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Lamictal side effects.
Mon, 02/27/2006 - 20:49Topic: Medication Issues
Hi,
I am really in trouble regarding the medicine. I took Depakote ER for my generalized seizures and been controled by it for about 5 years. In March 2004 I had a child who was born with Fetal Valproate Syndrome-syndrome caused by Depakote. I can't describe to you how painful it is to realize how much damage I did to my own son! It took me about 6 months to find out what was wrong with him because all doctors who saw him couldn't help me. Right now, thank God, he is a very active, happy boy, running and destroying everything around:)). But he underwent two surgeries and maybe one more is coming.
Now, we decided to try to have another child and I started to change medication on something safer. There is no safe medication but new generation AEDs sound more promising. At first, doctor put me on Keppra 500mg twice a day. On the fourth day after completely stop taking Depakote and being only on Keppra I had a seizure, first in 5 years. I scared my older son who is 11 years old now a lot. He helped me during my seizure because my husband was at work at that time. My youngest was OK, he didn't understand anything. Doctor increased my dosage to 2000mg a day. But my mood is very affected by it. I am very snappy, angry and tired all the time. Plus there is not enough data regarding pregnancy and Keppra. After talking to my doctor again we decided to switch to Lamictal. There is some data regarding pregnancy on this medication. It's my second week on Keppra 2000mg and Lamictal 50 gr. It's going to take overall 8 weeks to do a complete swith. The dosage of Lamictal at the end will be 400 mg. But since yesterday, I started to have funny taste when I eat-everything tastes bitter. Plus I don't want to eat at all, except bread. I started to wonder, can it be an effect of Lamictal and will it go away? I am lost completely. Did anyone experience anything like that and what did you do? Sorry for such a long blog! Thank you very much for any response!
Natalya.
Comments
Re: Re: Lamictal side effects.
Submitted by yon on Wed, 2006-06-28 - 16:41
Hi all
I just joined and it looks that this is a good place to meet !
I am 47 and was diagnosed as epileptic after 3 years of fainting every two weeks.
I am taking lamictal 2 * 225 a day - and have not fainted for a year.
I have also lost my appetite = but Losing my appetite is great ! I just loss 10 Kilo, which is just fine.
My side affect problems are
- short term memory - It is VERY difficult for me to learn new stuff - even remembering an simple 3 letter abbreviation such as PCR is difficult - of course I make a fool of myself at work...
- I also get staring attacks I find myself staring at something - a quick shake of the head stops that.
I also have a language problems - I say a sentence in one language which I am fluent in, and in mid sentence throw in a word in my mother tongue.
After I write an e-mail I need to read it three times to make sure that I have not made mistakes such as missing out a word, using the wrong word, or saying the opposite of what I intened to say - often people just don't understand what I'm writing about !
I am wondering if anyone else has found a way around these symptoms ?
Also - could it be that the symptoms are part of the damage done by the epilepsy (partial complex syndrome) - as opposed to the Lamicta ?
Re: Lamictal side effects.
Submitted by ladybug on Tue, 2006-03-14 - 22:11
Hi Nat,
I've learned, when taking Lamictal, not to take it on an empty stomach. I usually eat breakfast first, then take it. In the evening, it doesn't seem to bother me like it does in the mornings.
Good luck!
Keri
Re: Re: Lamictal side effects.
Submitted by natalya on Thu, 2006-03-16 - 09:41
Karenina, Thanks for sharing your experience! I am switching from Keppra to Lamictal. It will take 8 weeks for a complete switch and I increase dosage slowly. But at the end, my neuro wants me to take 400 mg a day. I am not sure yet how I will be on that dosage. Rigt now I have too much medicine in my system, I can feel it(2000 Keppra+ 100 Lamictal). As you told, I also became better about this crazy taste and my appetite slowly returned. Some food still taste strange but most of it taste normal. Also I noticed that I am loosing the weight, despite eating lots of carbs. That's the only good thing from all these medication :))! Depakote was awful regarding the weight. I am feeling tired and dizzy all the time but I am not sure is it side effect of Keppra or Lamictal. What type of seizures do you have? Is Lamictal the only medicine you take? Thanks again! Natalya.