[Americano]

I’ve not had seizures before, but I’m on a high dose (400mg). This has been a longstanding worry of mine.

[Guiness187055]

Anything is possible

[TicTacGo]

Well say you had seizures before and were to stop taking Lamictal, you could start having seizures again once the drug has left your system enough for it to stop suppressing the seizures.

There's something called rebound. People who take antipsychotics for depression can show psychotic symptoms if they quit. Same with anti seizure medication.

If you ever think - It's Friday night, this is my last pill and I absolutely can't get more until Monday - try to call a pharmacist (hospitals have an emergency 24/7 pharmacy usually) to ask if you can split the pill or something.
If that's not possible I think I'd split the pill in thirds or fourths so you'll have a little each day. It might not be an effective dose for the reason you're taking it, or might not be an effective dose if you're really taking it for seizures, but it might prevent rebound seizures. (This is not advice as I am not qualified to advise. Just what I would do in your case.)

It's like this - anti seizure meds do something with electrical brain activity or neurotransmitters. If you suppress brain activity, your brain will 'think': "oh, I can create more brain activity without reaching x threshold". So when you quit, your brain is still creating that extra bit of brain activity and now that it isn't being suppressed by medication anymore, your brain will be more active until it has noticed it doesn't have to work so hard on reaching a certain brain activity level anymore.
If you hurt your knee you might have pain and a slight limp. Buy a brace and wear it for a month, then take it off: you might not have pain anymore, because the bruising or whatever has healed, but your limp will be enormous because of muscle loss.
If you fall of your bicycle weekly and thus buy a tricycle, and after a year you'll try a bike again, you'll fall every day because you aren't used to having to keep your own balance anymore.

[Americano]

Well I’ve had terrible experiences when I was on benzos and would be without them and the thought of seizureing up in that withdrawal state where your panicking in fear...some of the worst experiences of my life. Never had a sezuire though....
I just don’t want to be on any drugs that if I run out my life is at stake...especially a scary death.

The only medications I can take are those they can’t be abused so antidepressants and lamictal is what I take.

[Naynay99]

Hey. I wouldn't recommend it but I have run out (or just stopped cold turkey) lamictal before and was no worse for wear. No seizures or really any side effects.

My only issue was when going back on it and Wellbutrin, the lamictal took longer to restart its effects than the WB so I experienced insomnia from the Wellbutrin where i couldnt sleep for 3 days straight... but I can't take an AD w/o a mood stabilizer.

Anyway as others said, it's not a good idea to run out of any med. But if it makes you feel any better, I have stopped it abruptly and I was okay. And while my pdoc was pissed I stopped the meds he wasn't overly concerned about seizures.

[Americano]

Ahhh thanks that does make me feel much better!

[~Christina]

If a person goes off Lamical for over 3 days its safer to avoid SJS by restarting and titrate up

Ask your pharmacist .. they are a wealth of free information.

[Nammu]

If you never had a seizure it's unlikely to happen. I did have tonic-clinic seizures for a few years brought on my an suicide attempt with meds but later when I stopped the lamictal cold turkey I did not get a seizure. Benzos though are a higher risk, I did get a few seizures when I stopped those. My overall advice is don't cold turkey meds and follow a docs advice on quitting meds, don't learn the hard way like I did.