My chronic pain has really increased since being on Lamictal for ...

Hi Rosslyn. I have a 20+ year history of migraines and have severe back pain problems as well. When I went on Lamictal, I tapered up to a dose of 400 mg a day. Because I was on so many medications and most of them I had to take at night, I asked my doctor and pharmacist if it was ok to take my entire dose of Lamictal all at once in the morning. They said ok, but when I did I got really bad headaches. Then I tried taking it all at night thinking I'd sleep through the pain, but the headache would wake me up. Finally I split the dose in half, and the headaches stopped.

If you can't stand the headaches, there are half a dozen other medicines they can try you on to stabilize your mood besides Lithium. Check out Bipolar disorder at Wikipedia.org for a list. Some of them have been used to try to prevent migraines, although the ones I tried didn't help me. But nothing helps me! At any rate, you do have some other options for meds if Lamictal doesn't work out for you.

Gravol, while an anti-nausea med, is related chemically to benadryl, which sometimes causes headaches when taken with other meds. So if you take it within an hour of your Lamictal dose, this may actually work against you.