I need a little help from anyone (and EVERYONE) on Lamotrogine and Lamictal (probabl

[Zara-Newman]

I have been on Lamotrogine for a while, along with various other tablets - switching and changing, still uncontrolled.
One thing is constant, this horrible headache, doctors have never known what has caused it and nothing seems to work to get rid of it herbal or medical.

This bit sounds mental, but I don't actually believe in profetic dreams - this was more something that just made me check.

I pretty much dreamt that my handbag got stolen with my pills, and my headaches went while I didn't have them.

Now, I am allergic to some things in some pills, colourings mostly. So I never have orange or yellow pills, or pills with black writing on. Because my nose swells and my head thumps like a mother ******!!

I looked up these, now these seem to have things I am allergic to in - even though the colour doesn't match. If that makes sense.

I was wondering what the colours of any other sizes of the tablets you are on are? I will look, but there are so many. And I would ask the doctors, but they are useless. They are always giving me things I am allergic to!

Any help would be appreciated, it would be amazing if I could get rid of this headache. It would be at least something!
X

 

[masterjen]

I was wondering what the colours of any other sizes of the tablets you are on are? I will look, but there are so many. And I would ask the doctors, but they are useless. They are always giving me things I am allergic to!

Any help would be appreciated, it would be amazing if I could get rid of this headache. It would be at least something!
X

You should check with the pharmacist about colorings in the tablets, as colorings and other additives may be different from one generic to another. I don't know how long you have been on Lamotrigine, but for me it took a good month for the frequency of headaches to diminish and after that I still had the occasional headache but not bad. Also make sure you are keeping the titration rate slow, as that can minimize side effects. One of the frustrating things about lamotrigine is how slow the increases have to be but eventually it does work well for a lot of people.
You may also want to make sure your neurologist knows about your headaches. Write down your description of them so you are not forgetting anything.

 

[Zara-Newman]

I have been on them four years. It is the colouring in them, it happens with anything with the colours.

The doctor told me the 200mg didn't have the colourings in, because they weren't orange coloured. But they were.

I am hoping to take the same dose but in different tablets, like 100 s to add up to my 400 or whatever.
I just wanted to know if anyone had any that didn't have colourings in. Since my doctors surgery told me that the ones I am taking doesn't have colourings, so they obviously don't know what they are talking about, when it comes to colour allergies...

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[masterjen]

I have been on them four years. It is the colouring in them, it happens with anything with the colours.

The doctor told me the 200mg didn't have the colourings in, because they weren't orange coloured. But they were.

I am hoping to take the same dose but in different tablets, like 100 s to add up to my 400 or whatever.
I just wanted to know if anyone had any that didn't have colourings in. Since my doctors surgery told me that the ones I am taking doesn't have colourings, so they obviously don't know what they are talking about, when it comes to colour allergies...

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Same thing - ask your pharmacist. They are the drug experts. They will be able to tell you about ones that do not have colorings in them (if there are any that do). It is not common that someone is allergic to all colorings; perhaps it is another additive that you react to instead of or in addition to some of the colorings.

 

[Zara-Newman]

I have already asked the pharmacist and they said they can't help me anymore they already have.

They just give me anything, it is a small place and I am apparently the only person that uses it.

Which is why I posted here, I asked the pharmacist, asked the doctor, asked the neurologist asked the epilepsy nurse.

So I thought the next step could be people who literally have the tablets.

I think it is a pretty fair bet it is the colours, coloured sweets do it, but ones with natural colours don't. Cupcakes with colours do it, but ones that aren't coloured don't.

Even some makeup, the doctors agree. It isn't a self diagnosis.

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[masterjen]

Could be that there are no versions that don't have colors. Will be interesting to find out from those here. Have you looked into the brand name (Lamictal)? Maybe it doesn't have colors.

 

[Zara-Newman]

A lot of Lamictal say "off white" I was wondering if that means it would have some of the sunset yellow colour I am allergic to?

Because it specifies "off white" instead of the "white" of the smaller tablets.

