Please Help! Painful mouth sores when changing meds around

[Bluesbrkr]

Hi. I have been on 800 MG Lamictal and 1200 Trileptal and was finding them slowly losing their effectiveness to where I was having 5-10 simples a day. My Neuro decided to try me on Depakote and that has been working very well. I've also been able to lower my Lamictal dosage, which i'm sure my liver and kidneys will be thankful for.
I've also had some depression issues and was switched from Effexor, which I don't recommend, and was put on Cymbalta to try out while weaning off the Effexor. That seems to be going well but.... and I know this was stupid to do all the same time... I have been running into issues and i'm not sure which combination or specific medication is causing the problem.

I've taken Lamictal and Trileptal for 3 years with very good success, but the dosage has slowly but surely increased over time and my neuro doesn't want to go any higher on the Lamictal. So we added the Depakote, which helped tremendously to where I went from 5-10 simples to almost none. I was pretty happy (always a few annoying new side effects you have to get used to), and it seemed to be going in the right direction.

Then, I started getting swelling and tightness in my cheeks and canker sores along the gum lines and on the cheeks. They have been quite painful and 3 weeks later, have not gone away. Doctor checked for viral and it came up negative. He was pretty sure it had to medication related. I just have to figure out which one / ones...

SOOOO... has anyone had any similar issues (even sore gums or bad rashes etc). I'm currently taking:

800 mg Lamictal
1200 mg Trileptal
had added 100 mg Depakote
and currently Cymbalta 30mg
(which we may change to Celexa if this continues)


the Depakote and the Cymbalta started around the same time. I know there can be an interaction between Depakote and Lamictal which can cause rashes, but I've been off of the Depakote for 2 weeks now and the sores and pain in my mouth has not gotten any better, despite a separate liquid med to swish around that's supposed to make it better....

sigh.... Yet another of those spiked walls... errrr... bumps along the road in dealing with epilepsy.

so any experience with issues between Depakote / Trileptal / Lamictal?
or adding Cymbalta into the mix in any way?

just for kicks, I'll through in that I also take levoxyll and adderrall, so not sure if that would come in to the mix. I'd never had any problem with any of these until the Depakote and Cymbalta came into the mix.

I hope this makes a little bit of sense... I can almost follow it myself...onder:

thanks for any insight or advice
Paul

 

[Nakamova]

Paul, sounds pretty unpleasant. Have you talked to your neurologist about this? He may actually have some input if he's seen this kind of thing before.

My vote is for the Cymbalta: "Sores, ulcers, or white spots in the mouth or on the lips" are listed as Cymbalta side effects.

Another possibility is a deficiency of some sort -- deficiencies in some B vitamins, iron, folic acid, and/or zinc can cause mouth sores too.

 

[momof3boys]

when i was on Lamictal I had the swelling of my glands in my neck, and sores around my mouth and chin area. They got worse as the dosage went up. I had to be taken off the medication.

 

[jyearta]

I don't know if this will help you, but I taken L-Lysine 1 1000mg daily. You can find this in the vitamin sections at most stores.