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Since upping my lamictal dose (only to 75) I gradually noticed increading strange muscular pains and cramps, akin to what I imagine arthritis to be like. I obviously have noticed that lamictal side effects tend to dissipate after a while after a dosage change, and of course had much more intense pains, headaches and other such things around the increase time howhever these particular ones appeared after the initial S/E subsided and have progressively worsened. These are focused on my legs, primarily my calf and knee joints, and have affected my gait. Alongside this I've notices strange muscular twitches and sharp pains, primarily in the leg areas but occasionally other muscle areas. I have noticed there is some info and muscle pain does seem to be a known side effect of lamictal, but was wondering if anyone has experience in treating this? Am wondering whether to reduce dose, which is a difficult choice as 75 is the highest dose I've been able to tolerate and is still pretty subtherapeutic. I should probably note on the list of odd side effects that I also have a crazy range of odd head, neck and jaw pains, alongside ocular aura w/out migraine (like a dull pain behind the eye accompanied with a feeling of a round orb or spot sorta behind vision), although these are harder to pin on the lamictal... Fun times...

I want to try Nortriptyline again, but my psych doc is hesitant. He prescribed me Seroquel and Abilify but my pharmacist refused to fill them, advising not to take them together at my age (67). I used to take Pamelor for 30 years and where it did nothing for depression, it controlled anxiety, panic disorders and managed migraine. Waiting to hear back from my psych doc today if he will approve Nortriptyline. I need to sleep. I need something to help with agoraphobia, terrible anxiety and panic. Everything I take activates anxiety and panic. Leaving my home is a battle with fear. Thank you.

Hello again friends. It has been a few years. I was HaloGirl66. Or IndyMode. I can't remember. But I re-registered because I couldn't recover my old user info. I've had severe insomnia, ADHD, GAD & Migraines for years and am now going through a bipolar diagnosis. So hello again. -Mandy

Last week I had a migraine that lasted about 5 days. Normally I can take codeine and it will go away in less than 24 hrs. This one didn't, every time the drugs wore off it was still there. I usually getting vision blacking/tunnel vision and vomiting but this time I didn't have any of that. I was unable to recognise sounds for what they were (bins being wheeled, fans, thunder etc), my neighbour pointed out to me that I had been confused a few times in the last couple of days. I also had trouble with driving and following where things were and what was parked/car park vs queues on roads. I've never had cognitive processing problems with a migraine before. The last thing was a feeling of slowly expanding pressure above and behind my left temple one night that left me sitting unable to do anything for a few minutes. I remember thinking I should go to the hospital but I couldn't make the thoughts turn into actions. I saw a doctor yesterday and he said that even though it's unusual it's probably just a migraine aura and then gave me Maxalt after I'd told him the wafers hadn't worked for me in the past. My pain is gone today but every now and then I still get a weird pressure feeling where I'd had it before and there are random light stabbing pains. Mentally I feel fuzzy and unfocused. Does this sound normal for a migraine? Does it sound like anything else? I know this isn't the place to diagnose but I'm wondering how soon I should go back and see the doctor again. At the time I was taking tranexamic acid (a blood clotting medication) but the doctor seemed to brush that off as unrelated.

Hey all, I was wondering if anyone here has received a lidocaine treatment? "The supposed mechanism by which lidocaine works in clusters and migraines is by numbing the portion of the trigeminal nerve known as the sphenopalatine ganglion." If it works, I'll get it again before I go on vacation. But I think it is too expensive to take it as often as they suggest. Anyone familiar with this?

Hey there! I have been diagnosed with migraines to explain vertigo that started in 2012 on my honeymoon in Italy and lasted pretty much 1-2 years after that. It was off and on, more or less all of the time. I felt like a little boat tied to a dock. I went to several neurologists, and they said it was just migraines and put me on Topamax and then later switched it to Trokendi XR. Has anyone else experienced vertigo that lasted that long that someone said was just migraines?

