Posted by screwedup on May 1, 2003, at 17:33:43
In reply to Increase Lamictal very SLOWLY, posted by Zo on March 25, 2002, at 16:51:07
I am on Lamictol 200 mg a day along with several other drugs and the combination isn't working though I do think Lamictol as a mood regulator probably is or was at 150 mg. pretty good. Before I increased I definately felt more stable, but was still very depressed.
Anyway the reason I am posting is because increasing lamictol slowly is ESSENTIAL not only for reasons of side effects but because studies even those done by the drug maker have shown that lamictol can cause a deadly rash. It took me around 5 to 8 weeks to work up to 50 mg after that it went faster. I have seen that several folks have mentioned the presence of a rash, and fortunately it sounds like they told their Psychiatrist and other doctors quickly. However, there are cases that even stoping the medication all together will not cure this deadly rash. Also, slow titration will not prohibit it in all cases.
My doctor told me about this - actually I asked him why I had to wait so long to get to the minimum therapeutic dose, and he told me because it could cause a certain type of rash. Probably like many of you being in a desparate search for happiness/sanity I said, "I don't give a damn about a rash." Then he said, "the rash can kill you." In my normal suicidal state, I wondered if this was really a bad thing. However, I was a good girl and titrated slowly, but I also went to a number of the pharmaceutical websites and found information about lamictal and this rash. Of course I can't remember the exact number but it was something like 1 in 1,ooo die from lamictol use primarily because of dosing up too quickly.
Sorry I went on so long and I never had the rash, but it scared me as I read through these emails and saw how many people were dosing up quickly and the prevalence of the rash side effect. So please be careful.
poster:screwedup
thread:100086
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030429/msgs/223685.html