Terrified about changing to Lamotrogin, any advice!

Hi Katlouise, try Lamotrigine it's a good drug, I've been taking it for 17 years and my dr says it's my anchor drug. I take other ones too. Last year I had a go with topiramate and my szs increased ten times worse.

when I had my family I was given Epilim and told that only one drug can be taken during pregnancy and not a combination, my szs were terrible.

Lamotrigine is also prescribed for a complaint called bipolar, which is a type of mental disorder i.e. mood swings.

Karen

 Katlouise

Topiramate is one of the many meds I’ve been on. It was one of the better meds I liked, but interfered with my ability to work in construction. It made me dizzy doing physical work to the point where I was on the verge of fainting. If I had a desk job it might have worked out okay. Topiramate is also known for weight loss.

My Dr switched me to lamotrigine. It was one of the few drugs that allowed me to think clearly. It also has been approved to be used as a mood stabilizer in bipolar disorders. I noticed that too. (My Dr once suggested, not diagnosed, I might be border line bipolar). Weight gain may be one side effect. I didn’t notice any weight gain because of my physical activity at work.

Lamotrigine alone worked for a while, but after more seizure activity, my Dr switched meds. There were too many side effects on some of these meds. Now I’m on both lamotrigine and levetiracetam (Keppra). This combo isn’t 100% effective.

Anti-convulsants seem to have warnings on birth defects. Lamotrigine may have a lower risk than Topiramate, I don’t know. One caution for a small number of people taking lamotrigine is developing a skin rash or swelling of the face and report it to your Dr if this occurs.

Steve

Hi, I've been on Topiramate and lamotrigine for many years, I've recently stopped taking Lamotrigine, and just taking topiramate, I found Lamotrigine absolutely fine, but as I was on such s low dose I spoke to my neurologist and she agreed that I could stop it and I'm now just on Topiramate.... the only down side is that on Topiramate you can't drink alcohol, I only found that out after being very ill after half a glass of wine! Like I'd had a full bottle of vodka! It only days on the bottle in small writing "avoid alcohol", what it should say is "DO NOT DRINK ALCOHOL IT WILL PUT YOU OUT FOR 3 DAYS AND YOU WILL BE VERY SICK"!

You'll be fine, go for it xx

Hi   My lovely mum dear mother takes thoses she great but she is haveing to change them as she's been told the 25 ms she takes diamond shape not doing it any more as cheap ones make her ill,  so  months know what's going to happen are there any God pills out there for this ,Shehad  a stroke 7 years ago when my father was alive he found her having a fit never suffer from this in her life just kept blacking out didn't know u ,,just hope she can find a new drug ,But good luck you will be fine she's 88 now 😄

I have been taking Lamotrigine for 2 years for seizures and have had no ill effects or seizures. I would recommend this for treatment of seizures.

I had no mood problems and was coping with the seizures without meds for many years until I went on lamotrigine because they were too frequent and I was talked into it saying side effects were unlikely and convinced myself the seizures would go.

It caused terrible anxiety and side effects. It Made very little difference to my seizures and when I upped the dose to see if that would help the side effects returened much worse than the first time and I got really down so had to come off the drug. 

My epilepsy (temporal lobe, partial seizures) is refractory to drugs so you might find it okay as far as reducing your seizures but my experience with it was awful.

I would advise you seriously think about it if you have a past of mental health issues and these drugs are where mine rose to the surface, unfortunatly the next drug was worse - keppra - an absolute no I would never advise that to anyone. 

but lamotrigine was only my first drug so I am more suited to dealing with side effects and hoping to get better as I come fully off the keppra in 2 weeks and start therapy to help with anxiety and depression.

Everyone is different so you might find it works for you.

good luck with whatever you chose to do

I was on lamotrigine for years and it was almost 100% effective other than experiencing very occasional petite mals, usually if I was overtired. The only reason my consultant suggested a change was because he felt it was possible to get the absence seizures completely under control so I could drive again in the future. The replacement, levetiracetam was a disaster. Less effective despite several adjustments to the dosage and with no lifestyle or dietary change I ballooned up and gained more than two stone in 9 months. He's since moved me to cartagena and now I'm just tired all the time and I'm still having petit mals. I'm due back at the clinic later this month and will be asking if I can go back on lamotrigine. I'd like to be able to drive again but really it's not been worth the side effects I've had from the last two drug changes.

Hello! I have been on Lamotrigine for 6 years. I've been on many since I was diagnosed at age 4. This drug has been my favorite so far. When I got pregnant I was told Lamotrigine was one of the safest drugs to be on while pregnant. I had no problem during pregnancy with the drug. My one and a half year old is happy and healthy. The only risk I had during pregnancy was falling on my belly. I only have seizures at night so we prepared our bedroom in case I were to fall out of bed. My husband is usually always with me so he prevents me from falling out of bed most of the time.

Lamotrigine hasn’t ever given me any bad side effects. It hasn’t fully controlled my seizures but I’d rather feel like me and be on a drug that I can tolerate. I have an appointment tomorrow to be evaluated for the VNS treatment.

Hope I helped a little bit