[poptardqueen]

I am currently taking 450mg of lamictal a day, and recently I have come to the realization that my cognitive processes seem to be slowing significantly. I have always been a very intelligent, articulate person, but now it is a challenge for me to even speak coherently because I am always fogeting what word to use. It is MOST obvious when I am typing or writing. I mispell even the simplest words (and I have always been able to spell superbly) and have become useless when it comes to trying to type words fluently without constantly hitting the delete button and correcting and recorrecting mistakes. Is this all in my head? Am i actually losing my intelligence. This attribute has been one of my few worth keeping, so this is scary.

Has anyone else had this experience on lamictal?

Also, have any of you that have taken it felt like you were turning into a robot? In the sense that you have almost no emotions even when there is a legitimate reason to feel a certain way. Emotionally constipated as I like to think of it as.

[lenjan]

I'm only on 150 mg of Lamictal. I haven't noticed any slowing like you describe. I'm definitely not emotionally numb, because my boss made me cry for 15 minutes yesterday ;-). For a long time, once I got up to a decent dosage, I felt pretty good -- even, at least, not up half the day and down half the day. I'm back to that now, but there are reasons for it, so I'm chalking it up to stress, not meds.

Candy

Poptardqueen,

Oh yes Lamictal (lamotrigine) was an experience in hell for me. I tapered slowly attempting to get to a therapeutic dose but was only ever able to get to 50 mg. This was after almost four months!!!

Let's see what my difficulties were with that drug: couldn't type (and was 60+wpm typist before), forgot words, forgot how to spell words, forgot how to use objects like keys in a door, couldn't read, couldn't follow simple instructions, etc. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer anyway but this medication dulled me more than anything I'd been on in the past ten years.

It was beyond emotionally constipating and more like an evil dulling of my senses.

I gave it a four month trial and the risks outweighed any benefits I might have received from it. My sense of brain came back slowly after tapering off and having the drug out of my system for a while.

It is so scary to have an object in your hands and know what it is but be unable to get the word for it from your brain. Something to do with memory and brain sides.

Reminds me of some psych experiment where your hands are covered and you're given an object to hold in one of your hands. For this example an orange is used: in the right hand you can tell immediately that you are holding an orange and name it quickly.........in the left hand you will sense that the object is round, textured, and such but cannot associate what you are holding with the related word.

That sums up my entire Lamictal experience. Knowing I knew things and not having access to them.

P.S. edited---this is just one person's experience on that medication. YMMV. I was still taking lorazepam bid and alprazolam prn in addition to the lamotrigine. Have you spoken to you doctor about the difference you notice in your cognitive abilities? I went in and screamed at my doctor that I was becoming a drugged out zombie with no noticable beneficial effects so let's call it a drug trial and get me onto something else. I wish I had been that eloquent but I'm sure it was a string of cursing and lots of muttering that I don't know what word I want but I'm sure he can get the gist of what I'm getting at. I do remember lots of crying at that meeting and me yelling why was he asking me so many questions because my brain couldn't handle the complexties of them at that time. (simple things like what medication next and what could help now.........but way way beyond my cognitive abilities on lamotrigine)

Speak up to your doc if this med isn't giving you beneficial effects. You're a consumer as well as patient and be a vocal one when the benefits do not outweigh the risks/SEs.

Take care.

[SeptemberMorn]

Exactly the same thing has been happening to me for a while now, but I'm on Celexa. It's really frustrating! I've been thinking it's age and maybe some hardening of the arteries. I've even thought I might have Alzheimers!

Is Cam answering questions? Now I'm thinking if it's the Celexa, what else is there that I can try? I've been on so many meds during the 20 yrs I've been trying to live with depression and anxiety. Celexa, so far, is the only thing that I've been able to take without other side effects.

[PlanningtoLive]

You know how I feel about you, my friend, and what happened to me while on it (that total body rash).

Please get off the Lamictal - there are other options for you, medicine wise. It may improve a lot of things for you. You are an exceptionally bright person with so much to offer.

Please don't forget that or the fact that you have to take care of yourself.

xoxoxox

[darkeyes]

I have been on it for 3yrs. I have been maintained on 2oomgs per day.
I did experience the one thing you mentioned, I thought I was losing my memory and ability to write, my doc said this is common, it lessens, and dosage has a big influence (sp?)
A big culprit with this memory thing I have found during the times I use Ativan for occasional nite anxiety, but not with Klonopin (it's cousin) if I am having an oncoming attack.
Lamictal for me has worked the best for my mild bipolar (BP-II) compared to past meds I had tried.
Stress this problem with your pdoc, he or she will work with you, perhaps even change your dosage gradually.
Hang in there, in my heart I feel things wil get better for you, like anything it takes time.
I sincerely wish you lots of luck with this.

Please take care,

DE

[bluemoonfaerie]

poptardqueen,
Here's my experience with the shield-shaped pill.
I've been on Lamictal for a long time and am now down to 300 mg a day. I had double vision at doses greater than 500 mg, so in lowering my doses of Lamictal, I was put on Topamax to compensate. With Topamax I get the same experience of not being able to speak, read, and write as well as I used to, and I used to be able to do those things extremely well. I'm now on a lower dose of Topamax for other reasons, so I'm starting to get better in that respect.
But back to Lamictal. Overall, Lamictal was the one medicine that started to help me through bipolar-disorder, but it turned out that it wasn't the only drug. The main thing to remember is that everyone reacts to a drug differently, and Lamictal clearly isn't working for you. It is possible to be medicated and not have your mind be dull and feel like a zombie. Talk to your doc and you can work out something new.