How long did it take for Lamictal to help?

[chmmr]

I was just curious what others experiences were. I know it takes a long time to taper up to the maintenance dose, especially in kids, and i totally understand how important it is to do that because of the risk of rash etc.

But i was wondering if anyone noticed an improvement before they got up to their maintenance dose? My daughter started it Oct 18, at 2.5mg twice a day, then went to 5mg twice a day for two weeks, and from here on out she increases it by 10mg a day every two weeks until she gets all the way up to approximately 70mg a day, which is going to wind up being the middle of January.

I guess i'm just wondering/hoping we might see some improvements as we build up the dose?

 

[MAB]

I was just curious what others experiences were. I know it takes a long time to taper up to the maintenance dose, especially in kids, and i totally understand how important it is to do that because of the risk of rash etc.

But i was wondering if anyone noticed an improvement before they got up to their maintenance dose? My daughter started it Oct 18, at 2.5mg twice a day, then went to 5mg twice a day for two weeks, and from here on out she increases it by 10mg a day every two weeks until she gets all the way up to approximately 70mg a day, which is going to wind up being the middle of January.

I guess i'm just wondering/hoping we might see some improvements as we build up the dose?

I have been having partial seizures for 3 1/2 years but only found out what was going on this month.

I don't know. I just started 25mg on Oct. 12 and increased to 50 mg. on Oct 25. I haven't noticed any partials for a couple weeks but sometimes I would go weeks without having any then they would hit and it would be either one very long seizure or lots of smaller ones, not sure which. Sometimes the auras would last for hours or days.

How old is your daughter?

 

[chmmr]

I have been having partial seizures for 3 1/2 years but only found out what was going on this month.

I don't know. I just started 25mg on Oct. 12 and increased to 50 mg. on Oct 25. I haven't noticed any partials for a couple weeks but sometimes I would go weeks without having any then they would hit and it would be either one very long seizure or lots of smaller ones, not sure which. Sometimes the auras would last for hours or days.

How old is your daughter?

She's 3years old MAB Glad to hear you haven't had any partials for a couple of weeks!!

 

[MAB]

Thank you, I hope your daughter feels better soon.

 

[AlexC]

I started Lamictal from another AED in June, and it has just now gotten a good dose. I should also say though that my epilepsy is very hard to control, so I still have seizures. However, the intensity has improved. I hope this gives you a bit of insight.

 

[Nakamova]

Your daughter may see improvement before reaching the maintenance dose, since the therapeutic level isn't absolute -- it's different for each person. In my case, my neuro wanted me to ramp up to 300mg, but I felt I had good control at 250mg and stopped there (and in fact, later tapered down to 200mg).

 

[chmmr]

Thanks guys! We are hoping to keep her around 70mg (which would be mid january) but may go up over 100 if we need to. Such a slow process...fingers crossed she improves before then as since she started getting worse in September and going on medication, she has started forgetting words she knew for brief periods (words like nose, white, cheerios etc) and even seems to hear things wrong at times (she'll repeat a word someone said but it's some completely garbled up version).