Tag Archives: Lamictal

Half-Life, What Is It?

Day by Day with a Movement Disorder Posted on by 12

I’ve been on the twice a day dose of Lamotrigine now for about 2 weeks, and hubby and I see some improvement, with less jerking and less depression. As this medicine builds up in my system, thanks to its half-life, I can hope for even better control of the jerks and an even happier outlook in general.

Lamotrigine has a half-life of 13 hours. That means half of the 7AM dose is still in my system when I take my 7PM pill. And half of what is left in my system at night from the 7AM dose, plus half of the 7PM dose, is still in my system at 7AM the next morning when I take another dose. Confusing?? LOL!

What that means is that over a period of time it builds up in my system. The Primidone I take does the same thing. My brain is constantly bathed with these chemicals that somehow calm the erratic electrical activity that sets my muscles to jerking. Neurologists don’t really understand the mechanism by which these chemicals work in the brain, so they just have to keep trying different meds until they hit on the right combination for each patient, based on their years of experience dealing with Movement Disorders. All the meds in their arsenal are off label drugs. That means they are not typically prescribed for Myoclonus. Most are used to control epileptic seizures and some are normally prescribed for depression.

In my case my Neurologist says I have a progressive form of Essential Myoclonus, so I am thankful for the relief I get with a new medicine, even though I realize it may not be sufficient sometime in the future. But my outlook is better these days, so I choose to be happy with the apparent success of this combination and to not dwell on the future. See, I told you I was feeling better!

I thank God for this lifting of the gloom I have been in, as He guides the decisions my Neurologist makes in treating me!

Off the Depakote, On to Lamotrigine

Day by Day with a Movement Disorder Posted on by 10

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.