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It is a drug created in England in 1991 to treat epilepsy but later, in 2003, also approved to prevent or make depressive crises less acute in patients with bipolar disorder. It acts mainly, at the brain level, blocking the release of the excitatory amino acids glutamate and aspartate and thus preventing the onset and propagation of epileptic crises. As for its second use, the psychiatric one, it is very important to note that Lamotrigine tends to prevent depressive crises but not manic ones while the opposite is true for the other two common antiepileptics and mood stabilizers Carbamazepine and Valproate which do not have much effect on the shift towards depression while they prevent shifts towards mania well. Indeed, Lamotrigine tends to be stimulating, for some people pleasantly and for others, especially women, in an unpleasant way causing anxiety and agitation while instead Carbamazepine and Valproate tend to be sedatives causing drowsiness and often lowering mood. Another important thing to note is that Lamotrigine is not an antidepressant in the sense that it generally has no effect if depression has already set in; indeed, in this case it can cause a mixed state in which low mood and psychomotor agitation coexist. Continue reading at: https://www.angelomercuri.it/lamotrig...