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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 Wed, 2013-05-22 - 20:25
Thank you for taking the time to sum up your history and the effects you have experienced from Lamictal. My side effects mirror yours and I take great pride in my job and it is someone's challenging to cover up the inadequacy caused by my medication. Your post is over a year old. Did you change medications, if so, what has transpired? Best of luck! David

Me toooo!

Submitted by rgeorge2 on Thu, 2018-12-13 - 13:55
Yes!!!!! I have the EXACT same problems!!!!! I've been on my lamotrigine for over 10+ years now and lithium 5+ years. Same symptoms like you! I'm over 40 years old but feel like 80! I don't know where to turn. I've been to many doctors who can't tell me anything, just that it shouldn't cause memory loss. I don't believe that any more. I used to think so clearly and now I have been living in this fog for so many years, I wonder what real life outside medication is? I know I can't be without this medication. I've played the doctor role and ended up in the hospital a few times. I just want to see clearly again with no attention deficit problems. That would make everyone happy! Sooooooo glad I'm not the only one with these problems. Just wish someone can fix these medications with these bad side effects so that we can live a normal life again!

Re: Memory Loss & Lamictal

Submitted by camiphoenix on Mon, 2011-12-05 - 15:56
Personally, the I've been on the Lamictal for a year at this point (200mg/day).  My side effects from that (in order of least disruptive to most):

1) Yawning - Virtually any time I'm talking out loud, my use of breath has me yawning almost constantly.  Pretty disruptive considering I work tech support in a call center.  I may wear out the mute button on my phone. 

2) My coordination is off now.  Used to be a skater-chick, ride a unicycle and have lots of fun balancing and walking on high and narrow things.  Now I'm lucky if I can round a corner without bumping into it with my chest or hips.  I can't wear white shirts or "nice" clothes anymore, because I have a good chance that I'm going to spill something on myself before the day is done.  My typing speed has been cut down to about a quarter of what it was (due to typos and having to look at the keyboard frequently now).  It's a miracle if I get through a sentence without using the backspace button.  On average I'm backspacing every other word.  What I intend to type and what my fingers do are not the same thing.

3) Severe memory/cognitive impairment - I had to make notes in order to type this up.  For reference sake (rather than bragging), throughout my life I've consistently been in the top 1% on universal IQ tests.  I'm a problem solver by nature. Having worked with the people in my department for 6 years, I'm now only able to recall about ten people's names reliably.  I have had to make myself a notebook listing what I need to do in my daily duties at work, giving myself step by step instructions because I won't know what to do on any given day.  I have to document all of my usernames/passwords in my notebook as well, because if I'm off work for even a week I will forget them entirely.  I've lost at least half of my vocabulary, and even that is being generous.  I struggle to remember simple words, or when I'm talking completely random wrong words will come out every few sentences.  If I get up from the couch to go to the kitchen, even odds I won't remember what I went for by the time I get there.  There is no way I can multi-task anymore.  It's hard enough keeping my mind to one task now.  At this point I fear for my job, and have been avoiding personal contact at work as much as possible so people don't notice my level of impairment.  My friends have to let me know that I've told them something repeatedly before.  Most of my life I've felt that my intellectual capacity was really all I had going for me, so losing it is devastating.

To be fair, Lamictal has stopped my seizures.  It's been great for that.  But it stops random short-circuits that cause seizures by depressing brain function in its entirety.  Everyone has different levels of cognitive suppression, so you may or may not experience any of the assorted side effects.  The key here is that if you start to have challenges braining, don't ask your doctor if you should stay on it.  Tell them you need to try a different medication.  Period.  

1) Yawning - Virtually any time I'm talking out loud, my use of breath has me yawning almost constantly.  Pretty disruptive considering I work tech support in a call center.  I may wear out the mute button on my phone. 

2) My coordination is off now.  Used to be a skater-chick, ride a unicycle and have lots of fun balancing and walking on high and narrow things.  Now I'm lucky if I can round a corner without bumping into it with my chest or hips.  I can't wear white shirts or "nice" clothes anymore, because I have a good chance that I'm going to spill something on myself before the day is done.  My typing speed has been cut down to about a quarter of what it was (due to typos and having to look at the keyboard frequently now).  It's a miracle if I get through a sentence without using the backspace button.  On average I'm backspacing every other word.  What I intend to type and what my fingers do are not the same thing.

3) Severe memory/cognitive impairment - I had to make notes in order to type this up.  For reference sake (rather than bragging), throughout my life I've consistently been in the top 1% on universal IQ tests.  I'm a problem solver by nature. Having worked with the people in my department for 6 years, I'm now only able to recall about ten people's names reliably.  I have had to make myself a notebook listing what I need to do in my daily duties at work, giving myself step by step instructions because I won't know what to do on any given day.  I have to document all of my usernames/passwords in my notebook as well, because if I'm off work for even a week I will forget them entirely.  I've lost at least half of my vocabulary, and even that is being generous.  I struggle to remember simple words, or when I'm talking completely random wrong words will come out every few sentences.  If I get up from the couch to go to the kitchen, even odds I won't remember what I went for by the time I get there.  There is no way I can multi-task anymore.  It's hard enough keeping my mind to one task now.  At this point I fear for my job, and have been avoiding personal contact at work as much as possible so people don't notice my level of impairment.  My friends have to let me know that I've told them something repeatedly before.  Most of my life I've felt that my intellectual capacity was really all I had going for me, so losing it is devastating.

To be fair, Lamictal has stopped my seizures.  It's been great for that.  But it stops random short-circuits that cause seizures by depressing brain function in its entirety.  Everyone has different levels of cognitive suppression, so you may or may not experience any of the assorted side effects.  The key here is that if you start to have challenges braining, don't ask your doctor if you should stay on it.  Tell them you need to try a different medication.  Period.  

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