LAMICTAL RASH~~~~~~~~~cam!!!!

I''ve been on Lamictal for about one month. I just now rubbed my arm and I have a rash that covers an area of about 3x5........the rash is back by my armpit. this scares the bejesus out of me.....i know that the rash can kill you...i have no medical insurance...and the meds are working so well......why did this happen???????????

Jeeze... that sucks. I'm SOOOO very sorry. What did your pdoc say?

Ry

Are you sure it's from the med? usually allergic reaction to a med happens less than a month. Maybe it's something else that you're allergic to. Is it just your arm?

I'm allergic to several drugs - mostly antibiotics, and i develop a reaction pretty quickly and it affects my whole body - inside and out.

I dont mean to make your situation any less, just want to make sure that it wasn't something else.

i know that the common time for the rash to appear is within two weeks or so.....i've been on it almost a month....the rash is very hard little bumps and is on the soft side of my under arm near my shoulder........i just found it...like when i posted...now, i am imagining that i have a fever and etc.etc. ...i just felt and it is spreading.......down the underside of my arm toward my elbow......

i can't talk to my Pdoc til tomorrow.......

Well, you know to stop the meds and drinkl a TON of water right?

Ry

Fayerody - Ryan's right. Stop the meds, drink water and contact your doctor ASAP or if you can't connect, go to emerg. The rash may be nothing, but I know I wouldn't take that bet (even with great odds). Rashes while taking Lamictal™ (lamotrigine) are serious business, even if it turns out to be a zit.

The above shouldn't scare you, just make you act, now. Any dangerous rash can be halted in it's tracks. It sounds as if the rash is still far enough away from a portal into the body (eg. mouth, nostrils, ****) where it becomes a pain in the a.... to treat.

Take care, and let us know the verdict. - Cam

((((((((((((((((((( pat )))))))))))))))))))

please let us know, sweetie, as soon as you've seen dr or been to the e.r. ok? if you have no insurance, make sure hosp. has an indigency clause...they could possibly write off or reduce the bill considerably...based on income.

be safe friend.

kd

thanks guys...i did the above and i'm waiting for Pdoc to call me back....it isn't nearly as pronounced as it was when i was computer last night.....thanks, again.......xoxo pat

My goodness woman last night I was worried! I did have itchiness while doing my four months of Lamictal titrating but never anything resembling the rash.

Was glad to see Cam pop in to respond. Please let us know after you've spoken with doc. Have you tried calling your pharmacist? They are often more updated on meds than the doc. I used to have one who was my resource for lots of info but he's now retired.

Glad you're not freakin' or losing limbs.

concerned,

well, i'm certainly taking this seriously. the Pdoc is coming in, it's her day off, to see me at 2:15....i thought i was going to hyperventilate earlier but calmed myself down. thanks to all who voiced concern.......i'll pop in when i learn something from Dr. B.

((((((((((((((((((Pat))))))))))))))))))))

Let us know. I'm crossing my fingers for ya.

Take care,
Kimberly.

Well.....what's the scoop sweetie??

emmers

Rashes are dangerous? how come?

whoooooooooooooooooooooo..big breath........Dr. B didn't seem worried very much at all about the rash. She said that if it had been the lamictal, i would have been covered with the break-out!! What a huge relief.....I'll confess that so many bad things have been happening to me that I was more fearful than normal over this.......I'm never, ever an alarmist, so I was freaked. I'm laying off the lamictal and going to stay at 25 mg. She told me that the depakote doubles the lamictal, so we'll wait awhile to tweak the lamictal up to 50 mg. I really like this woman. Very down to business and friendly. Doesn't doze off!! Thank you, everyone, over and over for your concern!!!!xoxoxox Pat

((((((((((((((Fay)))))))))))))) so glad to hear it is not to serious. Thanks for letting us know how you are doing.

Take Care

Thank you for updating us!! Glad you're ok and normal bumpy not deadly bumpy.

Someone in this thread asked about why this rash is so dangerous. I don't have the links at hand but there is a risk listed in the literature for Lamictal (lamotrigine) that warns of a very rare but potentially fatal rash that can occur.

There is lots of information about this topic available through a good search source for medical searches................Cam? or Lar? wanna offer links to one of the easier to use search thingies for looking up SJS in relation to Lamictal? thanks in advance should one of you gents have the time to do so........or thanks to anyone else who comes forth with help on this.

Glad to hear that. Certainly good news.
Did she say what caused the rash?

I've been on Lamictal a year. I'm covered in itchy little red bumps head to toe, that have now gotten scaly and dry. It's called psoriasis. You get it under extreme stress. I scratch till I bleed some days (can't see derm for another 3 weeks). My pdoc is very watchful of "the rash" but the lit says it comes on in the first 6 months or less. I didn't break out with this stuff till long after that.

Also of note is that I saw the derm at the end of Dec., he saw psoriasis AND eczema (I had to get them both at the same time -- stress? whazzat? ;-), gave me creams and ointments and everything under the sun, and this stuff went away. Then I got a job 50 times more intense and demanding than my old one, and it all came back, in the same spots.

Bottom line, I suspect we're both fine. If itchy. :-)

Candy

The Pdoc didn't know what caused the rash...and get this, it's never, ever been itchy. The bumps are small and hard and spread quite a bit more today....I'm just relieved that I can continue with the Lamictal. I was really, really bummed about that. I love the cocktail I'm on now and I sure don't want to mess with it.
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR BEING CONCERNED AND POSTING TO ME........XOXOXO faye

Thanks for the update Pat and I am sorry I missed this before...... glad you can continue with the Lamictal!

((((((((((((((((((((Pat)))))))))))))))))))

I cannot find a clear set of "warning" symptoms that separate benign rashes from the one(s) that may be associated with Steven-Johnsons or other serious adverse reactions to Lamictal.

If a rash and a fever are present together, that would require an immediate trip to the emergency room. The FDA also considers swollen lymph nodes as one of the big danger signs. However, there is no single pattern of symptoms, no clear symptom cluster, that differentiates the presence of the bad rash.

The combination of depakote and lamotrigine seems most likely to produce rashes, in general. So, it's not really too surprising to discover that you got one, fayeroe. And, despite your pdoc coming in on her off-day to assess you (what a wonderful doctor), I would retain some caution. If the rash begins to itch, and you get a fever, go to the emergency room and get another opinion. It's not an emergency in the sense that you need to act instantly, as there is actually quite a large window of time within which to reverse all symptoms of the bad rash, but the bad rash occurs inside your body as well as on the surface.

I could not find one single decent resource to link to, so I kind of cobbled my answer together. Here's a link to the FDA warning. It contains a good part of what I said here.

http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/safety/1997/lamict.htm

Best,
Lar