Lamictal

[bshaw96]

Anyone on this? I started it today. She said to take it in the am, it wouldn't make me sleepy. I guess I wouldn't describe it as sleepy, more like disconnected, for about an hour, almost panicky. And that was only 25mg. And of course Im paranoid about the whole rash. Have been itching all afternoon, though I assume that's in my head, no rash and only 1 pill taken. Please share all experiences with this med. THANKS!!!!

 

[wonderwaleye]

Dear Bshaw96

Call your doctor immediately.

This is the best and only advise you should receive.


I had that happen to me on another med and the doctor told me to stop taking the drug and come in.



ALWAYS REMEMBER:




XEven though you can't see Him, GOD is there!O
( click on the X and move to the O ) ( then feel who is around you )

 

[Alive again]

DEfinitely callyour doc for input, no better place. I personally did not tolerate this med for other reasons, but I know those it works for. This is always a frustration with meds and your doc or pharmacist is one of your best resources!!!

Blessings!

 

[Shalia]

According to the PI sheet, the Stevens-Johnsons Rash will be accompanied by a fever and itching. So if you have no fever and no rash, I wouldn't stress about that. Honestly. Even if you DO get the dreaded Rash, it just involves dropping Lamictal immediately, and you'll be OK. People who die from SJR are the idiots that get a rash, high fever, and don't call their doctor for a week. Remember, and this is true on ANY anti-convulsant, it's just a higher likelihood on Lamictal: ANY rash + itching + high fever = you at the ER with ALL your pill bottles in hand. Nearly every AC can cause SJR, just not as often.

If you are having problems with... well, not sure what to call it, but the disconnected feeling, I'd call your doctor and ask if you can cut it in half and take half in the morning and half at night. People who are taking depakote start at 12.5 a day, and work up from there, so it certainly wouldn't hurt you to ask if you could do that.

Also, a scout of the PI sheet will tell you that anyone taking Lamictal has a 1/10 chance of getting any kind of rash. Not necessarily The Rash, but just a rash. So going hypoallergenic on all your lotions and other body products would probably be good here.

Since Lamictal tends to be good on the depressed side of the scale, if you tend towards mania and don't have a good antimanic in place you could get manic off Lamictal, even a small dose. I know that 25mg difference one way or another on my dose at one point would throw me manic. So your anxiety could easily be from that perspective as well, and that would be another good reason to ask your doctor if you can start your doses smaller or split them.

What other drugs are you taking? <If you don't mind me being nosy.> Lamictal is sort of the "prima donna" of meds, and reacts with just about everything. It will even react with your birth control pills if you are taking birth control. <Seriously, it's in the PI sheets.>

I wouldn't freak out if I were you, but I'd still call your doctor and ask. It'll be OK. And Lamictal is seriously one of the best drugs out there, give it a chance. <And make sure your lotions are hypoallergenic!>

 

[goldenviolet]

med changes can sometimes be a bumpy adjustment, so you got a prayer over here going up for you

 

[AngelRider]

Anyone on this? I started it today. She said to take it in the am, it wouldn't make me sleepy. I guess I wouldn't describe it as sleepy, more like disconnected, for about an hour, almost panicky. And that was only 25mg. And of course Im paranoid about the whole rash. Have been itching all afternoon, though I assume that's in my head, no rash and only 1 pill taken. Please share all experiences with this med. THANKS!!!!

I had the same reaction you had also and never took again but I kept that reaction longer than needed so it was an allergic reaction and I had only taken the pill a short time. I would talk to your doc about it and let them know your reaction to it just to make sure that you are okay.......I hope this helps

 

[angelkiss]

I am on Lamictal. My doc started me out slow, due to the rash. He said I would more than likely NOT get it by taking one every other day, for two weeks, then one a day after that. Now I am up to 50 mgs a day, and so far so good
Of course, people are different, and what's working for me, may not work for you and vise-versa. You should talk with your doc and see what he/she has to say about it. Suggesting a slow start wouldn't be a bad idea.

 

[bshaw96]

According to the PI sheet, the Stevens-Johnsons Rash will be accompanied by a fever and itching. So if you have no fever and no rash, I wouldn't stress about that. Honestly. Even if you DO get the dreaded Rash, it just involves dropping Lamictal immediately, and you'll be OK. People who die from SJR are the idiots that get a rash, high fever, and don't call their doctor for a week. Remember, and this is true on ANY anti-convulsant, it's just a higher likelihood on Lamictal: ANY rash + itching + high fever = you at the ER with ALL your pill bottles in hand. Nearly every AC can cause SJR, just not as often.

If you are having problems with... well, not sure what to call it, but the disconnected feeling, I'd call your doctor and ask if you can cut it in half and take half in the morning and half at night. People who are taking depakote start at 12.5 a day, and work up from there, so it certainly wouldn't hurt you to ask if you could do that.

Also, a scout of the PI sheet will tell you that anyone taking Lamictal has a 1/10 chance of getting any kind of rash. Not necessarily The Rash, but just a rash. So going hypoallergenic on all your lotions and other body products would probably be good here.

Since Lamictal tends to be good on the depressed side of the scale, if you tend towards mania and don't have a good antimanic in place you could get manic off Lamictal, even a small dose. I know that 25mg difference one way or another on my dose at one point would throw me manic. So your anxiety could easily be from that perspective as well, and that would be another good reason to ask your doctor if you can start your doses smaller or split them.

