new and fed up

[lilynartie]

Hi im new to this site, up until now everything going fine, then my consultant decided to take me off of me lamactal, first 200mgs were fine then dropped another 50mgs and boy have i had mad headaches, has anyone else suffered this way, i am also on keppra and topiramate which is fine, if you have suffered how long did it last, thanks

[RobinN]

WELCOME TO CWE

Perhaps you need to reduce even slower than is recommended. You might ask your consultant if you can cut it to 25 mg instead of the 50 mg.

[Nakamova]

Hi Lilynartie, welcome to CWE.

I agree with Robin, consider slowing down the rate of taper. Since anti-epileptic drugs are pretty powerful meds, there are often side effects both tapering on and tapering off as the body adjusts. The slower you can go with the process, the easier it is for your body to adjust at each increment, and the less severe any side effects are likely to be. I can't speak to tapering off lamictal (I'm still on it), but I did experience headaches while tapering onto it that did eventually go away.

One recommendation is that you try acetaminophen for the headache -- for someone reason it has a better track record against the "Lamictal Headache." And if your headaches get worse or unbearable, definitely contact your doctor.

Best,
Nakamova