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Topamax vs Lamictal
Mon, 09/18/2006 - 18:47Topic: Medication Issues
Hello all
I'm so happy to have found this board. I hope some of you out there can help me. I have atypical petit mal - have had it since I was 8 - and has stayed with me through adulthood. Mostly under control through medicine - ocassional absence seizues. Am on a coctail of Topamax, Carbitrol and Zarontin. My dr wants to switch me to Lamictal and ween me off the Topamax because he thinks it might control my seizures better, but I haven't heard anything good about Lamictal. has anyone there had experience with the two medicines? I'd love to hear from you
Much thanks
Comments
Re: Topamax vs Lamictal
Submitted by fastpitchfrkmom on Tue, 2006-09-19 - 10:59
MY 14yr old daughter also has the petit mal seizures and was on zarontin they added the lamictal but it didn't seem to help at all, so they tried to wean her off the zarontin and just try the lamictal and she started, she said, "feeling twitchy" so the lamictal didn't help her at all,,,,she is now on zarontin and keppra, which has helped her, she still has some breakthrough seizures but not near as bad. she did not have any side effects at all from the lamictal, but it was like she wasn't taking anything.
good luck finding the right meds to help. I know it's tough.
Rosemary
Re: Topamax vs Lamictal
Submitted by DJsMom on Tue, 2006-09-19 - 11:02
My 7 year old son has been on Lamictal for about a year. He has had no problems with it. It was used alone and with combination of other drugs. He does not have complete seizure control on any drugs, but Lamictal works pretty well for him. For a while he was on Lamictal only & did great, then the seizures increased and we had to add Topomax. After a while he developed a new, longer type seizure, so Clonazepam was added. He did excellent for a while (5 weeks) and now we are needing to increase the meds again. He is being evaluated for brain surgery & I hope to God that will be the answer for him as the past 5 years of his life have been a cocktail of drugs, their side effects and seizure injuries.
You can get opinions from all kinds of people, but each drug, or combination of drugs works differently on everyone. You just have to see for yourself. I have read that Topomax seems to cause more cognitive difficulty than Lamictal. I think it is worth a try.
Re: Topamax vs Lamictal
Submitted by leona on Tue, 2006-09-19 - 10:18
Hi, My daughter tried Lamictal a little over 18 months ago. It was a very lengthy process of getting on the correct dosage. It took probably 3-4 months because it has to be added on very slowly because of the fatal rash associated with taking it. We were very hopeful it would provide better seizure control and were willing to wait. Unfortunately it did not help us. One side effect which we were not told about but read online from other users was insomnia. My 6 year old daughter would wake up in the middle of the night and come into our bedroom and announce that she couldn't go to sleep. My daughter never had a problem with sleeping. This stopped when we discontinued the Lamictal. The problem we had with the topamax was that it was an appetite suppressant. My daughter became emaciated when she was on it. Granted she was never a big eater but she had no appetite on this medication. I wish you all the best with whatever you decide.