What other drugs are you taking? <If you don't mind me being nosy.> Lamictal is sort of the "prima donna" of meds, and reacts with just about everything. It will even react with your birth control pills if you are taking birth control. <Seriously, it's in the PI sheets.>

I wouldn't freak out if I were you, but I'd still call your doctor and ask. It'll be OK. And Lamictal is seriously one of the best drugs out there, give it a chance. <And make sure your lotions are hypoallergenic!>

What other drugs are you taking? <If you don't mind me being nosy.> Lamictal is sort of the "prima donna" of meds, and reacts with just about everything. It will even react with your birth control pills if you are taking birth control. <Seriously, it's in the PI sheets.>

This is it so far, except for a regular multivitamin. I have been on Celexa and Paxil in the past, with Celexa doing nothing, and Paxil sending me into some crazy sort of panic attacks. I think they called them rolling panic attacks, lasted about a week. Looking back, guess that was a manic type episode. I definitely lean more toward the manic side than depressed side, so we'll see how this goes. Thanks for the input!

 

[My_Sojourn]

Hi bshaw,

Lamical has been a miracle drug for me but it's taken 10 months to get to a good theraputic dose at 200 mgs. 100 mg in the morning and 100 mg at night. Splitting up this way works better for me than the whole dose at night, keeps it steady throughout the day.

I would strongly recommend, when you talk to your doctor next, to ask him or her to prescribe an antimanic while you titrate up, especially if you lean more towards the manic side than the depressed side, and if Paxil made you manicky.

I lean more toward manic than depressed too. When I first started titrating up the Lamictal, it sent me on a wild manic episode, more hypomanic than full blow manic. Whew, I went on 1-2 hours of sleep for a couple of weeks, really grandious, happy superwoman, charging up my credit cards ordering things on line, brought one computer and took it back and then bought another and computer programs. In those two weeks I spent almost $2K. There went my savings.

I finally called my pdoc talking a mile a minute, totally scattered and she told me to come get some Abilify from her office. The Abilify is a good antimanic and brought me down pretty well and controlled my thoughts. Unfortunately, it caused me even more insomnia and I didn't sleep at all so I stopped it. As I tritrated up I had another short hypomania, crash, and then a mild mixed and then stabilized.

But I still had my delusions, paranoia, obsessional thinking so she put me on Seroquel and that has really taken care of these symptoms alot. I have OCD, but can't take AD's for it, but the AP works pretty well. Titrate your Lamictal slowly and call your doctor every time you see something happen on your skin. I called her when I got prickly heat rash from spending the whole day in the sun, and then a pimple on my stomach. I described the rash and she said stop it for 2-3 days and if it goes away and no fever, start up again. And I did. The thing about stopping it, you can't go more than 5 days after stopping it without having to start all over at 25 mg and titrate up again.

You should definately your pdoc if something isn't right about your skin.

 

[Zita123]

I am on Lamictal and been on for some time now. I forgot to take it one night and now I have a rash. I think I'm just over thinking the situation because of what Lamictal can cause.
Anyway it's ok with me.
Zita

 

[bshaw96]

I am on Lamictal and been on for some time now. I forgot to take it one night and now I have a rash. I think I'm just over thinking the situation because of what Lamictal can cause.
Anyway it's ok with me.
Zita

Yeh,

 

[bshaw96]

I am on Lamictal and been on for some time now. I forgot to take it one night and now I have a rash. I think I'm just over thinking the situation because of what Lamictal can cause.
Anyway it's ok with me.
Zita

Yeh, kinda

 

[bshaw96]

I am on Lamictal and been on for some time now. I forgot to take it one night and now I have a rash. I think I'm just over thinking the situation because of what Lamictal can cause.
Anyway it's ok with me.
Zita

Yeh, kinda think this might be

 

[bshaw96]

I am on Lamictal and been on for some time now. I forgot to take it one night and now I have a rash. I think I'm just over thinking the situation because of what Lamictal can cause.
Anyway it's ok with me.
Zita

Yeh, kinda think this

 

[bshaw96]

I am on Lamictal and been on for some time now. I forgot to take it one night and now I have a rash. I think I'm just over thinking the situation because of what Lamictal can cause.
Anyway it's ok with me.
Zita

Yeh, kinda think this might be me

 

[bshaw96]

I am on Lamictal and been on for some time now. I forgot to take it one night and now I have a rash. I think I'm just over thinking the situation because of what Lamictal can cause.
Anyway it's ok with me.
Zita

Yeh, kinda think this might be me too. If she told me the drug might cause my hair to fall out, Id probably will that to happen

 

[bshaw96]

I am on Lamictal and been on for some time now. I forgot to take it one night and now I have a rash. I think I'm just over thinking the situation because of what Lamictal can cause.
Anyway it's ok with me.
Zita

Yeh, kinda think this might be me too. If she told me the drug might cause my hair to fall out, Id probably will that to happen too. I have occasional itching, dry skin Im sure,

 

[bshaw96]

I am on Lamictal and been on for some time now. I forgot to take it one night and now I have a rash. I think I'm just over thinking the situation because of what Lamictal can cause.
Anyway it's ok with me.
Zita

Yeh, kinda think this might be me too. If she told me the drug might cause my hair to fall out, Id probably will that to happen too. I have occasional itching, dry skin Im sure, no rash. Honestly, Im sure I had the itching before the med, now Im just paranoid and noticing everything.

 

[bshaw96]

I am on Lamictal and been on for some time now. I forgot to take it one night and now I have a rash. I think I'm just over thinking the situation because of what Lamictal can cause.
Anyway it's ok with me.
Zita

Yeh, kinda think this might be me too. If she told me the drug might cause my hair to fall out, Id probably will that to happen too. I have occasional itching, dry

 

[my3boys]

I took my 1st dose of lamictal lastnight. The doctor asked me to start at night. I too itched in different places about 2 hours after taking 25mg. I'm assuming it is psychosomatic. I'm being treated for bipolar disorder II diagnosed yesterday. It has rocked my world. It's been difficult dealing with the spiritual issues related to a mental disorder. Am I lacking faith because a doctor recommends medication for my mood swings?