Talk to me about eye problems and Lamictal

[chmmr]

I'm curious what others have experienced with their eyes while on lamictal as i'm reading that it affects your vision in a variety of ways.
I'm also wondering how long people were on it before they noticed issues?

My almost 4 year old has been on it for about 9 weeks now and all of a sudden today our GP noticed that she has strabisimus (eye turning in) in one eye. I'm wondering if perhaps she has developed this to compensate for some poor vision caused by the lamicatal.....

 

[MAB]

I have only been on it since Oct. and it causes me to frequently have blurry vision. I will no longer drive after dark.

 

[cazzy12]

i been on it over ten years but in last few months my eyses been awful,i got 5pr spects on the go at any one time it driving me nuts

 

[Nakamova]

I got blurry vision on it almost right away, within the first month. I could tell because I had perfect vision beforehand (due to laser surgery). It's been almost 6 years, and the blurriness persists. It varies throughout the day, which makes it tough to get glasses. I do a lot of squinting -- does your daughter?

 

[AlexC]

I haven't had the blurriness, but one of my eyes twitch in a non-Epileptic fashion.

 

[chmmr]

I got blurry vision on it almost right away, within the first month. I could tell because I had perfect vision beforehand (due to laser surgery). It's been almost 6 years, and the blurriness persists. It varies throughout the day, which makes it tough to get glasses. I do a lot of squinting -- does your daughter?

I haven't seen her squinting. When I questioned her she said she does have trouble with her eyes sometimes but she can't describe it. ( a 4 year old wouldn't understand blurry). We see the eye dr in 2 weeks. We have waited so long to get to her proper lamictal dose it will really stink if we have to stop it.

 

[Evamarie91]

Before I made my doctor take me off Lamictal (after five small doses) I read online that the drug binds to melanin. Apparently there has not been any indepth research into what this means for melanin rich organs like the human eyes. That said, the article I read (and I have no idea where I found it) said that one should expect there to be vision issues after long term drug usage. I'm not sure what determines "long term drug usage," but I found that interesting.

 

[Zolt]

I don't have good words for Lamotrigine, because it did a number on me. Not on my eye, but on my seizures.

At first, things were going well, Although it didn't seem to do much for my seizures, since I was still having them once a month and the side effects did not seem bad at all. I was happy. After 6 months, it pushed my seizure out to every other month. So I was happy once again. Only problem is that the seizures were, longer than any i can remember having, and they really beat me up and tied me up like a pretzel. So after the second seizure like that i told the doc that it's the med that is causing it. What does he do, he increases the dosage. Doh@#$! Ok, so i increased the dosage, but then i got shortness of breath just walking around my normal routines at work and that was not normal. I then demanded the doc to take me off of it.

After coming off of Lamotrigine, my seizures went back to the normal types i'm more used to, the ones that are only in my hand/arm. I only take one medicine, so i knew what the cause was.


I would definitely question ur doctor more about this and maybe even get a second opinion. One way to know if the drug is causing the eye problem is to switch medicines. Even if it's just a hunch. There are a lot of meds out there, i hope all goes well with her eye issue.

Cheers


iano: op:

 

[valeriedl]

One of the meds that I take is Lamictal.

Every so often I'll get blurry/double vision. It drives me crazy especially if it's the double vision. I have to close one eye in order to see ok. If I keep both of them open it will make me sick some times. I usually have to lay down for at least an hour with my eyes shut and something over them that blocks out any light. After that it's usually ok.

I haven't had the blurriness, but one of my eyes twitch in a non-Epileptic fashion.

This happens a good bit too. They will twitch back and fort for around a second to two. Doesn't do anything to my vision after it happens.

 

[Janellie8]

Just a question here... would glasses or contacts help the blurriness??

 

[valeriedl]

Just a question here... would glasses or contacts help the blurriness??

I wear both and have had it happen when I've had either on.

 

[Janellie8]

I wear both and have had it happen when I've had either on.

Rats...

 

[MAB]

Just a question here... would glasses or contacts help the blurriness??

If the blurriness is like mine, I don't think glasses could help. It comes and goes, sometimes in one eye, then the other eye, then in both eyes. Sometimes it's very blurry other times, blurry but not as bad. It changes by the minute, hour or day.

 

[chmmr]

If the blurriness is like mine, I don't think glasses could help. It comes and goes, sometimes in one eye, then the other eye, then in both eyes. Sometimes it's very blurry other times, blurry but not as bad. It changes by the minute, hour or day.

Is there anything in particular that makes it worse or better MAB?

 

[MAB]

Not that I have been able to figure out. I have only been on Lamitical since October and the blurriness started probably almost immediately.

 

[chmmr]

Not that I have been able to figure out. I have only been on Lamitical since October and the blurriness started probably almost immediately.

That's how long she has been on it too
Crappy. And we are still increasing her dose so i'm not even sure what to do if the eye dr says she needs glasses because it may get worse. Ugh.

 

[MAB]

That's how long she has been on it too
Crappy. And we are still increasing her dose so i'm not even sure what to do if the eye dr says she needs glasses because it may get worse. Ugh.

I just increased my dose today by 25mg. In 2 weeks I increase another 25mg. That will be 175mg per day. I hope that is it. By then my doctor will be back in and I see her Jan 10. I doubt she will have any suggestion about the blurry eyes. She freaked when I told her I had 1 simple partial that only lasted a few seconds. To me that wasn't much of a big deal. I'm used to have simple partials that go on for days.

I talked to my eye doctor on the phone and he really didn't have much to offer. He suggested making some clip-ons that I could wear over my regular glasses but I don't think that would help since the blurriness is constantly changing.

 

[malibu1966]

I have just been placed on this med. Tomorrow morning I start my first dose of 25 mg. Then increase it over 8 weeks to 100 mg's per day.

I currently wear glasses and am glad I found this post. I will pay close attention to any changes in my vision.

 

[lindsayschu2]

Wow I notice you all seem to have pretty low target doses (100, and 175 mgs). Those are where you think you are landing, long term? My doctor has me going from 0 to 300 mgs in a 7-week period, and mumbled something about maybe going higher!

 

[Ruth]

I'm curious what others have experienced with their eyes while on lamictal as i'm reading that it affects your vision in a variety of ways.
I'm also wondering how long people were on it before they noticed issues?

My almost 4 year old has been on it for about 9 weeks now and all of a sudden today our GP noticed that she has strabisimus (eye turning in) in one eye. I'm wondering if perhaps she has developed this to compensate for some poor vision caused by the lamicatal.....

Hi chmmr,

I have been on Lamictal for about 13 years now. It has not affected my eyesight at all. I started having some vision problems when I was about 12 years old.

I recommend that you see an opthmalogist once a year for your daughter's vision. They are specialist is that field. You can get a referral from your GP. I see one once a year to see if there are any changes.