Hey I have a question, has happened to anyone else and what's the cause?

[Bethany]

Hey guys, so I had a seizure about 3 weeks ago, a grand mal. I went to the hospital and they gave me 500mg of Dilantin which I'm actually trying to come off of, in the process of switching to Lamotrigine. So really I wasn't suppose to have that I was suppose to have Lamotrigine. They also gave me some morphine and something else (can't remember what) and I went home.

The next morning I couldn't take a sip of water without throwing up. I went to the hospital, finally after waiting in the E.R. for about 4 hours, they gave me an IV of nausea meds, I got hydrated and then another 400mg of Dilantin on top of my Lamotrigine! And went home.

Anyway since that night my appeitite has drastically changed. I'm barely ever hungry now. I do still eat 3 meals a day and drink a lot of water but its been almost 3 weeks and I dunno if it was from the seizure itself? The overdose of Dilantin or what? Its like either my taste buds are outta whack or maybe it's brain related? Has anyone else suddenly lost their appetite??

[PhylisFeinerJohnson]

Dilantin is nasty stuff. I was on it for 10 years (back then, the only two options were Dilantin and Phenyl) and was a walking, talking, zombie. I went into a coma, my beautiful long hair disappeared, I was rail thin and I have galloping gum rot, thanks to Dilantin.

I'm on Lamictal now -- supplemented by Klonopin -- and I'm a very happy camper.

I hope things work out as well for you.

[BuckeyeFan]

The dilantin may not be the problem. Those were pretty small doses and only two of them. I would contact your doctor right away to talk about the possibility of the Lamictol being an issue. Just my thoughts.

I take dilantin (500 mg) and Lamictal (400 mg) each day.

[Bethany]

Wow, really Phylis? I think what is hard for me is I was on dilantin for six months and was fine, I didn't even know I'd have seizures once I'd finally been released from the hospital. My nerologist really does want me to make the complete transfer to Lamictal because of the reduce in side effects. Since slowly transfering though I've had about 4 seizures, which is kinda making me completely scared of completely coming off of the Dilantin. Why mess with what works? But yeah I guess Dilantin won't be the best in the long run. The nerologist says once I finally do drop the last bit then the Lamictal will be stablized hopefully, along with my seizures. Starting this week I'm coming off the Lamictal so I pray everything will be fine. Thanks for the imput!

[Bethany]

Buckeye,
Yeah I might ask my nerologist about it and if it's the Lamictal. I'm on a high dose right now. Once I first got out of the hospital over a year and a half ago they had me on 300mg of Dilantin a day because I am pretty small, weighing 100 pounds. Since then beginning to switch to Lamictal I've been on 500mg. And after the hospital 3 weeks ago, they added another 100mg of Lamictal to balance out the 900mg of Dilantin. I will be dropping my last bit of Dilantin this week so hopefully the Lamictal will balance me out. But yeah, I will have to see if my appetite returns or ask the dr. Thanks for helping!

[Nakamova]

Hi Bethany --

Dilantin can definitely act as an appetite suppressant (it did for me). I was on a low Dilantin dose (200mg/day), and even at that there were side effects. I'm on Lamictal now, also a low dose (175mg/day). I found that it took a while for my brain/body to adjust as I was tapering on, so it may be the same for you. Once you are completely off the Dilantin, and after a month or so on the Lamictal things may even out. It doesn't hurt to keep a diary during the transition an in the months afterwards so that you can monitor any side effects, and make sure that your seizures are coming under control.

[Bethany]

Thanks! That might be it then. It was weird suddenly not being hungry. I just dropped the last of my Dilantin this week and am completely on Lamictal so hope the change doesn't cause anything bad. Guess we'll see. Thanks again for the input.

[PhylisFeinerJohnson]

I did the transistion to Lamictal and it was painless. I think the med is wonderful. I take 400 MG in the AM, supplemented by .05 MG of Klonopin and then 1.0 MG of Klonopin in the PM. I finally found my magical med mix. It only took 40 years! :-)

[valeriedl]

I know a few years back, I don't know if it was dilantin or not that I was on, but I didn't eat anything. All I did was sleep. I lost a ton of weight.

Another one of the meds that I was on all I did was eat. My husband would tell me to watch how much I was eating because I was really putting on the pounds. I'd just wait till he went to bed at night and then raid the fridge. I'd have half a gallon of ice cream gone in two days.

I'm trying to keep up with excersing and it seems to be doing pretty good. I guess you just have to find the right meds that work best for you.

[PhylisFeinerJohnson]

I haven't gained an ounce on Lamictal. Actually, I lost 5 pounds!