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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 9 of 9. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by always_doing_laundry on July 31, 2008, at 11:04:32
I have always thought that I just had more than the average bear's instances of deja vu. While reading another medication forum, I was surprised to see postings about particular drugs that have deja vu as a side effect.
Does anyone know whether Lamictal and/or neurontin have this feature?
When I reflect, I have chalked this up to middle age ... but I wonder now if it isn't concurrent with/coincidental with when I started on these meds. Could Lamictal affect cognitive processing, in that my thoughts aren't in synch with my experience (slower) and so it seems like it has happened before?
Honestly, I sometimes think I'm crazy, b/c it seems like one long string of interactions in my day will seem like back-to-back "deja vu."
I'm also wondering if my on-the-tip-of-my-tongue word-finding difficulties are part and parcel of taking either/both of these meds. Since I have been on both meds for about 7 years, it's difficult to remember when the frequency of problems increased (and if I could, I probably wouldn't be able to find the words for it ... lost on the tip of my tongue :)
The final issue I am realizing is that my memory is not what I think it is. This keeps cropping up, because I believe that I have good recall, only to find out (from others) that I don't ... I just think I do, because I forget what I forgot.
Thanks for any experiences, insight, feedback!
Posted by Amigan on July 31, 2008, at 12:00:17
In reply to deja vu, posted by always_doing_laundry on July 31, 2008, at 11:04:32
> When I reflect, I have chalked this up to middle age ... but I wonder now if it isn't concurrent with/coincidental with when I started on these meds. Could Lamictal affect cognitive processing, in that my thoughts aren't in synch with my experience (slower) and so it seems like it has happened before?
This is what a neurologist would say. I have read a couple of "rational" theories which are trying to explain this phenomenon and i think that none of them explains the deja-vu experience to a satisfactory level. It's still a mystery, imho.
In advanced deja-vu, a person knows what is going to happen in the next few seconds. This is for real. It is called precognition and i don't think that there is (or will be) a trully scientific theory which gives an explanation to this..
> Honestly, I sometimes think I'm crazy, b/c it seems like one long string of interactions in my day will seem like back-to-back "deja vu."
>
> I'm also wondering if my on-the-tip-of-my-tongue word-finding difficulties are part and parcel of taking either/both of these meds. Since I have been on both meds for about 7 years, it's difficult to remember when the frequency of problems increased (and if I could, I probably wouldn't be able to find the words for it ... lost on the tip of my tongue :)Well, yes. From what i know, this meds can cause cognitive impairment.
Posted by Amigan on July 31, 2008, at 12:32:57
In reply to deja vu, posted by always_doing_laundry on July 31, 2008, at 11:04:32
This is related to Lamictal mainly, as it promotes dopamine release. I don't know if Neurontin does the same:
"It has been reported that certain drugs increase the chances of déjà vu occurring in the user. Some pharmaceutical drugs, when taken together, have also been implicated in the cause of déjà vu. Taiminen and Jääskeläinen (2001) reported the case of an otherwise healthy male who started experiencing intense and recurrent sensations of déjà vu on taking the drugs amantadine and phenylpropanolamine together to relieve flu symptoms. He found the experience so interesting that he completed the full course of his treatment and reported it to the psychologists to write-up as a case study. Due to the dopaminergic action of the drugs and previous findings from electrode stimulation of the brain (e.g. Bancaud, Brunet-Bourgin, Chauvel, & Halgren, 1994), Taiminen and Jääskeläinen speculate that déjà vu occurs as a result of hyperdopaminergic action in the mesial temporal areas of the brain."
Posted by yxibow on July 31, 2008, at 23:40:43
In reply to Re: deja vu and dopamine, posted by Amigan on July 31, 2008, at 12:32:57
A lot of agents will affect cognitive functioning at the expense of providing benefits vs. unwanted effects.
Do remember too that if one reads the entire PI or the PDR, they're bound to find the "medical student syndrome" from taking medications and microanalyzing. This may not be exactly what you're referring to but I thought I would mention that
-- Jay
Posted by Phillipa on August 1, 2008, at 0:09:55
In reply to Re: deja vu and dopamine, posted by yxibow on July 31, 2008, at 23:40:43
Jay how well I know that feeling do it all the time. Try to stay away from googling too much. But I always thought deja vu was having something happen to you that you just knew same thing had happened exactly the same before and you were back in that same situation. Love Phillipa
Posted by always_doing_laundry on August 1, 2008, at 6:04:43
In reply to Re: deja vu and dopamine » yxibow, posted by Phillipa on August 1, 2008, at 0:09:55
thanks for the replies ... it wasn't that I was googling for information but that I happened to catch a thread about my meds and experience ... and hadn't heard that the two were connected before. Maybe just another person in middle age taking the same drugs with a propensity for deja vu and forgetting things :)
I haven't had any other side effects from being *on* the Lamictal (save a rash that I take daily Claritin for) ... the only problems I had were when I tried to go *off* of it (shaky legs, weakness, extreme fatigue, seizure ... had to wait to drive again ... won't be going off anymore). Now that I think about it, folks with epilepsy are more prone to bad memory, as well ... so that's probably my thing. Overthinking, I guess.
Posted by shasling on August 2, 2008, at 13:57:12
In reply to Re: deja vu, posted by Amigan on July 31, 2008, at 12:00:17
I had the same, but my episodes were accompanied by extreme fear and feelings of unreality. Mine turned out to be a seizure disorder of the left temporal lobe; deja vu is a common symptom of simple partial seizures of this area of the brain. Of course, not to say thats what is going on with you, but if you have any other symptoms with the deja vu like I mentioned above, you may want to see a neurologist. I take Tegretol and mine are totally controlled.
Posted by always_doing_laundry on August 2, 2008, at 22:26:13
In reply to Re: deja vu, posted by shasling on August 2, 2008, at 13:57:12
I'm taking Lamictal for a seizure disorder ... after having several grand-mal seizures that didn't respond to other meds (or I couldn't tolerate the meds, one or the other ... til we rolled through most but Lamictal, with neurontin and klonipin ... and formerly keppra, but it was evil and made me sick as a dog).
In the past year, I have had more just auras, without the seizure ... or so I thought ... maybe it's a different type of seizure. I get this sense of foreboding, as if someone is about to tell me they shot my dog ... or as if a sense of doom, accompanied by a nervous kind of agitation and visual disturbance (similar to a migraine).
I don't know if I want to bring it up with doc or not, in case it might affect driving status. I'm going to keep better track of complete symptoms/self-inventory, though. Thank you for your perspective.
Posted by shasling on August 3, 2008, at 18:44:47
In reply to Re: deja vu, posted by always_doing_laundry on August 2, 2008, at 22:26:13
Yesss, that dreadful sense of horrible forboding, thats the worst part.
This is the end of the thread.
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