Posted by baseball55 on August 8, 2015, at 20:40:45
In reply to Lamotrigine: Scared of Steve Johnson Syndrome, posted by kilo8 on August 7, 2015, at 21:11:17
If you titrate slowly up to 200mg with no rash and take it for a couple of weeks at 200 with no rash, then you're almost certainly not going to get the rash - that's the whole point of the titration. So I don't think you need to remain paranoid and anxious once you're on the target dose.
200mg works for me. I have no memory or cognitive problems at all. In fact, lamotrigine has no sx at all, for me.
I wasn't aware that lamotrigine is likely to cause benign rashes at first, which might be mistaken for SJS. Where did you hear this?
If you did have to discontinue, you can titrate off pretty quickly. It is an anti-seizure drug and abrupt discontinuation of anti-seizure drugs can cause seizures, but you can discontinue over a few days, not weeks. I have done it in the past.
> I want to try Lamotrigine for depression. My doc agreed. He told me to start with 25mg and then increase with 5mg weekly which is a very slow titration. Others increase 25mg per week.
>
> Anyway, what worries me is the risk of Steve Johnson Syndrome. I have GAD and I don't want to be paranoid and check my body every day for rashes. How do I deal with this?
>
> I also read that harmless rashes are a frequent side effect. But how on earth shall I differentiate between a "harmless rash" and Steve Johnson?
>
> What I also want to avoid is having to get off the drug in case I should get a rash and then in the end it was a harmless rash.
> If the doc simply says get off it in case there is a rash then there is also the danger that you get off the drug and it wasn't even necessary and maybe the drug would have helped.
>
> And is it true that Lamotrigine makes your memory worse? This would be very bad.
poster:baseball55
thread:1081160
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20150806/msgs/1081198.html