lamictal & memory

[bintheredunthat]

I thought lamictal was supposed to be a good drug, but for me when it kicks in my brain doesn't know anything.I recall zoni-something was terrible for that, for me anyway. Anyone else having this problem?

[nalgas]

I thought lamictal was supposed to be a good drug, but for me when it kicks in my brain doesn't know anything.I recall zoni-something was terrible for that, for me anyway. Anyone else having this problem?

Well, anticonvulsants in general tend to work by slowing down various parts of your brain; that's what makes them anticonvulsants, since they prevent seizures by keeping the neurons from flipping out and firing uncontrollably. That coincidentally also makes them affect other things like mood and memory and concentration and all sorts of things, depending on your own personal brain issues and what the particular med does.

In general, Lamictal tends to be somewhat of an antidepressant for a lot of people, and it usually has fewer cognitive (memory/thinking/etc.) side effects than some of the other ACs. Usually. But not always. There are plenty of people on here who can testify that it's improved their mood without many problems associated with it. There are also people with the opposite experience, though. It made me more depressed, and my memory was kind of flaky while I was taking it. On the other hand, Topamax, which is notorious for causing memory problems in a lot of people, made me smarter and remember things more easily.

It really does depend entirely on what it is that's off-balance with your brain and whether the med you're trying hits that or something else unrelated. If it acts on the correct part of the brain for you, you have improvement with no or few side effects. If it's the wrong part for you, you can end up with the opposite, with side effects and not much useful to show for it.

Sometimes things like that change over time after your brain has had a few weeks to get used to a med, and side effects will get better or go away. Lamictal in particular is also pretty notorious for having the side effects come and go as you raise/lower the dosage and tends to have "sweet spots" (which are different for different people) where it magically works better with fewer problems than taking slightly more or slightly less than that amount. It can take some fiddling around to find the best amount to take and when during the day to take it. Or it's also possible that it might just not work out for you. That's up to you and your doctor to decide. Not everything works in the same way for everyone. So it goes.

[Unregistered]

It has been almost entirely SE free for me, apart from a dose of the stoopids. My pdoc said that it did a number on your liver, and to try B vitamin supplements in big doses. It seemed to work, to b honest, or maybe the SEs just wore off

[nalgas]

My pdoc said that it did a number on your liver, and to try B vitamin supplements in big doses.

As far as I know, it doesn't really have much to do with your liver (although a lot of meds do). I'm pretty sure it's just filtered out by your kidneys and doesn't induce/inhibit any liver enzymes like several other meds do. As far as B vitamins go, they can be quite good for brain functioning if you're not getting enough. "Big doses" is relative, though. Some of them you don't want to take too much of, like B6, which causes nerve problems if you take it in really large amounts (but in moderate amounts, it helps with that sort of thing instead). In general, the "50/75/100 mg/mcg of every B vitamin" pills are a bad idea, since your body uses them in varying amounts, not exactly equal like that. The safest bet is probably to ask your doctor or a nutritionist about it, or just get a balanced multivitamin that has reasonable amounts of everything in it (i.e. not 4000% of your daily requirement of random stuff). And for anyone who's male or a non-menstruating female (e.g. post-menopausal), don't get one with iron in it if you like pooping. Heh.

[Unregistered]

OK, agreed. I take a 500mg multi B vit one and its time release, but yeah, don't overdo this stuff.

[AnneMarie]

For me, Lamictal acts as an antidepressant with the only side effect being too much activation. That's up 'til 200mg. Over 200mg, the cognitive impairment is extreme enough to drop back to 200mg or less. For whatever reason, the effect is worse on Depakote and that's even after accounting for the required Lamictal halving necessary w/Dep.

Give yourself a little time to adjust and look for your sweet spot if you are getting an antidepressant effect from it. If it doesn't get better or it's not dealing with the symptoms you are seeking it to control, move on to something else. As already said, these meds work in different ways and if one isn't doing its thing in the part of your brain that needs it, you might just have side effects.