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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 11 of 11. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by theo on March 17, 2005, at 23:02:48
I'm a little worried about nagging side effects from Lamictal even after 4 weeks of discontinuing.
I stopped Lamictal because of these side effects:
Headache
Burning stomach
Warm feeling in my brain
Hip joint pain, bursitis
Extreme bloodshot eyes and pain behind eye
Cognitive issues above 125mg
Crying spells for no reasonIt's been a month and I still have a rush of that warm feeling in the brain it gave me and I feel like my IQ is half of what it was. This is very frightening and I'm worried that it may have done something permanent.
Anyone know any info on how long biologically in your brain this med can effect you? I'm pretty level headed and have tried many meds and stopped with no problems, but Lamictal has me freaked!
Posted by Maxime on March 17, 2005, at 23:23:52
In reply to Lamictal side effects after discontinuing, posted by theo on March 17, 2005, at 23:02:48
Lamactil made my depression much worse. It did improve about 3 weeks after I stopped the lamictal and started the trileptal.
Are you still having ALL those side effects?
Maxime
Posted by theo on March 17, 2005, at 23:49:02
In reply to Re: Lamictal side effects after discontinuing, posted by Maxime on March 17, 2005, at 23:23:52
> Lamactil made my depression much worse. It did improve about 3 weeks after I stopped the lamictal and started the trileptal.
>
> Are you still having ALL those side effects?
>
> MaximeNo, just the warm feeling in my brain occasionally and the cognitive issues. Just enough to still bother me after 4 weeks of being off it.
Posted by Phillipa on March 18, 2005, at 0:15:11
In reply to Re: Lamictal side effects after discontinuing » Maxime, posted by theo on March 17, 2005, at 23:49:02
These mood stabilizers are confusing me. I thought lamictal was supposed to relieve depression? Fondly, Phillipa
Posted by Maxime on March 18, 2005, at 1:41:21
In reply to Re: Lamictal side effects after discontinuing » Maxime, posted by theo on March 17, 2005, at 23:49:02
What are you taking now? Any chance that you are still depressed and the cognitive problems are because of that? I was on a dosage of 150 mg.
Maxime
> > Lamactil made my depression much worse. It did improve about 3 weeks after I stopped the lamictal and started the trileptal.
> >
> > Are you still having ALL those side effects?
> >
> > Maxime
>
> No, just the warm feeling in my brain occasionally and the cognitive issues. Just enough to still bother me after 4 weeks of being off it.
>
>
Posted by Maxime on March 18, 2005, at 1:54:44
In reply to Re: Lamictal side effects after discontinuing, posted by Phillipa on March 18, 2005, at 0:15:11
> These mood stabilizers are confusing me. I thought lamictal was supposed to relieve depression? Fondly, Phillipa
Phillipa:
Lamictal actually relieves depression as well. That is why is it a good choice for people with BP type 2 who lean more towards depression. Some people with unipolar depression use it as monotherapy with great success, will others like me get bad results from it. Lithium is another mood stabiliser that seems to stop people from having severe suicidal thoughts but most people use it to augment their antidepressant or as monotherapy if they are bipolar type 1, but it also acts as an anti-depressant.
Most mood stabiliser are anti-convulsants and therefore will do little for depression.
I really like this site http://www.psycheducation.org/depression/meds/moodstabilizers.htm
which talk about which mood stabilisers are best for which symptoms.And this one http://home.comcast.net/~pmbrig/BP_pharm.html
For the psychopharmacology of bipolar meds.
And then this chart to tell the chemical properties of psych meds:
http://sl.schofield3.home.att.net/medicine/psychiatric_drugs_chart.htmlThere is so much to know about meds and we can't depends on our pdocs to know everything .... this much I know is true.
Hugs,
maxime
Posted by CareBear04 on March 18, 2005, at 16:43:35
In reply to Lamictal side effects after discontinuing, posted by theo on March 17, 2005, at 23:02:48
hey theo,
sorry to hear about your problems. i DC'd lamictal without any problems, but it didn't cause me much trouble when i was on it, either. i don't know how long the half-live is, but i was pretty much guarantee that it should be out of your system after four weeks. like someone else asked, is there anything else you're on that could be causing cognitive dysfunction? i guess it's possible that the effects could last longer. i had two bouts of lithium toxicity in the fall, and i thought i had permanent brain damage. only now, 4-5 months later, my fog is starting to lift, and i feel like myself again. since i was a toddler, i've always read everything in sight, but for months, i coudln't even read a few pages of a book. but in the case of the lithium, i had several times a therapeutic level in my system, so it makes some sense that it took so long to clear out completely. how high was your lamictal dose? have you maybe had your blood pressure checked recently? the head/brain/eye stuff could possibly be a sign of high blood pressure. i hope you feel better!
