Posted by Janelle on February 26, 2004, at 13:55:06
Hi - my question is does anyone know (or experienced) any WITHDRAWAL effects with cold turkey cessation of Lamictal? If so, what are the symptoms?
I'm not sure what the heck was going on with me, but for several days after having to stop Lamictal abruptly (details further below!) I began to feel weird - dizzy, lightheaded, exhausted, could not get out of bed for a few days (literally) and felt depressed (increased my Celexa a notch and knock on wood it seems to have helped). Finally, after like 4 days of pure MISERY, it passed and I'm *awake* again.
I have not read anything one way or another about stopping Lamictal - should it be done gradually or is it okay to just STOP (like I had to)???
This all started because I recently finished taking an antibiotic - Amoxicillin - and about three days later I developed a BAD RASH all over my body from head to toe (literally). My pdoc of all people said that Amoxicillin can have a delayed rash that is a side effect NOT indicative of an allergic reaction. I went to my PCP, well the doc who's covering for her while she's on extended maternity leave, and he was useless.
HOWEVER, I was also taking 200mg/day of Lamictal, a mood-stabilizer known to cause a potentially dangerous and fatal rash. I was doing fine with it - titrated up very gradually with NO rash and was at 200mg/day for months when boom, I got the rash.
Since we don't really know if the rash was from the antibiotic or the Lamictal (I heard that you can just suddenly get the rash, although the first 8 weeks of titration are most critical), my pdoc told me to STOP the Lamictal, let the rash clear up COMPLETELY, then go back on it, but I'm going to have to titrate up slowly again with a starter kit.
Anyone with any info, experiences related to this stuff, please write back! Thanks.
poster:Janelle
thread:317941
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040223/msgs/317941.html