My Lamictal (Lamictrogine) withdrawal experience

First I would like to say that I feel good.  I decided to go off of Lamictal because my husband and I want to have children and I am not willing to risk the possible birth defects to my child.  When I first started to decrease my dosage I was on 400 mg and had been on the medication for about six years.  I am 38 years old and so I went off of the medication fairly quickly so we could start having children.  I do not recommend going off of it so quickly to anyone.  I first cut it down to 300 mgs for two weeks, then to 200 mgs for two weeks, then down to 100mg and that is when the withdrawal symptoms kicked in.  I was miserable!  All I wanted to do was sleep, my body ached, I wanted to cry for no reason, I would get angry for no reason.  I didn't know what to do so I told my mom about it and she began researching lamicatal withdrawal on the internet.  So, I decided to do a little research as well.  Reading other people's withdrawal symptoms and seeing they were having the exact same issues was comforting somehow.  On the other hand reading peoples comments and stories was extremely frightening.  I did not want to be dealing with withdrawal symptoms months or years from the time I decided to go off the medication.  So, I did the only thing I could think to do and I prayed.  I promised someone up above that I would share my experience on a blog if I could get through this and feel better.  I did not feel better right away.  But, I would say that once I completely stopped taking the medication in April, by May I was feeling back to my normal self (it took about a month.  I do suffer from lower back pain and my body does ache.  That could be related, but my mood is fine and I'm not tired all the time anymore.  In fact I was just telling my mom the other day that I am a little disappointed that I waited so long to try to go off the medication.  She reminded me that sometimes it takes a while for our brain chemistry to change.  I don't know if I believe that or not.  But, I'll take it to help me rationalize being on the medication for so long.  So, for those of you who are going through the withdrawals of lamicatal right now.  I'd like to tell you that everyone is different.  I believe that our thinking is very strong and has much influence on our experiences.  So, here is a story of an experience where getting off lamical was only HELL for a short period of time.  Now, it is just a memory.  I will pray for all of the people going through this same experience in hopes that my prayers will give you a little relief.  Good luck and if you have any questions regarding my experience please feel free to ask.  Take care