somethings gone haywire and im worried

[morgan86]

i had a little bit of a dilema today.. i think i need to recap some things first b4 i explain the events that took place earlier. so lately i've been having terrible night sweats. i've had this problem before. i've heard it happens with the antiepileptic im on (lamictal) but the ones i've been having lately are aLOT worse than those ones. i wake up several times covered in sweat and freezing because my pj's are wet. then a few days ago i got a sour stomach. dunno wut caused it. well it got worse and worse then finally went aaway and was replaced by nausea. i've been queezy most of the day for the past 2days. last night it got really bad. i barely finished supper and today i took 2 bites of cereal and that was it. came back again. i've just been drinking ginger ale all day. it seems to come in waves now. ok heres the craziest part. last night i felt kinda shakey. i figured it was just the nausea. this morning the shakiness came up again but didnt go away. it got worse and worse. for about 45min. i was passing around my kitchen.. just uncontrollably shaking all over.. i sat down at the table and closed my eyes and my husband came in and thought i was having a seizure. i was fully alert just unable to stop these terrible shakes.. and on top of that, during the shaking i kept getting this bizarre anxiety feeling. dunno what that was about. im not proned to anxiety attacks at all... so the 45min. went by i stopped shaking, nausea subsided enough to try dinner but WHAT THE HECK is this.. im really scared its gonna come back.. and get worse? was i actually having some sort of seizure and didnt realize it? the only thing i can think of is that its the increase of my anti depressent. i take effexor and i've just increased from 75 to 150mg. i've taken effexor before and as i increased the dosage this didnt happen but i wasnt taking it with lamictal before. anybody know about some kinda bizarre drug interaction here?? it had me pretty worried...

oh this is insane but right before this started happening i had 2 dreams that something serious was wrong with my stomach

[Rae1889]

Check drugs.com under the interactions tab. That will tell you if its an interaction issue.

Have you taken a pregnancy test?

Possibly an ulcer.

Your appendix might be imflammed.

I used to get something simular to this and I could only help the pain if I say down, crossed my legs, and leaned as far forward as I could. Turns out it was my gall bladder.

I suggest if it happens again, get yourself to the ER. This could be super bad.

[morgan86]

k i checked drugs.com no serious interactions and i know its not my gallbladder cuz i dont have one anymore hahaha. im going to attempt to eat for the first time and see how it goes. thinkin i'll try the pregnancy test.. just to be safe. those things tho do u think they could cause that weird shaking thing? i just want to be sure it wasnt a seizure. thanx for your response!!

[Nakamova]

Any chance it was the flu?

The night sweats are Lamictal-related. The fact that they've been increasing is unusual though. (I had night sweats when I first went on Lamictal, but they eventually went away), so maybe the Effexor increase is what's throwing your system off. You should let your doctor know what happened.

[Nakamova]

Morgan, I did some research, and this is what I found:

Effexor can cause nausea and sweating, especially when you increase the dose, so I suspect that it is interacting with the Lamictal to cause the increased night sweats. But I'm worried that you might also be experiencing serotonin syndrome. It's an unexpected side effect that can occur with an anti-depressant in combination with other meds. It would be unusual for it happen with in combination with Lamictal, but some of the symptoms sound like what you describe:

These are the signs of serotonin syndrome --

Confusion or other mental changes
A rapid heart rate
Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea
Hallucinations
Blood pressure changes
An irregular heart rhythm
Overactive reflexes
Fever, sweating, or shivering
Shakiness
Agitation

Definitely get in touch with your doctor.

[occb]

It makes sense that it's serotonin syndrome -- with the two drugs combined, your liver probably can't get rid of the chemicals as fast as when your were on just one.

Everybody's body chemistry is different though. It's also possible the lamictal is disrupting the levels of Effexor in your blood for some unknown reason. Any disruption or discontinuation of Effexor can cause all those symptoms too, including the vivid dreams. Effexor has a really short half-life, so if your body is processing the drug faster, or the lamictal is interfering with absorption, you'll feel it even with an increased dose.

Also, double check your prescription as well, to see if you've been switched from brand name to generic, or vice versa on either drug. Even though docs and pharmacists deny it, that kind of change can have a drastic effect on your body.

I would definitely see the doctor right away -- he's the expert and he'll know what to check and change.

[morgan86]

ok so heres an update incase anyone was wonderin. everything disappeared. the nausea the sh a king.. i should feel happy but instead i feel ashamed that i got so worried and s till worried it might come back. whatever it was. oh and i took the pregnancy test. it was negative thank god.. so strange. i feel silly tho. and thanx everyone for your responses. so helpful :-)

[Nakamova]

It may have been a temporary reaction to the increased Effexor dose, that went away when your body adjusted. I remember getting a weird reaction when I drank a lot of grapefruit juice at the same time I was on Zonegran. I didn't realize that the grapefruit was messing with how the med was being absorbed. It took me a while to figure it out. Anyway, I'm glad you're feeling better. And don't feel ashamed! It was scary and disconcerting, so it's normal to worry. I hope it doesn't happen again and you can relax.

[occb]

Yay that you're feeling better! I spoke to my partner about this (he's on Effexor and Lamotrigine as well) and he thought it was normal during the adjustment period to feel like that. He told me it takes a good 6 months before everything really levels out with the Effexor.

No need to feel ashamed about being worried -- this was an experience that was out of the norm for you. I probably would have reacted the same way.

[morgan86]

hey thanx everyone. and by the way OH! thats why u cant drink grapefruit haha. my neurologist warned me about it so i've nvr eaten it (i think its yucky anyways) so thanx for the heads up on that and the other stuff! so far things seem to be back to normal accept my nose is a lil over sensitive. im going to research and see if anyone else noticed their sense of smell getting stronger. the weirdest things seem to be changin. only thing answer i can come up with is that my epilepsy or the level of electrical activity must be changing. hmm. again thanx for your responses

[Meetz1064]

weird how things change for the WEIRD with us E patients!!