Lamictal and hallucinations

[resaebiunne]

I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this. Since my dosage of lamictal was increased to 400mg/day I've noticed that I'm having a lot of visual hallucinations. It's possible that my hallucinations could be coming from my schizoaffective disorder, but before the increase in lamictal I never had these issues. I've found threads from other forums where people have reported hallucinations. The hallucinations seem to effect people with epilepsy or bipolar disorder. From my research, hallucination seems to be a rare side effect of the lamictal. I'll definitely mention this at my next appointment.

I'm just curious if anyone else here on CWE has ever experienced this.

 

[Cint]

I have TLE and on several occasions, I have hallucinated, but it wasn't from the drug, it was the seizure(aura) itself. Sometimes it happens with TLE.

http://www.epilepsy.com/learn/types-epilepsy-syndromes/temporal-lobe-epilepsy

What is temporal lobe epilepsy?
The features of seizures beginning in the temporal lobe can be extremely varied, but certain patterns are common. There may be a mixture of different feelings, emotions, thoughts, and experiences, which may be familiar or completely foreign. In some cases, a series of old memories resurfaces. In others, the person may feel as if everything—including home and family—appears strange. Hallucinations of voices, music, people, smells, or tastes may occur. These features are called “auras” or “warnings.” They may last for just a few seconds, or may continue as long as a minute or two.

 

[Frink]

Not sure if you would call it a hallucination or not but when I was on Lamictal it made everything look fake, like everything was part of a movie set background, a convincing Trompe L'oeil painting.

I kept touching everything to make sure it was real and not painted fabric, half expecting the walls to move like when Neo touches the mirror in the Matrix.

 

[valeriedl]

I have TLE and on several occasions, I have hallucinated, but it wasn't from the drug, it was the seizure(aura) itself. Sometimes it happens with TLE.

Same thing here. I've seen people and things in the house that aren't there. Sometimes I'll what's going on and other times I'll realize it's a seizure.

 

[resaebiunne]

Thanks for the input. My epileptologist has told me that I have primary generalized seizures, and I'm not aware enough to know if this could cause hallucinations. It's also worth noting that since I have schizoaffective disorder that there could potentially be some drug interactions going on, but I'm just not sure. I've been on lamotrigine now for a while, as well as an antipsychotic medication. After my initial dose of lamictal, I never seemed to have this problem as much as I do now. But I don't know if it's the medication, or something that just happened by chance (perhaps just a random flare up of the psychosis symptoms).