Off the Depakote, On to Lamotrigine
My Neuro didn’t fuss at me when I told him I had cut the Depakote dose in half, because I was depressed. Smart man, if he didn’t want a blubbering patient on his hands.
He’s changing me to Lamictal, well actually the generic Lamotrigine. Anyway, this new med can have very serious side effects if not titrated up in the system in small dosage increments, so it will be awhile before I can tell if it’s going to work or not. As I did my research on it, I did notice that it has a half-life of 13 hours. That means when I’m on a morning and night dose there will still be half the medicine in my system when it’s time to take the next pill. I shouldn’t see any ups and downs with it, at least.
I’m trying to look on the bright side of it, in case you hadn’t noticed, as there are some VERY scary side effects possible, although very rarely seen, or course. Isn’t that true of just about every med these days?? I did check with my pharmacist, and he said it would be OK to start taking the Lamotrigine tonight at that small a dose, even though I had the Depakote yesterday morning. There are definite warnings that they should not be taken together, and cautions about taking it with Primidone, which I AM still on. Dr. S. also said I was at the maximum dosage of Primidone he could give me without getting side effects from it.
I finally remembered to ask him to explain to me if my Essential Myoclonus is a progressive disorder or not. At the time my diagnosis was changed from Parkinson’s to EM, we were under the impression that it was not progressive, that it would not get worse, and that was a big relief to all of us.
But I’ve lost close to a third of my body weight at the same time that my Primidone dose has doubled, plus it’s not enough anymore to stop the major jerks. He said that based on that he thinks I do have a progressive version of EM that will get worse with age.
I guess I’d better make hay while I still can, eh? It’s easy to imagine that at some point in the future I will have considerable problems walking again and will have to settle for being zonked to be still enough to have any Quality of Life. I can only pray that that day is a long, long way off and that I will handle the thought of it better when I’m not so depressed.
So, again I have a bummer of a post, but at least I can end with the hope that the Lamotrigine will be a successful drug for me. Primidone gave me my life back for a long, long time. I can only hope and pray that Lamotrigine does the same.
This is my first visit to your site, but I wish you well with your medications and hope that you find the right combination!
Lindy Swain
http://www.pharmacyadvocates.com
Hi Lindy,
Normally I would have marked a post like yours as spam and deleted it. But I've read through several of the posts on your blog that I thought were very well written, plus I can see a real need for your type of help for some people. I have a very close relationship with ONE pharmacist, plus I can do the online research for myself. Not every older person can do that.
Thanks for stopping by.
Oh, I'm so sorry to hear of your setback, DB…you have been doing so well. I hope the new drug will be good for you for a very long time.
I hope you and your family will have a loving, prosperous 2011!
Thanks for stopping by Marion. You put me to shame, as I was just thinking yesterday I needed to go see how you were doing, and as usual I didn't.
I'm praying for better days. As long as there's a treatment left to try I have hope. And once I get this depression licked I'll deal with it even if I don't improve physically. See you on your blog dear friend!
Want more blog traffic? Check out ExposeYourBlog.
Thanks, Anji. I have full confidence in my Neurologist. And I have high hopes that the Lamotrigine will help. I saw my whole body return to normal with in 2 days of starting the Primidone several years ago, so I can hope.
It sounds as if you've got a good team of health professionals to support you. I hope that all goes well with your change of medicine.
Hello Rosemary/Dirty Butter,
I was not sure how to contact you but wanted to share a project I am currently involved with.
I am working with a team of Parkinson's advocates to make a documentary on Parkinson's. All of us have Parkinson's in our immediate families and wanted to make the first Parkinson's film for the community by the community.
If you have several minutes you can see a trailer for the film at: http://www.ridewithlarrymovie.com
If you are inspired to do so, we would be honored if you would share the film with your readers and help us spread the word.
Thank you for the wonderful work you do here on your blog, providing poignant, personal, and powerful insights into the day-to-day life of Parkinson's.
Please contact us if you would like to discuss further, we would love to get in touch with you.
Sincerely,
Team Ride with Larry
ridewithlarrymovie@gmail.com
This certainly looks like a Parkinson's site worth spreading the word about. I've checked it out on PatientsLikeMe, and it appears to be a legitimate site. With that in mind, I've added a link to the Ride with Larry Movie and blog site to my Parkinson's Resources links on my sidebar, if you're interested.
Or, you can go to it here:
Ride with Larry
Good luck with the Lamotrigine. I hope it helps you.
Thanks, T.T., I sure hope it does help. What's left in the arsenal of meds that may help is getting kind of slim now.
I'll see you on The Night Canopy on ExposeYourBlog.