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Lamictal side effects.

Mon, 02/27/2006 - 20:49
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: Lamictal side effects.

Submitted by staciem on Thu, 2006-06-15 - 16:01
I am in the process of titrating up on Lamictal. What I have noticed is occasional headaches and tiredness. I was taking this medicine in the morning, and the side effects would come within a few hours and subside as the day went on. I switched to taking it before bed, and now I feel fine. I wake up feeling better and don't ahve the effects that I was when taking in the AM. GOOD LUCK! Stacie

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