Lamictal 150 mgs: Investing in Prunes, Gas-X, and Ginger Tea

I used to enjoy the stomach of a concrete elephant.  I never get the stomach flu.  Hell, I never even throw up.  Haven't since I was 12.  OK, there are two exceptions to this; the first was after three strong drinks, several clove cigarettes (I don't normally smoke), and a stack of strawberry pancakes.  The second was a few years ago when my husband's two-year-old cousin had the plague and every singe person who even touched her was knocked down flat.

I am now 36.  I have barfed exactly twice in 24 years.

As for other digestive complaints, I don't have 'em.  I'm not prone to indigestion, acid reflux, diarrhea, or constipation.  When I start a new med, I pretty much ignore the GI tract side effects because I know they won't bother me.  As I said, concrete elephant.

Until I went up to 150 mgs of lamictal, that is.

I titrated up from 100 mgs almost three weeks ago.  Until that point I would have occasional mild constipation and bloating, but nothing that lasted more than a day, and nothing that I would call bothersome.  Since kicking up to 150, it's been a different story.

I've poo'd normally perhaps once or twice in the last 18 days.  I've tried laxative tea, without which I don't think I would have been able to go at all, and finally prunes, which help about as much.  I'm 36 and I'm buying giant bags of prunes at Costco.

And gassy bloaty-ness?  Holy hell!  Last night I had the worst stomachache of my life.  It was so bad I was *whimpering*.  The kicker was that I was also hungry ... but I felt like there was no room in my stomach for food, what with all the gas that was in there.  That's not a fun combination, I can tell you.

I drank a few cups of ginger tea, which helped some; did a few yoga poses (cat-cow and child's pose), which helped some; looked for home remedies online and chewed a bunch of aijwan seeds, which helped some.  At least by the time I was done with all this, I could eat my damn dinner.

I can hear you thinking, What's this chick's diet like?  Does she get any fiber at all?  Or does she subsist on grease or something?  Well, allow me to tell you what I ate yesterday, which is pretty representative of my general diet.

Breakfast:

• Quinoa and buckwheat waffle
• 2% Greek Yogurt mixed with dark cocoa and honey

Lunch (at home with friends; ordinarily I wouldn't have a soup course):

• Squash and mango soup
• Raw tomato sauce with chickpeas served over amaranth (a whole grain)
• Mixed green salad
• Fresh fruit

Snack:

• 4 goddam prunes

Dinner:

• Vegetable stew made with fava beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, and eggplant

As you can see, my diet is hardly short on fiber.  I honestly can't see where I could add more fiber.  And still the painful gassy bloating, and the being unable to shit when I need to.  

I have to go by the drugstore later today.  I will be picking up some Gas-X and laxatives.  Maybe some psyllium too.  I hope to gods this is a side effect that will go away.