Posted by PeterMartin on April 22, 2018, at 0:04:30
Lamictal seems to be one of those medicines where some generics work better than others for different people. I've always used TEVA brand and the few times I've tried others (aside from brand) I've had problems.
Turns out from mid-December through Feb of 2018 TEVA brand lamictal was on shortage and not available. In the US I believe Walgreens commonly carries Teva brand (diamond shape w/ 93 463 for 100mg etc). Most people don't keep track of the generic manufacturers but if anyone who takes lamictal has been having issues the past few months make sure any recent refills are the same type you're used to using.
Luckily I have a pretty large stockpile of Lamictal due to a dose decrease so this issue didn't affect me. That said if you have been a longtime TEVA Lamotrigine user and refilled w/in the past couple of months be aware any recent onset of depression/instability could be due to the switch in manufacturerer.
Read through the comments here from some people who were trying hard during the shortage to figure out what was going on:
https://www.medschat.com/Discuss/What-Is-The-Best-Generic-Of-Lamictal-244558_p2.htm
BTW it seems as though TEVA is in big trouble financially. As a result this issue may come up again or there may come a time when they are bought out or go bankrupt. (talked about in that thread also).
poster:PeterMartin
thread:1098295
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20180331/msgs/1098295.html