Side Effect #5: Increased Skin Sensitivity

Lamictal and Skin Sensitivity


Welcome to Post #5 in my series of the most troublesome or persistent side effects of lamictal.  I've written 10 posts about skin reactions.  Nothing serious happened to me -- I've avoided Steven's-Johnson Syndrome, a.k.a. the Deadly Rash -- but my skin has been more sensitive, especially when I first started titrating up.

That being said, I'm spending a bit more time on this post; we've all been warned about the Dread Rash of Doom, and because of that a lot of people stop taking this med unnecessarily the first minute *anything* strange happens to their skin.  Most of the time it's not SJS.  However, I am not a doctor, so don't go construing this as medical advice, people!

The skin effects I noticed were as follows:

1. Something like heat rash on my second day of lamictal (at 25 mgs).  This continued for the first two weeks I was on the med, and was particularly noticeable after exercising.
2. "Combination skin", or simultaneous dry skin and acne.  
3. Sensitivity to heat (like when I open the oven door).
4. Tactile sensitivity in general; for instance, it would hurt noticeably more when my cat scrapes her tongue across my face.  
5. Returning rash when titrating up to 50 mgs.
6. Sunburn happens faster than usual and is more severe.  Since I'm pretty damn white, "usual" happens pretty quickly anyway.
7. Sensitivity to chemicals, such as Advantage flea control.
8. Niacin rash, which turns out to be a sunburn-like reaction to niacin, also known as vitamin B3.  It's in a lot of grains.  It happened to me after drinking too much electrolyte replacement drink and eating multi-grain waffles. This has never happened to me before (and I know I've OD'd on gatorade before this), but since cutting down on the electrolyte beverage, it hasn't happened since.

There you have it.  Several skin reactions to lamictal that ARE NOT Steven's-Johnson.  For the rest of my series, check out #1: Delayed Sleep Phase; #2: Loss of Appetite; #3: Digestive Issues, and #4: Weird Food Cravings.