lamotrigine

[cool1984]

hi all,
who takes lamotrigine?
how do you feel side affacts of lamotrigine.
thanks
caz x x

[Zoofemme]

Morning Caz,

lamotrigine is one of the meds I take. I'm not quite sure what your asking so I'll answer both ways of what I "think you are asking, lol.

I have some hair loss with it and mood swings all over the place. I had this on low doseage and when they upped the dose both. THe mmod swings were far worse on the higher dose On the higher dose it has interacted with my other meds more too and I feel dumber than a bag of hammers most days, can't type or spell worth diddly.

I don't like the med on the higher dose at all, On the low dose it was an annoyance but i could deal with it.

HTH,
Beth

[Jvere]

Hi

I had come here asking the same question. I've been on it for over two weeks (staying at 25mg for the time being) and besides feeling like I was on speed for the first two weeks (not that I minded but it has subsided now) I am having strange aches/tingly feelings in my legs. It's that feeling you get when you've been sitting too long and you've blocked a nerve or you aren't getting good venous return.

Otherwise, this drug is a blessing. So far anyway.

[Nakamova]

I'm on Lamictal at a relatively low dose. Some side effects that I experienced in the first few months (hair loss, restless sleep) have faded, while others persist (blurry vision, dry mouth and eyes). I have no problems with seizure control on it, and it's basically tolerable.

You might want to search for other feedback on it using the tab at the top -- quite a few people have tried it.

[Chris515]

I've been on a high dose of lamotrigine for about 7 years now.

controls my seizures relatively well.

side effects for me are slightly blurry vision, and the main one is fatigue. i'm always tired to some degree. and my head always feels a little cloudy. i'm often forgetting things, etc.

i guess its a good tradeoff for relatively good seizure control. well tonic clonic's anyways. not so much simple partial's and auras.

[Zoofemme]

I gotta agree with Chris...it doesn't do squat for my simple partials or auras...They're still working on the right recipe for me though so I guess time will tell.

[PhylisFeinerJohnson]

I take 400 MG of lamotrigine in the morning, because it kept me up at night. In the evening, I take Klonopin, an anti-seizure, anti-anxiety med. I've gotta say, the lamotrigine has been a blessing...except for the memory loss and lousy handwriting thing!

[Studiosixty]

I take 300 mg a day and initially it worked well and I only had a siezure about once every six months but recently it's stopes working so well and I've had three generalised ones in six weeks.

When I started I was tired all the time and could feel my thinking was slowed down but this wore off after about six months.

I'm just about to start with a mix of lamotrigine and Keppra which I have to say leaves me a bit worried because the side effects of the keppra are a whole other ball game.

If you have a bad reaction to lamotrigine though, talk to your doctor and see if you'd be better on something else. If you are getting these effects in lower dosages it may not be right for you

best wishes

ian

[Loopy Lou]

I started on Lamotrigene when i was first diagnosed because it was supposed to be one with few side effects. Unfortunately i seemed to hit every one of them!

I went to see the neurologist last week (i think!), and he's decided that we've given it enough of a go and that i should go solely onto keppra instead, which i had been taking as well as the Lamictal.

Since i've reduced the lamictal and gone up on the keppra i've already noticed that my hair seems to be falling out less, and the other side effects have been reduced, but not fully gone. I'm currently on 250mg Lamictal a day and 1500 Keppra, but will be going down in one and up on the other soon.

The memory issue has been a real problem for me, especially in a job where i'm supposed to store a lot of information and remember a lot of important facts and paperwork. Luckily my manager's been arranging for me to be "off shift" when we have big managers coming!

Edit - also, the lamictal did nothing for helping partials and absences for me at all.