This is a total nightmare and i need advice! I was on Lamictal fo...

I can totally relate. I have been on this medicine for about 8 months now and have every sympton you do.
My knees are so sore I can sometimes barely walk.
4 months ago my dosage was increased by a large amount. I have sonce gained 18 pounds.
I am always extremely tired, blaoted, sore etc.

I have spent a fortune at the dr in the last 2 weeks having blood tests etc and thay say they cant find the exact cause. I am so tempted to just stop this terrible medication straight away

I am surprised, however you wouldn't think any med would surprise me. Is Lamictal the only med you are taking? I have taken a great number of meds with many combinations trying to find the answer for me. Typically I have bad side effects. With Lamictal I found I can not go over 200 mg or I get diarrhea and now after a number of years I think it may be causing me to itch some but it has been about the only med that has not caused me a more serious side effect. My doctor recently thought it might be causing me irritability in combination with the fact that my thyroid was extremely low which we were having difficulty monitoring after my hysterectomy but when he tried to lower it I became so quickly depressed that I had to go back on it. My thyroid has since leveled out and for now I am feeling better. I do find it to be a constant battle but hopefully you can find the right answer for you. Keep communicating Everything to your doctor. Things that I think don't matter, matter.

I am having similar side effect .I was being woke up at night with sharp pain
in my chest on the left and racing heart beat , allso pain around the heart
area and pain floating on my left arm and tingling in my legs started .My heart would start racing for no reason . I would walk up stairs in my house and my heart would race to 130 bpm shortness of beath . I went to doctor
he thought maybe I pulled a chest muscle . I went home and just got worst
went to ER they did EKG and blood work Xrays , and recommend a stress
test . I had the test everything was normal . I started think maybe my meds
I lowered my dose of Lamictal and after a couple days stoped and used adavan . Everthing stoped happening after a couple days it has been three
days and I think lamicctal is the problem I had only been on this for a little over a month was up to 100 mg . Hopefully yours will go away after a week or two also . I love this website I learned alot about this Lamictal that is not on there website side effects page. Your infomation helped me to stop taken lamictal to see if it was the cause. Thank you for sharing.

Good luck !
EH

What a nightmare!!! My husband had a similar experience with Tricor. He developed these horrible symptoms of tingling - he described them as biting flies/twitching all over his body all the time/intense muscle fatigue - he would say that he was not able to make his muscles move and would need to rest or sleep. This was all the time!!!!

We were convinced it was the Tricor, but every doctor that we saw insisted that we were wrong. We went to every kind of doctor and he was even sent to a psychiatrist for OCD and depression. Guess what - nothing changed!!!

He finally found a cardiologist that told him sometimes medications will triger an exsisting, but dormate condition. The trick is finding out what that condition is.

Of course we stopped the meds, but because it was a different condition, the symptoms didn't go away. They changed into intense eye fatigue - the eyes would not work together - to the point where he couldn't work or do anything. He was constantly diagnosed with dry eye and was given glasses with prisms to help align his vision. Guess what - it didn't work!!!!

We encountered so many doctors, who would say stuff like, "Well, my eyes get tired too." One doctor accused him of not using his dry eye medication as directed - we have so many doctor-nightmare stories.

One night we were watching Mystery Diagnosis and saw a similar story about a woman with Mythesian Gravis. We did research and brought it to a neurologist. He tested positive for it. Finally - an answer!!!

The medication helps sometimes, sometimes it doesn't. We're going to Mayo Clinic in May in hopes to find some better solutions. I pray that it works!

I suggest posting your message on other sites - not just Lamictal sites. Perhaps, see if there are any general autoimmune sites - rare or uncommon disease - general medication sites. Keep doing research on your symptoms and bring things to your doctor to test for. And, find out what tests are done for those conditions and make them do all the tests (my husband tested negative on the blood test, but in a more indepth test, the results came back positive). You may also want to concider going to Mayo.

The med school mantra is "If you hear hooves, look for a horse. Not a zebra." You have to insist they look for those zebras!

We've been going through this for years! The twitching symptoms went on for about 3.5 years. The eye fatigue has been going on for about 3 years - he was just diagnosed this February.

Good luck!!! I really hope you don't have to suffer as long as we did!!!

