[Secretum]

I started taking lamotrigine a little over a week ago. Within two days, I experienced some moderate back and abdominal pain; I thought nothing of it. Then, around Wednesday, I noticed that I had tender, possibly swollen lymph nodes. By Friday, I had a sore throat and several sores in my mouth. I did some research, and discovered that some of these symptoms could be signs of a potentially dangerous hypersensitivity reaction?!! I'm probably freaking out over nothing (I don't have a fever or the dreaded rash, I'm not jaundiced, I don't have any other red flag symptoms), but I've stopped taking it will hopefully see my PCP on Tuesday.

Anyone else have experience with this?

I've convinced myself that I had cancer more than once over the past year, and developed flu-like symptoms in response to the resulting anxiety; it's possible that this is entirely psychological...

[~Christina]

Im sorry your having these reactions I would be worried and concernend too .. thats the one thing im good at. hahaha ,but definatly get in touch with your doctor.

I myself have just started the medication tonight and I am concerned about side effects and the dreaded rash..but I am hopefully it will work. Please let us all know what you find out about your reactions .
Hope your feeling better really soon (((Hugs))))

[SunAngel]

The same thing happened to me when I was put on Lamictal. I swore I had strep throat, so I went to my GP and she put me on antibiotics. They didn't work, so I knew it was from the Lamictal.

About a week later, I got a rash on my face and had to stop it.

I honestly hope it isn't the Lamictal doing this to you, but you are smart to go to your GP to get checked out. ((((Hugs))))

[BNLsMOM]

I had the same reaction both times I took Lamictal. Swollen lymph nodes, achy body and just not feeling well. My pdoc took me off right away because it could be a dangerous reaction.

[zbmom]

I upped my dose to 50mg yesterday and got a bad sore throat, in the middle of the night I woke with swollen glands in my neck and felt achy all over. The med manager made me go to the ER this morning (waste of time, they did a strep culture and told me to stop the meds). Looks like I'm going to get pulled off lamictal now.

[lunarpariah]

I'm sorry that the lamictal is doing that to you. I've been on it for two months now and haven't had any reaction to it yet, Thank God. It's been a really good drug for me.

As for the cancer part I'm with ya on that. I tend to think I have every disease I run across. It was a running joke with me and my co-worker. I guess that's the paranoia in us.

[SunnyD]

I was sensitive to sunlight I would get heat rash. It itched and stung. My pdoc just said to stay out of the sun.
I tolerate it better now and just use sun screen to make sure I don't burn.
In those days you had to start at 100mg as that was the smallest dose you could get. Are you starting on 25mg?

[Secretum]

Thanks for all the supportive replies. I called my doctor's office, and was told to come in today. The nurse practitioner I saw told me that I probably just have a virus. As long as my pdoc says it's alright (and he probably will), I get to keep taking lamotrigine.

Hopefully it won't kill my liver.

Of course, if this persists/gets worse, or if I get The Rash, I will stop taking it and see another doctor.

morethingswrong, I too hope that you have no problems with Lamictal. From what I've read, it's a really good mood stabilizer, and people who don't have scary experiences with reactions usually don't have to deal with any side effects.

zbmom, I'm sorry that you had to stop taking Lamictal. You finally built up to 50 mg, and then you had to go off it...that's really unfair. I hope that you are doing better, and that you soon find a medication that helps you more than it harms you. Going to the ER in the middle of the night must have been really stressful.

SunnyD, that's very interesting. I've heard of people having a similar problem with a different anticonvulsant (tegretol). At least you have a reason to always wear sunscreen; Lamictal is forcing you to protect yourself from melanoma (one of my worst fears)! I am only on 25 mg; since the dose is so low, I hope that it is only a virus. Wow. 100 mg is some people's stopping point now!

[SunnyD]

I am currently on 150mg. Down from 200mg. My vision gets blurry and I am dizzy if I am on more than that or take my dose too close together.
It has worked so much better for me than Lithium and have been on it for 8 years.
I am not as sharp as I was before but I am getting older now.