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        Cluster Headache Help and Support >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies >> Avoid Lamictal
        
(Message started by: Jack_of_Diamonds on May 30^th, 2006, 8:41pm)

Title: Avoid Lamictal
Post by Jack_of_Diamonds on May 30^th, 2006, 8:41pm

i went to one of the manny pain treatment facilities in the area and they gave me a Lamictal starter pack.

First: it isn't even designed for pain treatment, it is an anti seisure medication to help the mind "relax"

Second: it dosn't do anything for the pain, it just knocks you out cold untill an attack comes and then you fall asleep right after (i had 13 hours constant sleep one time)

Third: the treatment is worse than the illness, you have out of body experiences while on it when you are awake (see the second point) and feel groggy because your mind won't come out of it's relaxed state

or try it out for yourself, have fun
-Kyle

Title: Re: Avoid Lamictal
Post by Karla on May 30^th, 2006, 11:01pm

I took it for a short while and developed a rash. So it was stopped asap. I am allergic to almost alll anti seizure meds on the market.

Title: Re: Avoid Lamictal
Post by Ueli on May 31^st, 2006, 12:04am

Quote:

First: it isn't even designed for pain treatment...

That's already a good thing, as the usual pain medications are utterly useless for CH.

Quote:

... it is an anti seisure medication to help the mind "relax"

I would say anti seizure medication have the purpose to prevent seizures, but how that can be achieved by "relaxing the mind" is inapprehensible to me. Do you have any references for this?

Seizures, bipolar disorder (for which Lamictal is indicated too) and also CH are all caused by a messed up mix of neuro transmitters. So, it's not surprising that some medications are useful for more than one disease.

Side effects of medications are negligible for some, unbearable for others.
It's ok to post your bad experiences with Lamictal. But your wholesale condemnation because of your intolerable side effects is not acceptable. It's also intolerable, and a cardinal sin, to make a statistic out of one case.

Imagine I had forgone Verapamil because one guy gave it bad notes: I would have suffered 10'000 or 15'000 full grown attacks more instead of the slights twinges I get now.

Ueli [smiley=smokin.gif]

Title: Re: Avoid Lamictal
Post by Geewilly on May 31^st, 2006, 12:25am

Ueli, which medicine only turn clusters into slight twinges for you?
::)

Title: Re: Avoid Lamictal
Post by unsolved1 on May 31^st, 2006, 12:38am

No thanks, I've already tried it. (years ago) It didn't help or hurt me. I noticed no side effects from it at all.

UNsolved

Title: Re: Avoid Lamictal
Post by BikerBob on May 31^st, 2006, 2:36am

Lamictal is lamotrigine.

Lamotrigine (Lamictal) is generally ineffective for CH but is the best treatment for SUNCT. Short-lasting, unilateral, neuralgiform headache attacks with conjunctival injection and tearing (SUNCT) is considered an intractable condition. The authors treated five patients with lamotrigine (125 to 200 mg daily), obtaining a complete remission in three patients and a substantial reduction (about 80%) of attack frequency in the other two. No adverse effects were noted.

http://www.neurology.org/cgi/content/abstract/57/9/1723

BB

Title: Re: Avoid Lamictal
Post by Kevin_M on May 31^st, 2006, 10:37am

on 05/31/06 at 00:25:43, Geewilly wrote:

Ueli, which medicine only turn clusters into slight twinges for you?
::)

Preventatives, such as the verapamil mentioned can lessen the punch of attempted breakthroughs until they are only felt occasionally as twinges or a lingering shadow at times. With adjustments, even that can become infrequent when working very well at preventing, making an effective preventative like finding gold.

Title: Re: Avoid Lamictal
Post by Katherinecm on Jun 1^st, 2006, 12:07pm

Jack of Diamonds,

I'm concerned that the staff of your pain treatment facility didn't explain the way Lamictal works better to you. Many people with CH or similar headaches like SUNCT try anti-seizure medications as preventatives. It is standard, and correct therapy. In some cases, like with the medication Topamax, it's unknown how the drug works. One theory I've read is that the "quieting down" of the brain that you referred to may block the sensations of pain in some unrecognized manner. At any rate, my neuro told me that some of the same mechanisms involved in epilepsy are the ones involved in CH.

I have a great uncle (by marriage, not a blood relative) who had CH episodically for more than 30 years when he was finally given Lamictal. It is the only thing that has worked for him. He said it took 6 weeks for it to work, but he hasn't had a single CH since. It has been several years. It is rare for Lamictal to work THAT well for someone with CH, but he does have CH & not SUNCT, as he has severe hour-long, nighttime only attacks when in cycle, with no lingering pain between hits. So it does work for some people. Everyone is different though. For other examples try searching the board.

It is important to try the taper for at least 5 or 6 weeks (If I remember correctly my Lamictal starter pack was for 5 weeks) in order to get blood serum levels high enough to see if it works for you.

Unless the side effects are worse than the drug gives benefits, don't knock it until you've given it a fair chance.

Pain free wishes,
Katy

Title: Re: Avoid Lamictal
Post by Lizzie2 on Jun 5^th, 2006, 2:57pm

I agree with Ueli and others who posted above with respect to not condemning the med just because you had a bad experience with it. Were it for that, I could condemn a very very long list of meds, some of which have been extremely helpful for other people!

And also - if someone sees a headline that states "Avoid Lamictal" with an exclamation point preceding it, well - they just might. And if they're already taking lamictal and suddenly make an ill-informed decision to quit taking it, then it can lead to seizures and other complications. I'm not implying anyone here would stop their meds just by reading the headline of your post, but there are people out there who might just...

It is completely okay to state your negative experiences with a med. But it is not okay to broadcast to an entire community to avoid a certain medication.

Lamictal is in fact used off-label for a variety of things, including certain types of pain. It is different than any other type of antiseizure medication. While its mechanism of action is not known, it may play a role in the activation of sodium channels. Lidocaine, which also works on sodium channels, is a med that many CH'ers have used in one form or another and is very often used in the management of pain. ;)

I took lamictal for basilar migraine. It was quite effective for me, and the only side effects I experienced were the occasional fatigue and some dry mouth. Those side effects were very well tolerated considering that what it prevented was a terrible headache with vertigo, confusion, memory loss, blacking out, nausea, vision problems, etc. ;)

To each his or her own... :)