[annielovesbacon]

So my memory has always been bad even when I was a kid. I started lamictal about two months ago and I can't tell if my memory has gotten worse or if it's as bad as it always has been and maybe I'm noticing more. I forget things people say to me just hours before, and it's not like when they remind me it jogs my memory -- I truly have no recollection.

has lamictal affected anyone else's memory? is that a common side effect?

[Guiness187055]

I have heard that can be a side effect of lamictal. It has not been for me though.

[Vaporeon]

I think most psych meds can cause memory problems, especially short term memory loss and "fogginess," but I'm not sure if Lamictal is a major culprit. I know that once when I was in hospital, the psychiatrist took me off of Topamax because she called it "Stupid-max" due to its cognitive effects.

[winter loneliness]

I agree. Any medicines that are psych meds can effect your mood. Some worse than others. It is kind of trail and error.

Nope, not just you. Lamictal does that to me too (or at least I'm led to believe so). I'm extremely foggy headed and my memory is piss poor.

[ComfortablyNumb5]

My short term memory went out the window from lamictal. I take it at night and within an hour it’s the worst. I’ll be in mid sentence and forget wtf I was even saying. It sucks!

For me, only at higher doses like 300 mg.

I've only taken 100 mg for years now. I use it only for antidepressant use. It's not good for moodstabilization for me. I use Tegretol XR and Seroquel XR for that. They don't affect my memory.

[Misterpain]

Let's put it this way those of us who have to take anti convulsant's because of epipilepsy are well known for trying to find something else to control our seizures, we are not known for voluntarily saying we would love to take an anti convulsant, at least all on the know ones on the market just about every one has an impact on cognition although i took topamax for awhile and didn't have much problem but an eagle eyed pharmacologist took me off of it because I also take mirtazapine and oxcycodone and all three of them compete for the same enzyme to metabolize them andvthere is no why I am getting maximum therapeutic value out of all three unfortunately the new drug she put me on didn't control my seizures, like it should have and they had to put me in a coma to stop my seizures for a week well they got Me on something else.

[LacunaCoiler]

My memory is shot. There's stories my family will tell me from our past that I can't even recall. It's like they're talking about someone else's childhood. I don't remember ever going to Disney Land in Cali. and when I told my wife I've never flown before my sister said we flew to Cali to visit Disney Land. I don't remember any of it. She even showed me pictures of us in DL and it didn't even jumble anything.

There's even times I can't remember conversations the wife and I had a few hours ago. It's bad at times. I've narrowed it down to the lamictal because I've been on it the longest and it was happening before the risperdone, though I imagine that probably doesn't help either though. .

[Asteya]

Yep... I know it effects my memory. I am really good about making lists (I live by them) and writing down everything. I feel like even if I don't remember the list, I wrote it, I see it in my hand writing, and it's just that much more solid in my head.

[annielovesbacon]

Originally Posted by Vaporeon

I think most psych meds can cause memory problems, especially short term memory loss and "fogginess," but I'm not sure if Lamictal is a major culprit. I know that once when I was in hospital, the psychiatrist took me off of Topamax because she called it "Stupid-max" due to its cognitive effects.

I had a friend who took topamax and it was like she was stoned every day. She said her psych told her it would just be for a week or so, and then her body would adjust, but it never did.

Originally Posted by ComfortablyNumb5

My short term memory went out the window from lamictal. I take it at night and within an hour it’s the worst. I’ll be in mid sentence and forget wtf I was even saying. It sucks!

I'm glad i'm not alone in that... everytime I'm in my therapist's office I literally forget what I'm saying while I'm saying it. I'm sure it's very frustrating for her... it sure is for me, lol

[Misterpain]

Originally Posted by annielovesbacon

I had a friend who took topamax and it was like she was stoned every day. She said her psych told her it would just be for a week or so, and then her body would adjust, but it never did.


