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R

Ranger

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Hi everyone, first time here, I have epilepsy from scar tissue in my temporal lobe as a result of brain surgery in 1988 to repair a ruptured aneurysm, I had been well controlled on Tegretol since '99 when first diagnosed and in 2010 (anyone seeing the creepy 11yr thing?) the Tegretol stopped being effective and after a few drug trials adding Lamictal got the best result, from about that point on every now and then, like every 3-4 months or so I would take them in the morning and shortly after get very groggy, tired and if I looked anywhere other than straight ahead with my eyes I would get double vision, classic overdose symptoms, never worried about it much just thinking I'd taken the night and morning dose too close together, but now as of the last couple of months it suddenly started to be 3-4 mornings in a row and then gone for a week and as of now it's every morning, it's become obvious that my body has become very sensitive to Lamictal (definitely Lamictal btw, Tegretol is ok), my Doc's just give me blank looks and suggest radical med changes as only a person without ep can do like it's nothing at all, I'm not ready for that yet and this couldn't have happened at a worse time..

The thing that bothers me is why it's happened intermittently for the last 5 yrs and now all the time, and I should mention that it's only the morning dose that does it, the night dose is fine and to get around it for now I spread the dose out during the day. I have a combination that works for me and I'm desperate to stay on it as I'm sure you'd all understand.

So my question to the collective mind is this..has anyone else out there suddenly become intolerant to Lamictal after years of use?
This question is too specific to search on Goolgle and I've searched high and low so I hope someone can throw some light on this from personal experience.

Thanks for any replies
R
 
Ranger said:
So my question to the collective mind is this..has anyone else out there suddenly become intolerant to Lamictal after years of use?
This question is too specific to search on Goolgle and I've searched high and low so I hope someone can throw some light on this from personal experience.
Click to expand...

Hi Ranger and welcome to CWE,

Sorry to hear about your situation and sorry your doc isn't wanting to listen. But the thing is, as most of us here have experienced over the years, that sometimes the patient does become intolerant to the medication after years of taking it, so we have to start something else. It's a lot of trial and error, unfortunately. Maybe you can find a different neurologist and get a 2nd opinion?
 
Hi Ranger, welcome to CWE!

Generally speaking, our metabolism tends to slow down as we age, and we can often get by with lower medication doses as a result. Changes in hormones can also affect Lamictal clearance rates -- for example, estrogen speeds up Lamictal clearance, so if estrogen levels drop the Lamictal could stay in your system longer than before. I don't know if either of these scenarios applies to you, but regardless it might be helpful to have your blood serum Lamictal levels checked to see if your clearance rate has slowed.

If your seizures are controlled, but you are having symptoms of Lamictal toxicity, then it may just be a a matter of slightly reducing your Lamictal dose. In my case, I take a smaller Lamictal dose at night than in the morning, because my nighttime metabolism is slower.


best,
Nakamova
 
Double and blurry vision are both side effects of Lamictal and Tegretol. I had been on both before I started getting it. It would only happen once or twice a month. I take my meds with 12 hours between them so I know I wasn't taking them too close or too far apart.

It was happening once when I was at the neuro's office. When he asked me to walk a strait line I looked like I was drunk. He didn't seem too concerned but told me to keep track of it and if it happens more often to let him know.
 
I've never been on Lamictal but I have been on Tegretol and yes, double and blurry vision were definitely a problem for me. And just generally feeling like my brains had been replaced with oatmeal.
 
Thank you all for the replies and your welcomes,

I've been lucky up until now with side effects, I don't even know I'm on Tegretol other than the usual mind numbing, though admittedly Keppra did turn me into a homicidal axe wielding maniac, but other than that with all the others I suffer badly only when titrating up, once steady I'm much better than most.

I have reduced the dose to 150 and it's a little better as long as I take it with food but I have lost seizure control although it was already starting before I dropped the level.

I have made contact with my former Doc who is 3000k's away and he is happy to help me out via email and by phone if necessary and for free as well! and he is very good, he is the type of doctor who will ring you up 6 months after seeing him and ask you how your getting on!

One of the suggestions the local Neuro here suggested before he rushed out the door for yet another 8 week holiday (he is the only Neuro in the whole State btw!) was to take the whole 400mg of lamictal at night instead! claiming that it is possible to do so, anyone heard of that? we can only get the horrible flavoured chew tablets here not slow release, and obviously not considering the fact that I take Tegretol which cuts the half life down to about 12 or so hours...sounds dangerous to me

valeriedl, what was the end result with your s/e problem, it sounds very similar to mine?

Thanks
R
 
One of the suggestions the local neurologist here suggested before he rushed out the door for yet another 8 week holiday (he is the only neurologist in the whole State btw!) was to take the whole 400mg of lamictal at night instead!
Click to expand...
This makes no sense to me. Since your symptoms of toxicity tend to show up in the morning, loading up the night before would most likely make them worse. I would think it would make more sense to take a smaller dose at night. If you can, run this by your former doc to see what he thinks.
 
Ranger said:
valeriedl, what was the end result with your s/e problem, it sounds very similar to mine?
Click to expand...

Since it is a side effect of a med he didn't change any of the dosages of my meds or tell me to take them at any different times. He just told me to keep track of it and if it gets worse then he may do something.

It hasn't happened for about 2 months now. But since I've said that it will probably end up happening tomorrow!
 
Vimpat is another one of those drugs that cause blurred/double vision. Like AlohaBird, I have never been on Lamictal, but I have been on Tegratol. Teg. really did nothing for me. Over the years the Drs. have experimented w/ different drugs, but Depakote and Dilantin are the ones I have been taking most of my life.
The Vimpat really scared me! I went for almost 20min. straight not being able to see other than blurryness and double vision. I made an appointment FAST to get off of it. Luckily I had only been on it a short time.
 
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