The third post in my series of the most bothersome side effects of lamictal concerns the third largest tag in my list of side effects: GI issues. GI issues with brain meds are pretty common. Ever med I've ever been on has warned of nausea, for instance, but I never had this problem. And for the first couple months of titration, and then only after titrating up to a higher dose, but it always went away after a few days.
Then I went up to 150 mgs.
In general, I'm not prone to digestive problems. I've thrown up only twice since I was ten or twelve years old. I can eat just about anything without getting heartburn, stomachache, or nausea. But at 150 mgs, I found myself gassy, bloated, and constipated -- to the point where I bought a huge bag of prunes. Not that they helped much.
They came back with a vengeance at 200 mgs. This time they were worse. I added cheerios to my regimen of prunes, ginger tea, gas-X, senna tea (a natural laxative), electrolyte beverages, and yoga. Why cheerios? Well, as much as I hate them, they've always had a laxative effect on me. On the rare times when I was constipated before lamictal, which sometimes happened to me on the first day of my period when I was younger, cheerios were guaranteed to clean me out.
The damned cheerios did very little, but not quite nothing. This was unfortunate because I loathe them with the white-hot hate of a thousand burning suns.
I titrated up to 250 mgs. The GI effects lessened slightly. I titrated up to 300. At that point the GI effects disappeared as if by magic. Which is awesome for me because I really, really like this med. It has improved my mood and my stability, and I plan to stay on it regardless of the GI issues I was having. It would just suck to have to put up with that indefinitely.
Of course, this is not to say that you're guaranteed to have the same experience. As always, your mileage may vary.
For my first post in this series, concerning the side effect of sleep problems, click here. For the second post in the series, concerning the side effect of appetite problems, click here.
Hi, I am titrating right now and I am having terrible acid reflux issues.
ReplyDeleteThey started at 150 mgs. I'm back down to 100 mgs. I was having trouble
breathing, and had awful pressure and pain in my chest. Obviously, I thought I was dying, but I was told it was a panic attack. AFter almost two weeks of daily anxiety and weird sensations, it finally clicked for me: I am having strong acid reflux symptoms. Again, this didn't start until 150. Unfortunately I'm back down to 100, which is not providing full support emotionally, but I got the fear of God in me an we all decided to titrate me down for awhile. Noone on my "team" yet knows about my new epiphany because I just had it tonight. Did you experience any tightness of chest, breathing constriction, lump in throat, pressure or pain in chest, etc? OR was it strictly nausea? I'm comforted that it may all go away at some point because, like you, I LOVE this drug. It changed my life...until this turn of events.
This is interesting as it is having the opposite effect on me! Once I was up to 150 it levelled out. Then, about 4 weeks ago I moved up to 200 and once again, I daren't go anywhere without knowing where the toilet is first :o
ReplyDeleteOther side effects are a high heart rate, with flutters that I can feel. Sometimes I go to take my pulse and can hardly feel it, as, although it is fast, it isn't very forceful. And the beats vary between strong and weak, like a weird Morse code. I told my GP and she seemed unfazed.
Then there are the nightmares. The worst I've ever had, and typically 4 in one night.
But I hope that I can stay on this med' despite these things. This is the first year I have seen a psych-doc who I feel knows what he is talking about, and the first one to offer - or even mention to me- any mood stabilisers. The SSRIs didn't help much.
Taking this has had the effect of making me feel like I have just woken up. The only thing I can compare it to is like when I got my first pair of glasses- I had got used to stuff being a bit blurred and colours being a bit dull. When I put my glasses on and saw properly it was like "WOW!"
I have just started Lamictal (Third week). I have had bleeding ulcers(very serious) and more recently severe GERD. Two weeks into my Lamotrigine therapy my GERD symptoms seem markedly improved.
ReplyDeleteIt seems there is some relationship between the situations. Any ideas?
I just increased to 200 mg and the heartburn is terrible. It even keeps me up at night. My doc told me to break up the dosage between morning and night and that helped for a time but now it's back with of a vengeance. Not sleeping and being in constant pain does not help with my mood and it really bums me out because this med really works for me. Did these side effects go away for anyone after sometime? I know if I watch what I eat it is manageable.
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