Hello to everyone, and thanks a lot for your helpful replies. Since I wrote my initial post, the swelling happened a third time, and the doctor recommended stopping the medication for a few days to see if the medication or something else may be causing this.
My 19-year-old son also takes Lamictal, and I am aware of the potential seriousness of the rash issue. However, I did not know that swelling of this type could also be dangerous. No one ever mentioned it, and the doctor did not say it would be important to go to the hospital in the event of a rash or other symptoms. I am genuinely curious as to what they would do in the hospital...do they give a shot to counteract a bad reaction to Lamictal, or what is it that they would do exactly? If it's a shot, what kind of shot is it?
In my case, I am from the U.S. but currently live in a developing country...and if I had to go to the hospital for this issue, I would want to call them first to make sure they had the necessary staff and equipment to deal with the problem. We have local hospitals that are adequate for most issues while the more modern hospitals are located in the capital city, which is a little far away. Although I would certainly make such a trip for a genuine emergency, I did not want to rush to do so before I heard from the doctor. Although it may have appeared that I was being careless, I was, in fact, doing several things at once...contacting the doctor and waiting for his response, researching the issue on the Internet, and asking my questions here for additional insights. Perhaps I should have contacted the doctor immediately after I noticed the swelling, but I did not yet know that swelling could be one of the side-effects of the medication. I was thinking in terms of rashes and not swelling. Also, it went away, so I wasn't sure if it was important or if I was over-reacting since kids have so many odd things that happen with them on a daily basis irrespective of medication.
As for the doctor himself, we have been seeing him for nearly three years, and he appears to be a very experienced and competent doctor. He is board-certified from the U.S. and sees a high percentage of epilepsy patients, many of whom are children. Due to where we live, there is not a large selection of sub-specialties like epileptologist, but our pediatrician referred us to this doctor since he is one of the few in the country who deal specifically with childhood epilepsy. Your advice is very good, but I just wanted to explain where I am coming from and how this affects some of my decisions. I do think it is important for doctors to provide accurate patient-information and instructions on what to do in case of an emergency. You guys helped me tremendously by filling in the gaps, and I am really grateful for that. I'll be posting again once I know anything more about the swelling and whether my son can continue to take Lamictal.