Lamictal, how do you take yours?

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crannsmum

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my son was switched from tegritol to lamictal back in April. We have been slowly increasing the dose since then each time he has a seizure. We are now up to 300mg a day. My son's consultant insists that lamictal is "slow release" and therefore it makes no difference if it is taken all together or seperately, we chose to split it,( AM & PM) because we noticed that all our son's seizures were in the afternoons when he was only taking it PM. I notice here that many people are taking lamictal twice a day which makes me suspect that our consultant ( hoping to change him soon) is perhaps...er.. wrong and that there is merit in splitting the dose across the day? My son's seizures are triggered by eating and we have noticed that currently he only has them following lunch ( when he doesnt take his meds ) and perhaps he would benefit from taking his meds at each meal. We wouldnt do this without first talking to his consultant.
Just wondered what other people find the most helpful?
 
when i was on Lamictal i was advised to take two doses, one in morning and one before bed.

They can taste seriously awful if they get stuck on the tongue though, so a large glass of water is a good way to go :p
 
There is an extended release version Lamictal (called Lamictal XR) that you only need to take once a day. But if your son is on the regular Lamictal, then twice a day is the norm.
 
I take 400mg Lamictal xr a day and you can take it all in the morning but I choose to take it twice a day. I do the sane for my Keppra xr 3000mg. I told my Epileptologist that I wouldn't want to take 3400mg of meds first thing in the morning lol.
I started Zongran 200mg a day which is a once a day med taken at night because of the side effects but I would do twice a day if allowed.
I would keep notes on what you notice and let your doctor know, then ask if you can have twice daily doses of Lamictal.
I used to take Tegretol xr 600mg but also took it twice a day compared to once a day and usually it wouldn't make much difference besides making it more convient as far as taking it once than twice.

I hope things go better :)
Take care
 
I take

Lamictal as well...and I take it twice a day. And a glassful of water is the best bet. There's NO WAY I'd be caught getting those things stuck on my tongue! Once was enough, and I'm not doing that again! Ewwwwwww!!!!
 
Lamictal

Hi,
I was on Tegrotal as a kid and switched over to lamictal in my teen years. My Neuro Doc made it clear to me that Lamictal is to be taken at least 2x a day. I was on 200mg 3x a day, plus other seiz. meds because my epilepsy is very difficult to control.
There IS an extend release lamictal -Lamictal XR that you only have to take once a day. That is what I take now, I switched over from the regular Lamictal last year. I only take the XR at night.

Hope this is helpful, I'll keep you all in my thoughts :e:

~AmandaLynn~
 
Intresting. looks like I did the right thing to split it. He's just on the normal lamictal. cant wait to get shot of this consultant!

thanks everyone.
 
As it was explained to me, Lamictal is "long acting," but it still needs to be taken twice a day to keep blood levels as steady as possible. I don't have any experience with XR, and don't know anything about how often it should be taken.

I am on 200mg of Lamictal - 100mg twice a day. It makes me horribly nauseated whether I take it with food or not. But I noticed the nasty taste that seems to just waft up from my stomach isn't as bad when I take it with food. I drink a full glass of water with it, too.
 
When my son was on tegritol he didnt have any seizures at all but sadly he became so "zombie like" that he had to come off it. The Lamictal doesnt have these side effects but the weight gain has been a bit scary and it doesn't control the seizures nearly so well. but maybe switching it to three times a day, with his meals may just do the trick. This condition is just such a pain in the butt! he's had a seizure two saturdays in a row, bitten his tounge both times and has had both weekends totally wiped out cos he's so exhausted:(
 
Yeah, I

did the weight gain thing--but with Depakote and Lamictal mixed together. That was NOT a pretty sight. I ate like a HORSE. And I truly had NO self-control over it, no matter how hard I tried.

Finding the right balance for control is not always easy--and yeah, I've done the every Saturday seizure thing myself. For 13 Saturdays in a row once. That sucked a hill o'beans, and I WILL NEVER do it again. However, I was without meds at the time, so keep that in mind.

Something else to keep in mind is that your son is still growing, so there are hormones involved as well....
 
One other reason to take the med twice a day is to buffer any possible missed doses. I know we should always be very careful not to miss a dose, however if you do, it is better to only miss half a day's dosage than the whole day.
 
My son's epilepsy started with the on set of puberty so hormones are what kicked it off. This was exactly when my father's started but I dont hold out for it stopping when his hormones settle down. My father's carried on until he was 36 and only stopped then because he worked out his triggers and stopped doing them
we've been really good not forgeting his meds but could easily understand how a teenager could loose track if they had the responsibility themselves.
 
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