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Memory Loss & Lamictal

Fri, 08/12/2011 - 23:08
Hi everyone. I'm Kat, I've been active on this board for a while but mostly in the Women With Epilepsy forum. I was going to post this in there but I feel like it should be more open to everyone since it's not focusing on women only issues. Since starting Lamictal almost two years ago, I have noticed some fluctuations with my mood as well as my ability to concentrate, that showed mostly as I got up in the dosage. I started at 25mg like most patients and eased my way up to my current 250mg BID (twice a day) dosage. I did the escalation slow as recommended & did not experience any obvious side effects. However, as I've gotten more into my medication routine with it, I have noticed that my moods seem to fluctuate (just a little bit, but still noticeable) and I know that Lamictal is also used to manage bipolar disorder. I am currently in the process of switching doctors so I've been waiting to talk to my new doctor about these issues. I don't have the best relationship with my current doctor & feel as if he doesn't listen so I don't see the point in even bringing it up. In fact, I believe I brought it up to him in the past but to no avail. His answer for everything is either "that's normal but not worrysome" or "lets increase the dose & call me in a week". To run through what I've noticed, the main thing is that I have a hard time handling a day regimen that requires me to multitask. This presents a lot of problems because I have a very busy life with working, managing my home due to my boyfriend being away a lot for his work, taking care of a new puppy practically by myself & being a college student, about to enter a very heavily crowded schedule. I have taken on two jobs in the fall after school starts & even though I have an optimistic look to it, I know from my past that my memory lapses cause a lot of problem. For example, I missed the deadlines for several things involving school that will make my semester hard such as missing the deadline for a grant that would be very helpful & missing the date to order the main campus parking permit & having to get one that's much more difficult to deal with. I've always been a little scatterbrained but it seems much worse lately. Sometimes someone can tell me something & in just fifteen minutes, I forget what they said. This causes a lot of frustration with everyone around me & makes me feel incompetent. I'm not entirely sure it's just the medication but in my heart, I feel like it has something to do with it. Does anyone else that's on Lamictal (I take the generic lamotragine) experience similar problems? If so, how much does it affect your life & how much is your current dosage? I appreciate any feedback. Thanks guys!

Comments

Re: Memory Loss & Lamictal

Submitted by comment on Tue, 2012-08-28 - 15:28
I just set up an account in this website and it has been an incredible relief knowing that I'm not alone. I should have explored sites like this many years ago to provide others support and to find out what is out there to improve my quality of life! I have been on 400mg of lamictal for over ten years and on 400mg of lamictal XR since January 2012. My memory loss and ability to concentrate are terrible during peak periods each day and my memory loss over the years is disturbing because I forget important events and vacations. I'm a financial analyst that juggles meetings and infinite number crunching. My days are extremely challenging, picking up assignments during meeting are a challenge to remember and to assimilate because of my absent concentration. It has been a severe suffering for many years and it is difficult coping because without the medication I'm extremely sharp. I'll provide more detail when I get more time this evening. Thx

Re: Memory Loss & Lamictal

Submitted by kattatstrophe on Tue, 2012-08-28 - 22:17
Thank you for responding, I'm glad that you feel a relief knowing you aren't alone. That's what things like this are for & I'm very glad that someone can read what I write & feel better. What peak periods do you go through? Is it worse during the same time everyday? If so, when is that? I never really heard about that cyclic affect, but that's very interesting. It is very difficult, I know, and its something that has affected my career choices along with several other things. But yes, please do keep me updated!

Re: Memory Loss & Lamictal

Submitted by comment on Thu, 2012-09-06 - 14:32
Excuse my delayed reply. I take 200mg at 4pm and 200mg of lamictal xr at 3am daily. My prescription was to take 400mg, at one time, when going to bed, but my sleep was being compromised and seizures were likely to follow. The peak period seems to follow about 6 hours after taking the dose. By taking it at 3am it's peeking when I'm arriving at the office. By taking it at 4pm its beginning to drop when I go to bed at 9-11pm daily. When it's peeking my concentration is foggy, my memory and ability to speak during meetings compromised --- but not to the point of others noticing. it's a suffering I personally go through every day. I decided to split the dose into two when first going onto the lamictal "xr", because sieziure symptoms were surfacing and I found sleeping improved when I split them. However, During the last couple of days work stress mounted, I started taking omega fish tablets a week ago (that I read about in here), my sleep has been thrown off and I've had a total of 3 seizureswhen sleeping during the last 5 days. I'm staying home today to de-stress and sleep --- and get back on track. Sometimes I wonder if there is another medication out there that can eliminate seizures all together and not compromise my normal function. That's why I started researching and came across this website. Do you recommend any medication? Let's stay in touch. Thx

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