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Break Through Seizures on Lamictal??
Fri, 06/19/2009 - 19:18Hi everyone. I have several questions and Im very confused right now, maybe someone can shed a light on this situation. Im 24, I had my first grand mal seizure 4 years ago. I was hospitalized because I hit my head and was knocked out for a day straight.. About half a year after, I had another seizure, in my sleep and was taken to the hospital as well. This time a resident neurologist prescribed Lamictal to me. He told me to build up, 25mg, then 50.. etc till I finally reached 100mg tablets, twice a day. Everything was perfect, 2 years I havent had a single seizure..
The Doctor and I have descided to try to lower the medication, or get rid of it completely, since my EEG and MRI's showed no problem, and no-one in my family has ever had seizures.. We began lowering the dose, and as soon as it got to 25mg, twice daily, I had another seizure.. Then we decided to go back to the dose I was taking, and I slowly began building up back to 100mg twice a day.. On my way up I had another seizure.. afterwards I stayed on 100mg twice a day, and everything was fine for about another 6-7 month.
Then I was moved to generic, lamotrigine, and I don't know if it was a coincidence or not, but I had another grand mal seizure.. My doctor moved me to Brand name Lamictal again, and got the autorization from my insurance so I get Lamictal, not generic.. He also bumped up my dosage to 100mg morning, and 150mg at night.
Everything was fine for another 5 months, then last week I had another seizure, right before I was about to go to bed.. I thought it was because I took my Lamictal a few hours later then I usually did. Then 3 days ago, I had another grand mal seizure, this time right after I woke up.. Now Im worried.. I have never had seizure so frequently. This time I was taken to a hospital. They put the EEG on my as soon as I arrived, and did not give me any Lamictal at all. I was on the EEG for 3 days,I was sleep deprived since the hospital kept me awake most of the night + I didnt take any lamictal while I was there, and still didnt have a single seizure.. After 3 days of testing, they said everything is fine and discharged me.
Now I do not understand, does this mean the Lamictal is not working for me anymore, or was this a break through seizure??? (To be honest I was kinda stressed and tired, and lacked some sleep this past week) But since I was on lamictal I though that wouldnt matter.. My neurologist is not telling me anything usefull, just bumped up my dose of Lamictal another 50 mg. Now its 150mg morning, 150mg at night.. I was pushing for 200mg twice a day, but he said they only increase little by litte, since too much of it might also increase seizures. But somehow I find it hard to believe that the extra 50mg will keep me safe.
Also what seemed weird is that, my aura before a seizure, is the same as a side effect of Lamictal.. I get really dizzy moments before a seizure happens..
Did anyone experience anything like this?? Does this mean my body is adapting to Lamictal and reducing it effect.. Im not really comfortable having a seizure every 3-4 months, and then having my dosage bumped up another 50mg.. If everything was fine before, even on 100mg twice a day.. Can someone shine some light on this situation??? I would appreciate it..
Comments
Wow, that's exactly how I
Submitted by Lylyheart1@yahoo on Wed, 2018-04-04 - 19:39
Re: Break Through Seizures on Lamictal??
Submitted by Nerak95 on Sun, 2009-06-21 - 12:11
I don't know if Lamictal is one of these drugs but sometimes an AED can lose its effectiveness. For my daughter, Lamictal did cause an increase in seizures. But it's hard to say if this is the case for you.
Another thing that can lower the seizure threshold are other medications, whether they may be prescribed or over the counter. Even some nutritional supplements can wreck havoc on seizure control.
Stress and lack of sleep are definitely factors for seizure breakthrough. If you can document this with the previous seizures that you've had then you might be on the right track.
If you can't find a common denominator for these increase in seizures then I think it wouldn't be unwise to consider adding another AED to the regimen or replacing the Lamictal altogether.
And...one piece of advice. If you can stay on the name brand medication for seizure control, do it. There have been so many instances of seizure breakthrough while taking the generics.
~Karen
I don't know if Lamictal is one of these drugs but sometimes an AED can lose its effectiveness. For my daughter, Lamictal did cause an increase in seizures. But it's hard to say if this is the case for you.
Another thing that can lower the seizure threshold are other medications, whether they may be prescribed or over the counter. Even some nutritional supplements can wreck havoc on seizure control.
Stress and lack of sleep are definitely factors for seizure breakthrough. If you can document this with the previous seizures that you've had then you might be on the right track.
If you can't find a common denominator for these increase in seizures then I think it wouldn't be unwise to consider adding another AED to the regimen or replacing the Lamictal altogether.
And...one piece of advice. If you can stay on the name brand medication for seizure control, do it. There have been so many instances of seizure breakthrough while taking the generics.
~Karen
Re: Break Through Seizures on Lamictal??
Submitted by bandmom on Thu, 2012-02-16 - 19:24
My 19 year old daughter is having an increase in seizures (partial complex) in the past 3 weeks since increasing her dose of Lamictal. Her dose was increase from 450mg to 500mg per day. She was having about 1 seizure per month, now she's had 12 in the past 3 weeks, along with dizziness and aura feelings most days. It didn't make sense to me that she would have more seizures on a higher dose, but interesting to see that's it's happened to others.