New - starting gabapentin as an add-on med
 |
|
|
UPDATED: Tue, 05/12/2009 - 2:43am
Advertisement
Place Your Advertisement Here
All ad revenues support the mission
of the Epilepsy Therapy Project
Place Your Advertisement Here
All ad revenues support the mission
of the Epilepsy Therapy Project
mac3mpc
Ramping up on Lamictal - advice needed
- Login or register to post comments
- Share on Twitter
- Share on Facebook
- View/Print content
My doctor switched me from Depakote to Lamictal (but kept the 200 mg Topomax the same) last week. He had me go for 2 days without the Depakote and no Lamictal so that I wouldn't have any overlap and reduce the chance of a reaction, and then started the 5 week ramping up process of the Lamictal. The first few days I was fine. Then this weekend I started having seizures.... a lot .... at least a lot for me. I had 3 Saturday night. 6 during the night Sunday and 2 more Monday morning which kept me from going in to work. I called the doctor to check in to see if this was something I should worry about and he told me that it was just because I didn't have enough of the Lamictal built up in my system yet and I needed to ride it out. If it becomes a problem, he said he could speed up the process of the ramping up, but it raises the risks of the side effects.
I think seizures that are causing me to miss work and interfering with my life are an issue, but I don't want to risk the side effects. What should I do?
Any words of wisdom or advice?
By mac3mpc at Tue, 05/12/2009 - 2:43am | 95 views | 10 comments
Related Content
View all Forums
 katfaerie |
 Gina M... |
meresu... |
meresu... |
adelman |
 amyoon |
 daydre... |
 eRaff |
 Peaches78 |
daffyduck |
todmor... |
Hotwir... |
aidadj... |
lmsylvan |
smperkin |
 BobbieZZ |
BobbieZZ |
Bundy |
megck1097 |
 chibik... |
 kay69 |
 Bloody... |
Arial |
Gina M... |
daj |
Recent Comments on this Discussion
My doctor switched me over from the Depakote to the Lamictal because I was still having break through seizures and the side effect of the weight gain (15 lbs in 6 weeks) really bothered me, especially since I had worked so hard all of last year to lose 82 lbs only to start gaining it back due to the med. Blahhhhh. If it had worked, it would have been worth it .... but to gain and still have the seizures. No way. So far, the Lamictal, now that I'm working up to my dosage, seems to be working. I'm 2 weeks seizure free. (Knock on wood.)
As for generics, my pharmacist tried to switch me to generic Topomax a couple of months ago - telling me it was exactly the same. Within a few days of starting the generic, I was havng seizures all over the place and I couldn't figure out what was causing them. Nothing was different. I didn't realize until I went over my journal with my doctor that generics could make such a big difference. He immediately wrote me a script for dispense as written and told me not to let the pharmacist talk me into the generic. As soon as I was back on the name brand, the seizures stopped again. I guess not everyone would react like that, but I wouldn't take the chance again.
How Grow Taller
Hi I have been on lamictal for 3 years now and I have been fine.I have switched to the generic and now I am having about 3 to 6 seizures a day.any one that can help please answer.very much appreciated.
My son is on both lamictal and depakote. I wonder why they wanted you off the depakote to start the lamictal. Also thanks to those who posted about the generic versus the name brand meds. My son was on name brand and switched to generic and started having seizures again. I thought it was the switch but of course the pharmacy disagrees.
hi,
talk to your doc and get put back on the brand name. it worked. the regulations on the generics are crazy. it gives to much leway to the manufactures and the pharmacy. The theraputic chemicals and bioavailibility can be in a 80-120% range. there is no specifics on the inactive chemicals.(if there is such a thing) there is no regulation that keeps a company from changing there formula. The pharmacy is required in most states to dispense generic. They are not required to always dispence the same generic to the same patient. Business is business. the pharmacy in most cases is going to buy the least expensive drug. the way around this is to have you neuro write on the script. dispense only as written. they can't in most places just check the box and can't use abbreviations. hope it helps. From what you write there is not a question of what cause the change. It dose not necessarily come with the first generic, they may be changing companies on you, different company different formula. Brand name must use the same formula. If it was working before, fight to get back to what was working. I had to. they tried that crap on me, and i ended back in the hospital. they did not get away with it after that. when i went back on the brand name, i went back to the pre change level.
hope it helps. rikk
Have you tried asking your neruo about a VNS?
IT has helped my szs decrease by 10-12 a day or more down to 2-4 a month.
I have Complex Partial szs with auras. I take 500 mgs of Lamictal but have been on it for years.
Nancy
Hello,
Lamital and the vns seem to work for me. the only side affect i feel is my eyes. they seem sensitive.especially in the morning when i first wake and get started. i try not to rub. i take 300mg am and 400mg pm. I 'm going to ask my doctor about this. any one else notice this?
Lynda
Thanks for the advice. The seizures have actually backed off some. Only two since I posted. I think riding it out and taking the slower route with less chance for the side effects was the right decision. So far, so good as far as the side effects go. None to speak of yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and staying optimistic.
Hi mac3,
I've been on lamictal for about 10 years now so I can't remember eveything that happened when I first started it except I did have a few months with no TCs (didn't last :-( )but also stopped sleeping and became dependent on sleeping pils.
But with regards to what you've said about a sz increase, well for some of us different meds or dose increases can actually make our szs worse or cause different sz types. One problem with lamictal is it can cause myoclonic szs, I got them following a dose increase and they stopped when I reduced the dose. Sometimes the problem can be increasing the dosage too fast. Sometimes there's breakthrough szs when doing a med change, pretty common actually.
I'd say if you're really concerned talk to your doc again, but it's not a good idea to increase AED dosages too fast, that's when a lot of us get real side-effect problems. I realise it's a problem for you because you're working- the last time I was working I was doing drug add-ons and having to deal with the side-effects so it wasn't easy.
Hope thats of some help.
Kay
I was taking Lamictal 200mg 3xday. My neuro upped it by 50mg and now I take 250mg 3X/day, probably for about a year now. I've not noticed any side-effects.