occasional shaking of the head like I drank oj after brushing my teeth, which tastes much better than when the Lamictal gets stuck!
I’ve been on Lamictal for about 2 years now and I HATE the taste!! I do what someone else on here said by filling my mouth with water and then putting the pills in with my head back. I have really big tonsils though so I have to wait until they dissolve part way so they fit down my throat. Yuck! It works better that way. And if I time it just right it doesn’t taste bad, but if I don’t I just shake. Ack! I used to take it with 9 other pills but I just couldn’t get it to go down, so now I take it seperately.
OK SO IM ON A LOT FO MEDS IM ONLY 20 BUT I HAD BRAIN SURGERY BEEN THROUGH LL KINDS OF MEDS IVE DONE XANAX KEPPRA DILANTIN KEFLEX NEXIUM LIPITOR EFFEXOR AND MORE ALL KINDS I EVEN TAKE DARVOCET WHICH ARE TOTALLY HUGE. BUT THIS DAMN LAMICTAL I AM GETTING TAKIN OFF DILANTION AND PUT ON LAMICTAL CAUSE IT DRAINES ALL MY ENERGY BUT OMG THE TASTE OF THIS LAMICTAL I DONT KNOW HOW LONG I CAN TAKE IT YUCK
My mom has stopped taking her Lamictal because it makes her gag. She just dreads it. Taking about 16 little pills now because she’s on samples. I may try getting her some empty gel capsules.