Hey all, my name is Daniel and I'm 21 years young. In about 2011 or so (i was like 17 I wanna say) I was perscribed Lamotrigine for bipolar disorder. Taking that medication seems to have been the stupidest thing I've ever done in my life. Or, the most coincidental occurance I've ever heard of. Just a week after tapering daily to the regular dose, I began to feel what I called "crippling anxiety".
Only a few interactions between lamotrigine and other drugs have been identified. Lamotrigine increases the plasma level of carbamazepine and its metabolites. Carbamazepine lowers the concentration of lamotrigine in the blood.
Valproate doubles the plasma level of lamotrigine, and the level of valproate is decreased by about 25% in people taking lamotrigine.
Phenobarbital and primidone lower the plasma level of lamotrigine by about 40%.
My son is 25 and has seizure disorder. This past Thanksgiving, he had a total of 5 seizures over 24 hours necessitating a hospital visit and stay. They put him on a third seizure medication (Lamotrigine). I spoke with a neurologist at USF who didn't like that a 3rd medication was added before his previous two were maxed out--he was already on Keppra (max dosage) and Depakote (sprinkles--very low dose), so she titrated him up on the Depakote so we could get rid of the Lamotrigine.
I really feel better mentally, no depression or pain, with lamotrigine, and I am so sad that I might have to give it up. I just saw my doctor yesterday and since it is February, she thinks that may be it is just a stomach virus... I need to live my life without having to pull over at gas station rest areas constantly!
If this is caused by the lamotrigine, will I "adjust" and the diarrhea go away, or am I just really too sensitive to this medication?
Objective: Lamotrigine and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) are both safe and effective treatments for bipolar depression. Concerns exist that anticonvulsants may interfere with seizure expression during ECT or may exacerbate cognitive side effects, potentially affecting clinical response. This report examines the clinical use of concurrent ECT and lamotrigine for acute bipolar depression and the transition to maintenance therapy.
Your doctor will start you on low dose of lamotrigine and gradually increase your dose, not more than once every 1 to 2 weeks. You may be more likely to develop a serious rash if you take a higher starting dose or increase your dose faster than your doctor tells you that you should. Your first doses of medication may be packaged in a starter kit that will clearly show you the right amount of medication to take each day during the first 5 weeks of your treatment.
My son is 25 and has seizure disorder. This past Thanksgiving, he had a total of 5 seizures over 24 hours necessitating a hospital visit and stay. They put him on a third seizure medication (Lamotrigine). I spoke with a neurologist at USF who didn't like that a 3rd medication was added before his previous two were maxed out--he was already on Keppra (max dosage) and Depakote (sprinkles--very low dose), so she titrated him up on the Depakote so we could get rid of the Lamotrigine.
I'm a 21 year old female. I've been taking Lamotrigine since January 2011 and right now I take 200mg a day. I have multiple questions so I'll try to write it in the easiest way.
I went to the beach from Thursday to Sunday. On both Thursday and Saturday we were so busy enjoying vacation that I forgot to take my meds on both those days. Yesterday (Wednesday) I spent a large part of the day crying and had a hard time pin pointing why I was so upset.
I was also on epilim and was taken off because of the weight gain, im now on lamotrigine, at the begining I found this to really lift my mood but then it wasnt enough so I was added some other medication, cant remember the name, I was ok for months but now for some reason I have started to cycle again.
This article reviews the relationship between thyroid function and mood, and the use of thyroid hormones in the treatment of mood disorders. The impact of gender on these issues is also discussed.
---Source---
PMID: 9670226
I am not implying that you have thyroid dysfunction, however, you may want to consider having it thoroughly checked, as the downside of this, should you indeed have undiagnosed or misdiagnosed thyroid dysfunction, is potentially a lifetime of unnecessary suffering.
--This Article Recommends thyroid function and thyroid antibodies should be evaluated before the start of treatment with IFN-alpha interferon & regularly during therapy.
http://www.natap.org/2001/mar/checkyourthyroid031101.htm I was never told this and mine were never checked.
I know this article is old, but finally more and more doctors are being open about the thyroid damage from interferon.
I had a recent thyroid function test with the following results. I stopped taking medication last march as I really wasn't feeling any benefits and feel much better mentally and physically since I stopped the medication. My doctor is concerned by the results and wants me to return to taking the medication
Results were T4 5.3 pmol/L 12-22
TSH >100 MlU/L 0.4-3.
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