I'm glad i'm not alone in that... everytime I'm in my therapist's office I literally forget what I'm saying while I'm saying it. I'm sure it's very frustrating for her... it sure is for me, lol

I am in palliative care and as my friends say "legally high" I seem to recall tegretol being worse than opiates , cops have guns with there own guns , I have post it pads with post its of there own, these days I am airhead because of brain injury, but the tegretol was like drinking a bottle of tequilla BID, the directions should be like drink one shot ever four minutes until you forget how many you have had , lose track of glass and finish bottle . And a few times I remember doing typical drunk things if my level got to high complete with slurred speech , failing down and wetting yourself like it was cool ,going to the hospital and being asked how much you drank ? Until the blood work came back with no alcohol but "plenty" of tegretol and then your "fine go home and sleep it off" neutologist always had fun trying to figure out what exactly caused your level to get too high, one I remeber never take an anti convulsant with a Proton pump inhibitor like Prilosec, you have to take a crazy amount to get the same result and then if you stop taking the proton pump inhibitor your level becomes toxic , lessons learned !

[Zigy]

Re: Does lamictal affect your memory?

Yes, I think so. My short term memory is affected. Also, I forgot some events from the past 10 years or so, or procedures. Such as being on vacation some place. What we did and what we saw. My wife tried to remind me, but it's a blank. We have pictures but even that doesn't remind me anything. And I've Been on it for about 6 moths.

[Nola0250]

Resurrecting this thread to ask about lamictal and memory/thinking. I have titrated up to 125mg over about 10 weeks. At 100mg I started feeling a bit foggy but it got better. Now I feel less foggy, but I’m doing some odd things. Like saying (or typing) the wrong word. My typing skills have gone to crap while my manual dexterity seems otherwise unaffected. Also doing odd thing a like putting the forks with rhe spoons while putting away the dishes, putting a lot of things in weird places. Has anyone ele experienced this? I hope it goes away. I feel like an almost normal person at this dose otherwise. Really hoping I don’t have to change meds. My pdoc says another 2wks at this dose to see if it goes away and if not we have to make a change.

[leomama]

I’ve been on 300mg for over a decade and my memory is as clear as a sunny day.

[emgreen]

Does what affect my memory??? It's hard to isolate one factor, but I'm on 400mg per day & I've noticed memory problems & trouble concentrating. My pdoc says lithium is the gold standard for mood stabilizers, but the blood tests & other issues led me to the conclusion that I should pass. Without a mood stabilizer, I'm convinced I'd be a bigger mess than I already am, though. I guess it's one of those things where you have to pick your poison.

[annielovesbacon]

Originally Posted by Nola0250

Resurrecting this thread to ask about lamictal and memory/thinking. I have titrated up to 125mg over about 10 weeks. At 100mg I started feeling a bit foggy but it got better. Now I feel less foggy, but I’m doing some odd things. Like saying (or typing) the wrong word. My typing skills have gone to crap while my manual dexterity seems otherwise unaffected. Also doing odd thing a like putting the forks with rhe spoons while putting away the dishes, putting a lot of things in weird places. Has anyone ele experienced this? I hope it goes away. I feel like an almost normal person at this dose otherwise. Really hoping I don’t have to change meds. My pdoc says another 2wks at this dose to see if it goes away and if not we have to make a change.

That's very interesting. I have been having trouble with that too (saying/typing the wrong word), but I am currently abroad studying a new language so I always chalked it up to that. I suppose it's possible Lamictal could be contributing, too.

[Misterpain]

There is no anti convulsent / mood stabilizer that does not have cognitive adverse effects, you basicly have to find the drug the drug that improves your quality of life with the least effect on cognition , this will take trial and error and a pdoc willing to invest the time in your care.

[Zigy]

I lost some memories of my past, which sucks if it's permanent, and my short term memory is bad. I've been on Lamictal since August last year. I can't remember (damn) if my memory problems started after that or before that though.