Hello, After some really unsettling stuff and suicidal ideation, I came off of Luvox and Wellbutrin XL under care of my psychiatrist. I hadn’t been on the Luvox very long and my last dose was Jan 3rd. I had been on Wellbutrin XL 300mg for 4+ years and tapered off with my last dose on Jan 12th. Again, I am under a doctor’s care and have regular appointments to check-in, but she wasn’t able to give much information about some weird possible side effects or any time time other than “it should hopefully get better soon.” After the luvox, I had nausea and other intense GI symptoms, but they kind of reared their ugly head and then faded. Possibly because I was on it for so long, but I’m really struggling coming off the Wellbutrin which I though was supposed to have less withdrawal. Last week at the peak of feeling bad, I couldn’t even go into work. I had intense migraines, vertigo, and nausea, spent two days pretty much in bed just trying not to move with a sleep mask on. I also had acute joint pain, not 100% sure that it was caused by discontinuing the meds but the timeline fits, felt like I had aged 20 years overnight with pain in my hands (couldn’t open jars), feet, and knees. Now I’m more than a week out and still with near continuous nausea and dizziness, headaches better than the raging migraines but still there on and off. I also feel like I am just uncomfortable all the time, just feel disconnected like my body is in the way of itself if that makes sense, trouble falling asleep no matter how tired I am because nothing is comfortable. I also felt really weak over the weekend, just couldn’t do normal activities like I had no strength and then was fatigued. My doctor said that since some antidepressants are used to treat fibromyalgia (something I’ve never had before), people can get rebound fibromyalgia symptoms when they discontinue them? Please share your experiences. How long will this last? I feel better mentally, no more intrusive thoughts and so much less foggy, but feel too crappy physically to do much - so frustrating! The headaches, nausea, and dizziness I’m not too surprised about, just really hoping they go away. The weakness and ashiness and just constant discomfort, that was not expected. I keep thinking it’s not the meds, but not sure what else could have changed to bring on such a seemingly drastic change in how I feel physically. What the heck is going on with that? Has anyone else had that happen? When did it finally go away and was there anything you found that helped in the meantime? Again, I am seeing my psychiatrist but I'm concerned about all this because I'm struggling with these symptoms at work (missed days and trouble getting through long shifts) and especially as a mother to a young son. Please help - thanks!!!

Hey! This is actually my first time creating a topic, but I've been googling this all day. I have medicare, so it's super hard for me to get a hold of my neurologist when I want to! He actually has to get special permission from the hospital to call me because I have an out-of-state number (whhhhaaaaattt!?), so I'm turning to you guys for some help and hopefully peace of mind in the meantime. I just started taking Topamax for migraines a couple months ago and went from an initial 50 mg to 25 mg a day when my pop culture trivia started going out the door. Everything seemed to be going a lot smoother minus a few *regular* headaches every so often UNTIL the past week. Suddenly, I finally started getting that pins & needles side effect I had been warned about... or at least I think that's what it is... My feet seem to be tingling on and off for the whole day sometimes. I try to drink a whole glass of water when I take the pill too. Sometimes the pain is actually painful and distracting. I'm a bit worried this is neuropathy and not a side effect as my grandfather had diabetes and hashimoto's thyroid disease runs in my family....BUT I'm led to believe that topamax is given to patients suffering FROM neuropathy sometimes?? Sooooo....does this type of tingling as a side effect sound normal? Do some people feel the tingling on and off for the whole day and is it almost painful or actually painful for some people??

I just was wondering who on the boards had used Namenda (generic name memantine). It is a medication developed to treat Alzheimer's and Lewy's Bodies disease, but it is used off label to treat migraine and anxiety, among other things, including other psych conditions. I'm just curious about hearing about your experiences. There is very little information that I can find on Namenda used for off-label purposes. As for my personal experiences (someone has to start, right?): I started taking 10mg AM/10mg PM of Namenda about three weeks ago. So far: -My appetite has been less, but not severely so -My libido has been better, but I am still having headaches, so that is kind of a drag -My headaches are still fairly frequent, but not as "deep" or severe (this may also be due to botox). About 1 week into taking it, and for the next 7-10 days, it started feeling like my brain was going through a blender. I often couldn't finish sentences, because by the time I said even just the first few words, I forgot why I had said them, and what I was about to say. Writing was easier, because there was evidence in writing of what I had been thinking. But the whole thing was kind of terrifying. Fortunately, just as I was getting most frightened, that calmed down abruptly. The only other really noticeable side effect is that 4 or 5 hours after I take the 10mg AM dose of Namenda, I get exhausted, like I want to fall over I am so tired. I found the term "irresistible urge to nap" while Googling around, and that is best as I can describe it: It is like my body takes over and puts me into bed against my will. Because of this, I asked my Dr. if I could push my AM dose to the same time as my PM dose because the sleepiness is so disruptive (it really is bad). She said I could try switching it from 10mg/10mg, to 5mg/15mg. Today was the first time I tried that. I still got very sleepy, and actually did decide to take a short nap. But I *decided* to, it wasn't that I got sucked into a nap-vortex, the way I had been before. So this is basically my just throwing out what I have experienced, in exchange for hearing what you have experienced. Also, I know this will create a thread that will appear in Google searches for Namenda. So if you have come across this thread while searching the internets, and have something to contribute, please do! [Caveat: This is a pro-med site, no anti-med rants, please.]

