Lamictal Rash / Allergies (Update)

[Bernard]

FYI, Lamictal/Lamotrigine rash = Stevens Johnson Syndrome. If not treated immediately (or if the drug which is causing it is not stopped immediately), it can be fatal.

Once you have experienced the rash, your body is thought to be sensitized to a whole class of drugs (it's basically an allergy) which you should never take or risk a re-occurrance. See here:

http://www.mediafact.com/sjs/drug-list.php

[brain]

Bernard is absolutely correct.

Unfortunately, I was glad my Neurologist
caught this immediately and while the "RAMP
DOWN" - this was an Emergency, SJS - I bear
white scars - permanently from the Lamictal
rash. (Correct Lamictal is also known as
Lamotrigine.) I was doing so well and was
very upset when I had to be taken off.



Mind you, he had me on a 3 days and you
off period - no gradual titration at all; and
talk about going whack, it took me awhile
to get adjusted back to my original meds.

But every time I see those white scars, I am
ever so grateful of my Neurologist!

1) I never realized I missed out on the warning
signs before!

2) I was congested, but we were also undergoing
pollination at the same time (that was a tricky event
to determine which was which).

3) I was running a fever, but I figured it was due
to the allergies because I am allergic to pollen.

All of that was in fact were actually preliminary
warning signs of the Lamictal (Lamotrigine) warning
of allergy! So you can see why I missed it. No sooner
was I scratching like crazy, itch, itch here, itch itch
there, itch, itch everywhere - bumps all over.
Insomuch, I was even scratching in my sleep
apparently, for my legs would be raw and some
areas I caused it to bleed. For the life of me, I
had no idea what it was, but it did not take long
but a split second for my Neurologist to see that
and he wasn't very happy because I had been
going on so well with Lammy.



However, I must put an emphasis on this:
Not all Lamictal/Lamotrigine rashes are threatening,
some of them eventually will go away after a period
of time, only your Doctor who is monitoring you will
know. There have been folks who have been on
Lammy who had experienced this for a brief time
and it went away. And there are rashes that are
not life threatening but merely a reaction to the
medication, and it is up to the Physician to determine
what it is, especially if the patient is on multiple
anti-epileptic drugs.

------------------------------------------

I will be honest, going off of it was a nightmare!
Trying NOT TO SCRATCH is like giving a child
a lollipop and sticking it in his/her's mouth and
giving the orders not to suck on it. Kind of a silly
illustration there, but you get the point. They are
going to suck on the lollipop just as much sooner
or later I am going to scratch!