[hopeless2015]

I had a big problem on Trileptal with this. Since goung off and going on Lamictal I'm suffering with the concentration issues I was having. My memory has always been questionable

[hopeless2015]

I'm not having the concentration issues..sorry wouldn't let me edit

[leomama]

Originally Posted by hopeless2015

I'm not having the concentration issues..sorry wouldn't let me edit

I was which is why I’m going off it

[Nola0250]

I am slight better after decreasing nighttime Klonopin just a little. And my Tdoc thinks the weird word substitutions, fogginess and typing issues are common when coming off a manic episode, which I am. So hopefully that’s it, a bit more time will tell.

[Nola0250]

I cut my Klonopin from a 0.5mg tab to 3/4th of the tab for 3 nights. My extreme daytiime fatigue went away and my mood felt normal for 2 days, for the first time I can remember in probably a few years. I still had some strange word subsitutions, but much less. Then last night I did the same, slept poorly, and am now tired but wired again. Now more tired and they are back again.

Has anyone had these words substitutions with lamictal?? I have them speaking and typing. I even have them thinking sometimes. The alternative words are always loosly relatated to the words I intended (I left those misspellings in as examples, again I am excellent at typing and don't usually do this). Examples: saying "tonight" instead of "today" in a really inappropriate context, and a really weird one, "bridge" instead of "crosswalk." I can usually control it or immediately correct it if I concentrate hard, but it's exhausting.

My Pdoc thought that these were lamictal symptoms as they started as I increased from 100mg to 125mg, but that they might go away with time (though probably not going to increase lamictal any more and may add another med or try something else).

My Tdoc says she frequently sees this kind of things in people coming down off of mania. I know my dad (who is not diagnosed but I'm sure is somewhere on the spectrum), has a history of doing this a ton when he is "tired" which I think is a comedown from hypomania for him. So maybe that's it?

Please if anyone else has had this experience either with lamictal or with coming off of mania/hypomania, let me know. it's starting to freak me out and I don't see my Pdoc till late next week to see if I go back to 100mg Lamictal or move to something else.

[Misterpain]

Originally Posted by Nola0250

I cut my Klonopin from a 0.5mg tab to 3/4th of the tab for 3 nights. My extreme daytiime fatigue went away and my mood felt normal for 2 days, for the first time I can remember in probably a few years. I still had some strange word subsitutions, but much less. Then last night I did the same, slept poorly, and am now tired but wired again. Now more tired and they are back again.

Has anyone had these words substitutions with lamictal?? I have them speaking and typing. I even have them thinking sometimes. The alternative words are always loosly relatated to the words I intended (I left those misspellings in as examples, again I am excellent at typing and don't usually do this). Examples: saying "tonight" instead of "today" in a really inappropriate context, and a really weird one, "bridge" instead of "crosswalk." I can usually control it or immediately correct it if I concentrate hard, but it's exhausting.

My Pdoc thought that these were lamictal symptoms as they started as I increased from 100mg to 125mg, but that they might go away with time (though probably not going to increase lamictal any more and may add another med or try something else).

My Tdoc says she frequently sees this kind of things in people coming down off of mania. I know my dad (who is not diagnosed but I'm sure is somewhere on the spectrum), has a history of doing this a ton when he is "tired" which I think is a comedown from hypomania for him. So maybe that's it?

Please if anyone else has had this experience either with lamictal or with coming off of mania/hypomania, let me know. it's starting to freak me out and I don't see my Pdoc till late next week to see if I go back to 100mg Lamictal or move to something else.

I maybe a bad example as I take anti convulsant benzo & opiates on top of brain injury & Stroke, but i will completely drop words when typing and well speaking, I will be able to describe everything around the word but not get the word until hours later were it will just out of the blue pop into my head, like if I was trying to say "black cherry" i could tell you it was fruit, it grew on trees with a pit, china gave us some as gift and there pretty famous when visiting Washington during the bloom, it a soda pop, it's a color etc.. but not until hours later will "black cherry" come into my mind,and also if i mistype and auto correct does its thing sometimes i dont even know what it messed up.