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Long Term Lamictal Use and Side Effects

Mon, 08/14/2006 - 23:08
Hi All, who among us has had to give up Lamictal after taking it a pretty good while? When I went on it around two years ago, I thought it was just the right med for me. Now I've started to struggle. My short term memory has gotten so bad, it's cost me two jobs. I'm always so dizzy, I feel as if I've had four or five beers. I've gone from the local Tabasco Kid to a diet so bland it would bore a baby. Go ahead and add in absentmindedness and clumsiness. Top it off with some plain old profound disorientation and major depression. In four or so months I'm a mess where I was a model. My new neuro just wanted to throw some Dilantin back in the med mix. (I'll die before that happens!) Help me out here folks. Anyone had Lamictal go sour on them? Or was it last years' brain surgery taking me for a roller-coaster ride? It's been a long time gone for me. I hope my Family of Buddies are all doing well. I'm happy to be back. Peace- marko

Comments

I read somewhere that

Submitted by Shirleyxxx on Mon, 2017-05-08 - 15:24
I read somewhere that Lamotrigine (lamictal) can actually cause brain damage.  I have trouble with my balance, strange headaches, odd sensations and light headedness, dizziness and even seizures.  I told my Neuro what was happening and he prescribed a HIGHER dose of lamotrigine, sent me for an EEG which picked up the seizures but apparently they were not epileptic.  This I don't understand. I was only put on medication because the first EEG picked up temporal lobe epilepsy.  They want to brush it off.. probaly because they know something I don't. 

Oh my gosh thank you so much

Submitted by emonaco1113 on Fri, 2019-03-01 - 17:36
Oh my gosh thank you so much for posting this. I know it's old but I have developed insomnia, panic attacks, severe anxiety.. to the point where I am afraid to be alone and have to call into work because I'm so exhausted and anxious of seizures. I was paranoid i was going crazy, hopefully they switch me at my appointment monday. I've been on this for 7 years!

When I first started

Submitted by sjeinteriors@yahoo.com on Tue, 2018-12-04 - 23:14
When I first started lamotrigine I felt just as you do now, and I hope you stay that way. I've been on this stuff for about 4yrs now and I can't even explain how far I've fallen mentally. I excelled in math and in advanced A&P. I was actually waiting to get into veterinary school. Within a year my brain, eyesight, and coordination were and still are a joke. I want off this medication so badly. There are days that I literally can't divide by 2, my mind goes completely blank. I find it so difficult to have intelligent conversations I don't even try anymore. I feel like an idiot constantly. Some days are better than others, but for the most part I don't have a brain any longer. It weighs on me heavily...

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