Memory Loss/Side Effects - Lamictal vs. Topomax

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Hello,

I am wondering if anyone can tell me their experiences with the side effects of different medicines, particularly Lamictal and Topomax.

I have been on Lamictal for about 2 (going on 3) years now and since then I have had a lot of difficulty with my memory as well as other side effects that I didn't have when I took Tegretol XR. I take 300 mg twice a day of Lamictal.

I really have never felt controlled with Lamictal, have become fairly clumsy, am SUPER tired (moreso than when I was on the Tegretol), have migraines, and NO MEMORY. My short-term memory, especially is VERY bad. I had fogginess and tiredness with Tegretol, but I don't remember it being nearly this bad.

Now, I am having significant auras multiple times a day, every couple days, and had a breakthrough partial complex last week so my neuro and I are talking about switching meds. Apparently the Lamictal levels in my blood are too high and I am showing signs of toxicity b/c of the way I am metabolizing the meds, so increasing my dosage of Lamictal isn't an option. My neurologist suggested putting me on Topomax for control purposes and to help with my migraines which I was totally fine with until I started reading some of the posts here about Topomax.

Topomax sounds. . .scary. I am terrified of switching to a medication that will not only sustain my clumsiness, tiredness, and memory loss, but also increase depression, make my hands tingle, give me extreme weight-loss, etc., etc.! The brain-function issue and the tiredness issue are huge for me. . .I am in the middle of writing my thesis and need all the brain-power I can manage. I am so tired of being tired and like I can't function. While my friends go to work at 7, then exercise afterwards, go out to eat and to a concert all in one day (!). . .I go to work or school and am so tired that I can't do much of anything else. It's terrible. If I am already struggling with that while being on the Lamictal, will Topomax be worse? Now I feel like both medicines aren't good choices for me.

Does anyone have any advice about this? Has anyone out there ever had positive results with Topomax? Is there ANY anti-convulsant that DOESN'T cause such horrible cognitive fogginess and tiredness???

Sorry for such a long post, but any help or advice would be very much appreciated.

~JLSB

Comments

i know that feel bro

Submitted by razielraziel on Tue, 2018-07-17 - 15:12

well, can totally relate lamictal + topamax made me the same, SUCKS a lot :/

well :/

Submitted by razielraziel on Tue, 2018-07-17 - 15:11

not sure what is the idea behind using caffeine with mood stabilizers m8, i mean, you do realize that antiepileptic drugs in essence are antidopaminergic right? (anything that slows down the brain thus increases gaba, also decreases glutamate, norepinephrine and probably dopamine too since dop is made of adrenaline and is carried in the pfc via the net right?) i think that you are getting your information wrong.. maybe you believe that somehow coffee due to the vasolidation effect helps, yet that too is not certain and probably reversed due to the nature of the class of aed . . (another funny thing somewhat off topic, i wil never ever understand people taking antipsyc along with adderal or levodopa, makes no sense whatsoever, then again there are no solid explanations either so..)...

Re: Memory Loss/Side Effects - Lamictal vs. Topomax

Submitted by pewter on Wed, 2009-11-11 - 22:26

I'm on Topamax for my PCs and it is controlling them well. However, if I increase my dosage above where it is now... I am completely stupid, lethargic, angry, depressed, have migrainy headaches (my migraine headaches worsen and occur more frequently), and increased GI upset.

On the higher dosage - I have utter difficulty in word recall, can't name names of anything including kitchen appliances, thoughts disappear as soon as they enter, forget simple basic math, and my vision blurs really bad. I also have lost a lot of hair while taking it and I can overheat pretty quickly and not realize it at first (though luckily it's Fall now and the heat isn't so bad any longer).

I've not lost much, if any, weight while taking it BUT I take a much lower dose than the norm. It is holding my PCs fairly well and while I do have short term memory and cognitive function dysfunctions still... they are relatively minor and mild in comparison to the higher dosage I was on at one time.

Lamictal, I took for something else once and within 2 weeks of starting it... I developed massive itching inside my mouth, nose, ears, and eyeballs really bad. I did not develop a rash or hives BUT I did have the horrible itching and as the dosaging continued... the itching grew worse. I also had a real bad case of lightheadness while taking it. The doctor that prescribed it to me, at that time, had me stop it for fear of the SJ Syndrome.