Also, I take Lamictal for Epilepsy. I'm very lucky - My worst side effect is insomnia. The doctor told me that it doesn't cause insomnia. But, it is listed as one of the side effects. I have a very bad opinion of doctors.

I wish you the best of luck!!!! When you find a solution, post it! I'd like to know how it turns out!

Laurie

I am hoping to find some relief myself.I had been on Lamictal 100 mg since Last thanksgiving.It was increased to 150 weeks ago.It was stopped like 4 or 5 days ago.
I was taking it for bi-polar.I can not walk now.I was extremely active.So much for my even state of moods.I am both more discouraged and depressed.It is so bad that I am going to use my mothers cane.I am unable to play with my 5 yr old nephew.I hope to God this is not permanent.

I have been slowly ramping up to 500 mg/day and the side effects are about to do me in. They consists of muscle aches, joint fagility, hair loss, weight loss, shortness of breath and heart palpitations.

I had a severe reaction after 9 days on Lamictal. My lymph nodes swelled 1st in my neck, then inside my mouth, throat, under the tongue. Went to ER twice, the 2nd time I was admitted because I couldn't swallow. They gave me antibiotics and steriods for the swelling. The swelling dropped to my chest then to my stomach and never left. 3 months later I am still swollen in the upper stomach area and everywhere I have lymph glands. I work out at a gym but am so bloated it is embarassing.

I have had every side effect you are having. 20 lbs heavuer, weight gain, short term memory loss, confused, hair loss, feeling like I'm having a heart attack. Thanks for posting because I'm relieved that its not just me, its the med!

i am wondering if you are experiencing withdrawl symptoms....i know that this is a drug that is as most drugs hard to withdraw from....hopefully this may help you....

I had two episodes of waking in the middle of the night, unable to breathe. I would jump out of bed, then slam myself down on the bed to start breathing again. Then blood tests showed high protine, and calcium, Liver function tests were problematic. Went off lamictal and when tapering off, started having optical migraines, which continued over six months time along with weird visual difficulties. My Dr. claims it was not due to lamictal, but I think it was.

I've been having the exact same side effects, except my doctor doesn't think that's whats causing my symptoms.
The beginning of the titrate wasn't bad, and then when I started increasing dosages, I started having this abdominal bloating and pressure on my stomach, constipation, chest pain and shortness of breath, thinning and loss of hair and weight gain (which, being a girl is the hardest--no one likes gaining weight!)

I just don't know what to do.

I have been on three different medications for focal seizures. First Topamax, then Neurontin, and then Lamictal. I was on Neurontin for four and a half months and stopped taking it because of horrible side effects. I was put on Lamictal - some symptoms dissipated, some got worse, and some new ones appeared. I was on 200 mg of Lamictal for six months, and I had just about every side effect you describe (severe bloating, weight gain, muscle pain, joint pain (esp in the knees), chest pain, severe acne, fatigue, etc). I am also struggling with severe episodes of blurry/double vision (particularly when playing tennis). I eat a healthy diet and exercise 3-5 times a week. I have been to every doctor and no one knows what's wrong. I described all of this to my neurologist (who prescribed the Lamictal), and he brushed it off, refusing to admit the medicine could be causing it. Then I did some reading and learned that these are all possible side effects (esp the vision problems). I was outraged by my doctor's incompetence and demanded to go off the medicine. I weened off of it for four weeks and have now been off it for 5 days. My skin is clearing up, and I can feel my flexibility returning. But I have yet to have any improvement with the bloating/weight gain. I have been bloated to the point of looking like I'm 4 months pregnant for the past 11 months (it was a neurontin side effect as well). I cannot stand it, and I am so afraid it's not going to go away. Has anyone experienced this with Lamictal and gone off the medicine? If so, how long does it take for the side effect to disappear? Please help. Thank you.

Have you ever been checked for Peripheral Neuropathy because you are describing it perfectly. The knots, the floating pain, all of it!
You should see a physician that is familiar with per. neuropathy there are neuropathy specialists check. I know Duke University has a few. Here is a website that may help you. My prayers are with you. www.mayoclinic.com/health/peripheral-neuropathy/DS00131

www.ninds.nih.gov/.../peripheralneuropathy/peripheralneuropathy.htm

www.wrongdiagnosis.com/p/peripheral_neuropathy/intro.htm

Good Luck,
Brandi