Obviously I don't want to be taking white 2mg tablets and making it up to 400mg haha

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[Zara-Newman]

Which is why I wanted to ask on here, who would know better than people who actually take them?
Certainly my medical people have no clue!

I thought it was worth a try.

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[Jezy]

I take generic lamictal. I am presently taking two 300mg tablets every day. The tablets are a light grayish blue. The generically is the equivalent to Lamictal Xr. I have taken both the name brand and generic and seem to tolerate it fairly well although they did a blood test and may increase the dose age. Maybe you should see if they will let you go back to the name brand I think they are superior. I have had those headaches and they are awfull, good luck to you.

 

[Zara-Newman]

I have a very light purply colour tablet at the moment.
I was given them because it wasn't the normal orange or yellow colour I was allergic to, but when we actually looked in the ingredients today it not only had the orange in, but also another ingredient too .


I understand that they cause headaches and it sucks, I have those headaches all the time too.
But I am asking because of ALLERGIC REACTIONS.

Lactimal headaches, and headaches with a swollen face that you get whenever you eat ANY colouring are not the same thing...

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[Jezy]

I looked at the pill again and it is kind of light purely so it might be from the same company. I have never had the allergic reaction with the swollen face you mentioned. I hope you are able to get this resolved.

 

[Zara-Newman]

Thankyou for the help

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[seagull]

I take the same spent all day yesterday with head ache think another coming on.i never thought about colouring in tablets.

 

[Zara-Newman]

As people have said, they do cause headaches.
It is caused by colourings if you also get swelling of the face or sinuses - or if it is brought on by things like sweets and cakes.

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[valeriedl]

I take Lamotigine 150mg and 25mg. Both pills are completely white but I don't know if they have any of the other things that you have found problems with in them.

Have you tried finding another med that you think you could take?

Did you have the headaches because of coloring before you had epilepsy or started taking the pills too? If you didn't then epilepsy could be another factor in it?

Have you considered going to a headache specialist for this to see if they can help you? I went to one for the horrible headaches I will get after a seizure and she gave me a shot to take.

 

[Blonde Angel]

I have already asked the pharmacist and they said they can't help me anymore they already have.

They just give me anything, it is a small place and I am apparently the only person that uses it.

Which is why I posted here, I asked the pharmacist, asked the doctor, asked the neurologist asked the epilepsy nurse.

So I thought the next step could be people who literally have the tablets.

I think it is a pretty fair bet it is the colours, coloured sweets do it, but ones with natural colours don't. Cupcakes with colours do it, but ones that aren't coloured don't.

Even some makeup, the doctors agree. It isn't a self diagnosis.

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Hi Zara
So you have asked the pharmacist, doc, neuro and the nurse? No joy! Go to the next one up then.

What about the actual drug company that manufactures what you take? Someone else on this forum suggested this to me as drug companies do have their teams of people who have it in their interest to know the ingredients EXACTLY.

Another thing
Have you taken the time to investigate what could be causing your allergy? Are you allergic to anything else? If so what? What is your body telling you? Your immune system is doing its job in reacting to what is not agreeing with your body.

 

[Blonde Angel]

If the drug is overwhelmingly negative over its positives, it just is doing more harm than good.

 

[AlohaBird]

Zara, you might want to contact Nakamova. My doctor is suggesting I take Lamictal and Nak was very helpful in answering my questions since she takes it herself and also does net research like nobody's business.

 

[Zara-Newman]

I have been on all kinda of medications, they are actually talking about stepping down my lamotrogine in a few months. It would be nice to have less of a headache while it is being done though.
I knew the 25mgs were white, that is how I experientmented with finding out if it was colourings. But it takes quite a few tablets to get me up to 400mg.

I have always had this issue, it has got worse as I have got older, but I definitely had the problem before I had epilepsy.

Yes I have been to lots of doctors, about it, including a headache doctor.
I was generally told it was sinusitis before, because of the swelling around the cheeks and nose.

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[Zara-Newman]

If the drug is overwhelmingly negative over its positives, it just is doing more harm than good.

Thing is, I am getting to the point where I am running out of pills to try.

This one seems to have done at least a little bit of good, paired with topirimate.

The rest have all made seizures worse.

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