Lamictal joint pain

New to this site, I'm 61 and disabled but not handicapped. I had brain cancer and it's a miracle I'm alive, but the treatment left me predisposed for seizures, and they're always grand mals.  The first one after surgery was June 08. Since then, I've tried and rejected Keppra (irritability), Dilantin (depression), Topamax (dopamax), and now take 100mg of Lamictal twice a day. I haven't had a seizure since beginning LamictaI eleven months ago. The only side effect I've noticed is an increased emotional sensitivity. It's mostly being happy to be alive, but I cry a little almost every day. I haven't experienced any increased joint pain, but I started smoking cannabis after that first seizure, too. Since then, the osteo arthritis that had developed in a wrist I broke twentyfive years ago but didn't treat, has shrunk back down from a swollen lump to almost the same as the other wrist. That can only be the cannabis, and I can't attest that it will work for you, but I've been a daily toker for over six years and continue with the strong recommendation of my neuro oncologist. Motion is lotion and I'm physically active, playing over 200 rounds of golf a year, currently a 13 handicap, and fitter than 90% of my age peers. 

You do need to call your neurologist. One person needs to take the maximum dosage for the medication to work good and control the seizures. But then another person may get toxic on a small dosage. Medications that work for one person may not work on the next and the same with dosages. When they first started me on medications I had to stop taking dilantin within 4 days of starting on it, after a week I was put back on it at a lower dosage and titrated up. So a prson can be toxic on a dosage that works for one person. I took dilantin for about 35 years but after that long the medication became toxic after taking it for about 2 hours. I remembered the first time I took it and what had happened. Contact your neurologist and discuss this with him if you are not having seizures and are doing fine then the low dosage may be all that you need. But I am no doctor. call him and discuss this issue.

I am so happy that I found this thread! It is such a relief to find a possible explanation for the pains that developed in my hands and knees. My story is a bit stranger than others I have read here. I started taking Lamictal I while ago, beginning at 25mg and increasing every two weeks until I got to 100mg per day. I was on that dosage for about six months without any issues. In fact, it helped tremendously with my depression and anxiety, for which it was prescribed. I hadn't felt so good in my whole life! I wasn't depressed, and my fears of social settings were gone. Unfortunately, after about six months, I started to gradually get joint pains in my hands, and ligament pains in my knees; the upper ligament on the right and the lower on the left. It took about two months to get to the point that I had a hard time going up stairs and opening soda bottles. After speaking with my doctor about the issue, I got off it, and the joint pain slowly, over the course of four months, started to subside. However, it didn't completely go away, which perplexed both myself and my doctor. She put me back on it, because my depression got really bad again, and my joint pain has returned as a result. To give a bit of medical history pertaining to this medication, my doctor examined my joints through a physical exam, by xraying my hands, and doing blood work. All of this was accomplished prior to halting the prescription the first time. All of the tests came back normal. My doctor was stumped, so she sent me to a rheumatologist. Once I see him, I will bring up the experiences of those on this thread to see what he says about it. My first appointment is in a couple days.