Posted by theo on March 19, 2005, at 11:45:16
In reply to Re: Lamictal side effects after discontinuing » theo, posted by CareBear04 on March 18, 2005, at 16:43:35
> hey theo,
> sorry to hear about your problems. i DC'd lamictal without any problems, but it didn't cause me much trouble when i was on it, either. i don't know how long the half-live is, but i was pretty much guarantee that it should be out of your system after four weeks. like someone else asked, is there anything else you're on that could be causing cognitive dysfunction? i guess it's possible that the effects could last longer. i had two bouts of lithium toxicity in the fall, and i thought i had permanent brain damage. only now, 4-5 months later, my fog is starting to lift, and i feel like myself again. since i was a toddler, i've always read everything in sight, but for months, i coudln't even read a few pages of a book. but in the case of the lithium, i had several times a therapeutic level in my system, so it makes some sense that it took so long to clear out completely. how high was your lamictal dose? have you maybe had your blood pressure checked recently? the head/brain/eye stuff could possibly be a sign of high blood pressure. i hope you feel better!My blood pressure is 120/80 and my eyes cleared up 2 days after stopping the Lamictal. This eye problem also happened with Topamax which I only tried for two weeks because I couldn't spell "dog" while taking it. It says in most anticonvulsant prescribing info that they can mess with your eyes and vision. My vision is 20/15 and would hate to screw it up on a quest to find that wonder drug.
I think for me, mood stabilizers aren't a very good option. The benefits DO NOT outweigh the side effects.
Posted by Spriggy on March 20, 2005, at 10:19:55
In reply to Re: Lamictal side effects after discontinuing » CareBear04, posted by theo on March 19, 2005, at 11:45:16
OOOH great... why oh why, did I have to come read this thread when I am just now starting lamictal??
Posted by theo on March 20, 2005, at 11:24:26
In reply to Re: Lamictal side effects after discontinuing, posted by Spriggy on March 20, 2005, at 10:19:55
Don't freak. I look at meds 50/50, it could work for you and be a miracle.
I always thought I stopped meds to fast and didn't give them a long enough chance, so with Lamictal I kept taking it hoping one morning I would wake up and it would kick in, kinda like SSRI's do when they work.
Anticonvulsants aren't like that and I wasted a lot of time and also didn't listen to my body. My pdoc would tell me to "hang in there" and looking back I should have simply said, I'm right, your wrong, this med is chocked full of side effects and that's that. Instead, I doubted myself and let her ego roll over me.
In reality looking back at all the money I spent on pdocs, I could be where I am now, going to my general doc and just asking him to try these meds on my own under his supervision. I think pdocs are a racket, throwing around BPII like it's the "Diagnosis of the Year."
Now that I'm not taking meds, a little over a month now, I feel like I'm getting to know myself. People that didn't know I was taking meds have recently told me me eyes look bigger and have even asked if I've been tanning, which I haven't but I guess have much more color.
If I need to start back on a med, I won't have a problem but at least will know why I'm taking it versus adding a med to offset the side effects of another. After trying Lamictal, Topamax for depression and anxiety, I would NEVER take these again.
Posted by Phillipa on March 20, 2005, at 16:03:16
In reply to Re: Lamictal side effects after discontinuing » Spriggy, posted by theo on March 20, 2005, at 11:24:26
That's what I found when working as a psych RN in a psych hospital. A pt came in on one med. The new pdoc changed it. The pt had side effects. Another med to counteract that. I worked as a charge RN on the acute unit, and pts only stayed until they were stabilized and not suicidal or psychotic. Then they went upstairs to a higher functioning unit. I used to fill in up there once a week. I'd see the same pts I had downstairs, but now they had two or more sheets of medications! And they became "frequent flyers". In and out of the hospital. Fondly, Phillipa
This is the end of the thread.
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