[Standup2me]

Has anyone, with lactose intolerance, experienced problems with lamotrigne?

If so, has anything helped lessen it?

I'm not lactose intolerant, however I hope someone who has had experience with this can chime in.

[Hawkke]

A lot of tablets have lactose in them as a filler. For most people it's not a problem because the amount is small but can affect those severely lactose intolerant.

Fortunately, not all manufactures use the same inactive ingredients so switching brands is sometimes an option. The pharmacy can check the inactive ingredients (usually they have to call the manufacturer) and if it contains lactose order another brand. A good pharmacy makes a huge difference in this instance. I doubt a mail order pharmacy will do these things but for a "clinic" pharmacy this is routine.

[Rick7892]

Hi,

I have IBS and am lactose-intolerant. I have been taking Lamotrigine for several months at a low dose. I also have lots of other food sensitivities, and I was having abdominal upset that I could not be sure was related to Lamotrigine or something else. But I have had the side effect of dry mouth with Lamotrigine that had not gone away.

The low dose that I was taking helped me a lot to be much more stable with a more manageable life but I still needed self-help measures such as reading and partipating in the Bipolar Forum and even so sometimes I was struggling with stability. My GP (I live in rural area and I am fortunate to have a GP) suggested increasing my dose a couple of weeks ago, but I got bad constipation, and my GP said that if have side effect of dry mouth, then constipation is also frequent because of dehydration. I reduced my Lamotrigine dose, and the bad constipation has gone, which is a sign that it was related to my increased dose of Lamotrigine. But I am still dealing with abdominal issues.

I didn't know that lactose can be a side ingredient in Lamotrogine, and I don't know if my constipation is a result of any lactose included in Lamotrigine or associated with dry mouth.

My point in all this is that it can be hard to tease out causes of abdominal problems between medications, their side ingredients, and/or from foods that we need to eat and abdominal issues .

Sorry I am not more helpful. Good luck!