4 Days of Full Lamotrigine Dose
I’ve been on the Lamotrigine morning and afternoon 25mg dose for 4 days now, and only the first morning caused me any problems. I went back to sleep after breakfast on that first morning I took a morning dose, and I slept almost 3 hours. That is an extremely unusual thing for me to do. But I haven’t been sleepy since then. It may be helping a little bit, but nothing spectacular. I’m still jerking pretty badly if I’m under even the least amount of stress, which seems to be a lot of late.
One of my triggers seems to be getting in any kind of a crowd, so Church is always very stressful for me. I’m very self conscious about the jerking, and I feel bad for the people who sit behind me, as it must be very distracting.
But I’m not zonked on it, as I was when the Neurontin dose was increased. That’s a good thing. And I know I’m on the smallest dose size the Lamotrigine comes in, so there may be some room for adjustment to lessen the jerks a little bit more. I’m hoping that’s the way it will work out, without putting me in a daze the way the Neurontin did.
I don’t think I’ve ever really explained what the Primidone and Lamotrigine prescriptions are for. They are actually used as anti-seizure meds, and the Lamotrigine can be used with Bipolar Disorders and Depression disorders. The Clonazepam the MDS tried me on first, as well as the Neurontin, were also meds used for seizures and depressive disorders. (Which I thought made it odd that they depressed me!) So it’s kind of like taking a pig in the poke for medicine.
Their use for Essential Myoclonus is considered an off-label use, and from everything I’ve been able to read, the medical profession really doesn’t understand how these meds work in the brain. Evidently when they work properly they calm down whatever erratic electrical signal there is that’s coming from my brain that sets off these muscle spasms.
This is where having a Neurologist I trust is so very important, and a pharmacist who watches over every medicine I take, prescription as well as over the counter. I wouldn’t think of buying some of my prescriptions at one pharmacy and others somewhere else. It’s just too dangerous for me.
So I’m trying hard to be hopeful that my Neuro will find a good balance on my medicines and get me back to where I’m not jerking so much. And I’m fighting the blues, although I certainly haven’t won that battle yet.
Noticing unexpected side effects is how a lot of drugs get used for other things. I've forgotten now what it's original use was, but the Erectile Dysfunction little blue pill was originally used for something else, and voila – here was this good side effect!
Want more blog traffic, find lots of interesting blogs and people? Try free ExposeYourBlog.
I've got a book somewhere that explains that there are quite a few medicines that do jobs they weren't intended to; there was one they used to treat TB that lifted the patients mood so much they had to stop using it as the nurses were having a difficult time looking after a bunch of playful grown ups; Can't remember if it was any good for TB.
I hope the Lamotrigine continues to help
I agree the pharmacist is very important
"The Clonazepam the MDS tried me on first, as well as the Neurontin, were also meds used for seizures and depressive disorders. (Which I thought made it odd that they depressed me!)"
Yep, off-label use is a tricky thing. Many years ago a neurologist prescribed an anti-depressant (whose off-label use was as a pain med) as a pain reliever for me. Within 2 days I had flushed the entire script down the toilet. The day before I was driving and the only thing that kept going through my head was how to drive the car off the road and kill myself. I felt as if I was wrapped in a thick cloak of dread and it was dragging me toward an abyss from which there was no return. The irony is that I was fine and not depressed (aside from pain from a neck injury) before I started taking the drug. Those warnings about suicidal thoughts for those meds…they weren't kidding, and not just for teenagers either. There are just ways too many of these meds that they don't know what they do to the brain as you said.
I sincerely hope these drugs help you! You need to find the med and the dosage that does the best for your condition and I hope you do very soon.
Thanks for stopping by, T.T.! Thank goodness I haven't had any suicidal thoughts with any of the meds they have tried on me. But I did warn my hubby each time I tried something new that this was one of the known side effects, so he could watch for any symptoms that looked suspicious.
I'm glad you realized what was happening and dealt with it appropriately.
I look forward to seeing you on ExposeYourBlog.