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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 sandy4917 on Mon, 2006-06-12 - 07:43
Amy, I am in the process of switching to Lamictal from Dilantin. I've been taking Lamictal for almost a month now. I haven't experienced any side effects i know of. I did do a lot of research b4 switching and i think i read that absence of periods are a rare side effect. I'd ask your dr's. Good Luck, Sandy
Re: Re: Lamictal side effects.
Submitted by amykazoo on Mon, 2006-06-12 - 08:14
Whoops, I meant 3 WEEKS late, not months!
Re: Lamictal side effects.
Submitted by amykazoo on Sun, 2006-06-11 - 23:30
Hi all, I'm also concerned with Lamictal side effects. I recently increased (over a 4-week period) to 200mg 2X/day. My period is 3 months late, no chance of pregnancy. Has anyone else had missed periods? Trying to decide whether to go to my neuro or my ob/gyn. Also, I swear I'm gaining weight even though I eat very little (no appetite!) and exercise 6 days/week. Weight loss seems to be the normal problem with Lamictal, alas... a.