Quote:
Originally Posted by Tucson
Here is some info that you may find helpful. As far as my research goes, Lamotragine is being used as a third line of treatment for refractory trigeminal neuralgia and peripheral neuropathy. These are specific terms referring to specific types of pain caused by specific maladies. I have found no other condition involving pain that this med treats. This does include back pain. A couple different studies support this. BTW neuropathy involves the symptoms from damaged nerves. The article Lamotrigine | InHealth Pain Management Solutions provides a more complete listing of conditions related to the type of pain that this med treats. The jury appears to be out on fibromyalgia.
FYI Flat affect is not listed as a side effect for Lamotragine. There are APs with this listed side effect. According to my research, Lamotragine acts differently from APs and other mood stabilizers in mood regulation. Instead of being used to prevent ones mood to swing up into mania, it decreases the number of occurrences of mood swings. This is the key difference between this med and others used to stabilize mood. This is probably why many docs do not find this med sufficient and prescribe other meds in conjunction with lamotragine to regulate mood. So IMO based on this research I doubt it is this med that has caused you your flat affect. But we shall see. Good luck.
As you can see, I have done my research on psychotropic meds, more specifically the meds that I am prescribed. You likely have done the same. For that matter, your decades experience with lamotragine and other meds must of made you aware of all this. So this is probably no news to you.
PS By this post, I am trying to help you make intelligent decisions regarding your use of meds. I do not think I am judging you with this post. As you know, at the very least, you need to do your due diligence before changing your meds by yourself. At least I hope this is the case for you. |
It is entirely possible that the injury I have in my back
is a neuropathy. It is also possible that I have fibromyalgia. I have suspected so for many years, especially since my mother and my sister had/have it, were diagnosed with it long ago. My mother also had lupus, which is something that has frequently come up as a possiblity for my own medical condition. (Lupus can cause chronic and debilitating pain.) I have many of the symptoms of both fibro and lupus.
Whatever the case, Lamictal has helped relieve my back pain, without a doubt.
As for flat affect, it sure
is listed as a possible side effect of Lamotrigine. Not only is it listed on various sites, many patients
on the medication complain of flat affect.
Interesting, this quote from a person on a psych meds forum:
"Rule of thumb with 'stable meds': 'If you are either not too happy about good events and nor too sad with disappointments' that means that meds are actually working."
To me, that ^^^^ feels like "flat affect".So we might be getting into semantics, here.I have no doubt that the Lamictal at the higher dose caused me to feel "flat" or "blah". That feeling in turn causes me to feel mildly depressed.It feels like I am a cardboard cutout of myself.
Add this in: Lamotrigine when taken with Klonopin is a very different medication than Lamotrigene alone or with certain other meds.I am on 2 mg. of Klonopin daily...picture changed.
I appreciate all that you've shared, and I appreciate your concern about me self-managing the Lamotrigine. I'm not exactly clear, though, on why it bothers you so much?
I'm an intelligent, insightful person who has decades of experience with psych meds. I'm not
playing around with my medication; I truly believe that the dose of Lamictal I was on was too high. As I've mentioned, I'll speak with my pdoc on Tuesday. I'll inform her of everything that's going on with me and see where she suggests I go from here. It's possible that even though Lamictal is a fabulous medication for 100,000,000 people - it might not be the best one for me.