I have gone onto a very low carb diet to lose weight and lost a bunch of kilos That's all very well and grreat, but that isn't what keeps me on it. Previously I had about a couple of migraines a week. Now they down to less than one per month. And relatively minor events too. The idea is you don't actually need Carbohydrates to live. You can't live without fats, proteins and vitamins... but carbs are merely an energy source. (You can burn fats or protein for energy). Keto diets were original worked out for kids with epilepsy, but they work for quite a few people with migraines. See http://www.reddit.com/r/keto for more info.

Hi guys, I've been on desvenlaxafine (Pristiq/Exsira) 50 mg for the past two weeks. I am taking it as an antidepressant, but hoped that it will help with my migraines. I get at least two a week nowadays, and quite severe, so that I cannot go in to do my work (I am a PhD student, so at least I have some leniency now). I was on Brintellix for depression and it made my headaches worse, so I dumped it for Exsira. Does anybody have success stories with the desvenlaxafine? I seem to have a chronic headache as well, since I started the meds. My doctor said to stick it out and see if it gets better x( Does it get better??

I've been on Bupropion ER for about four months, two months at 150 mg and two months at 300 mg. My usual pattern for migraines is about two to three per month, mostly menstrual and I cans abort them with Sumatriptan. I've recently had a spate of 5-6 day daily migraines, all aborted by Sumatriptan. I'm concerned about the increase and worry that I will need more than my insurance's allotted 9 pill a month. Plus the daily not feeling good is wearing on me. I also have noticed an increase in my impulsive behaviors, mainly shopping and internet checking. But it has helped my depressive fatigue and a bit for the lingering depression. I decided to discontinue it for the week prior to my PDOC appointment just as an experiment and since my results with it are rather moderate, I can live with the loss of this med for a while. I want to see if the headaches lessen or stop completely as I cannot deal with them anymore. I wonder if others have had worsening migraines or impulsivity? Edited to add that I have had minor dizziness with the migraine which is a new symptom for me. It is also aborted by the Sumatriptan.

Hi, my husband found articles for lay people on this topic, so I looked on Pubmed, and this is what I found: BPA exposure is correlated with migraine. That basically rules out all aluminum and steel cans, because they are lined with it. Also, DH said we shouldn't touch the receipts made out of thin slippery paper (the type that is hard to sign), because the paper is formulated from BPAs, and if you touch it, it goes right through your skin into your bloodstream. I said what if you *need* a receipt, and he said to carry a ziploc bag, and have the cashier drop it in there. What if you have to sign it? He didn't really know what to say about that. I don't know what to think. I don't tons of canned foods, but I do use them, especially tomatoes and beans. DH says BPA is banned almost everywhere but the US, so I might start looking for imports. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=BPA+Migraine Toxicol Sci. 2013 Nov 4. [Epub ahead of print] Exposure to Bisphenol A Exacerbates Migraine-Like Behaviors in a Multibehavior Model of Rat Migraine. Vermeer LM, Gregory E, Winter MK, McCarson KE, Berman NE. Source Anatomy and Cell Biology, The University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66160, USA. Abstract Migraine is a common and debilitating neurological disorder suffered worldwide. Women experience this condition three times more frequently than men, with estrogen strongly implicated to play a role. Bisphenol A (BPA), a highly prevalent xenoestrogen, is known to have estrogenic activity and may have an effect in migraine onset, intensity, and duration through estrogen receptor signaling. It was hypothesized that BPA exposure exacerbates migraine symptoms through estrogen signaling and downstream activation of nociception related pathways. Utilizing a multibehavior model of migraine in ovariectomized female rats, changes in locomotion, light and sound sensitivity, grooming, and acoustic startle were examined. Furthermore, changes in the expression of genes related to estrogen (ERα, GPR30), and nociception (extracellular signal regulated kinase, ERK, sodium gated channel, Nav1.8, and fatty acid amide hydrolase, FAAH) were studied following behavioral experiments. The following results were obtained: BPA treatment significantly exacerbated migraine-like behaviors in rats. Rats exposed to BPA demonstrated decreased locomotion, exacerbated light and sound aversion, altered grooming habits, and enhanced startle reflexes. Furthermore, BPA exposure increased mRNA expression of estrogen receptors, total ERK mRNA and ERK activation, as well as Nav1.8, and FAAH mRNA, indicative of altered estrogen signaling and altered nociception. These results show that BPA, an environmentally pervasive xenoestrogen, exacerbates migraine-like behavior in a rat model and alters expression of estrogen and nociception-related genes. KEYWORDS: Behavior Model, Bisphenol A, Migraine, Xenoestrogens

I posted about my recent visit to the U of Utah's pain clinic, because it was so different than the one at Stanford. Warning: very long.