Lamictal

[Malaksharif]

hi everybody,

i read in more than one forum that lamictal cause serious short memory loss, this was totally new to me.i have been on lamictal 200mg for three years

i used to suffer from short memory loss since high school and thought it was due to my depression (as i was diagnosed bach then).....my short memory is getting really worse and i did not think it could be lamictale..........i thought it just getting worse aging (am 29 now)

now i cannot recall very simple vocabullary during speaking, not to mention spelling while writing simple stuff like this post

Have anyone suffered from similar symptoms and using lamictal

[llamasmellfunny]

Here is a website that I found:

http://www.medications.com/se/lamictal/memory-loss

I am OBSESSED with doing reasearch on anything and everything to do with BP and the medications I'm on.  Aside from this website I've found a few more that have serious side effects for Lamictal.  The only problem I've found is that because it is a relatively new drug that they don't have any long term side effects listed, only short term.

Here is another site:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-05/uoc--ssb050603.php

This one talks about brain damage associated with BP.  According to some scientist they believe that BP will affect cognitive functions over time including short term memory and also the inability to do things like add/subtract, etc.  I'm an accountant and I need a calculator for everything.  It's a bit embarrassing actually.  

Another thing I've heard is that the medication actually slows down the rate of brain damage caused by BP, so the medication may in fact be helping this all.

[kathy434]

Over the past 25 years I have been on any number of psych. medications.  I first suffered major depression, and eventually a doctor tried me on Lithium.  Wow.  That was the first time I felt NORMAL.  I knew then that I was dealing with BPD.  It turned out that I was alergic to Lithium, so it was disc.  However, several years later, during another hospitalization they picked up on my BPD and immediately put together a coctail of meds that included Depakote & literally saved my life.  I stayed on that coctail for over ten years, faithfully.  Over the 25 years of my illness, my memory was greatly affected.  I don't think it was due to medications, but the illness itself, the trauma of it.  After being asked multiple times, "do you remember this incident...that person...those places, etc.  I had zero memory. So in my case I honestly believe that what our mental illnesses do to us, traumatize the brain, and this causes poor concentration, and poor memory and memory loss.
Now I have not taken this coctail for several months, have gotten my weight down considerably, and have felt absolutely wonderful.  However, I am starting to see that I can go for long periods without sleep, and other things are manefesting in my psyche.  that tell me I may need to return to medication.  The conversation about Lamictal is very interesting, because my Psychiatrist suggested I take this.  I have it on hand, but have not started it.  My memory is fine at this time, and I was able to do Soduku while medicated.  It is only my opinion that when the brain has been traumatized by mental illnesses, or physical injuries, one can be prepared to experience a level of lower concentration, and memory, not necessiarily caused by medication, although I don't rule out some, but because the brain is ill.

[jimgreg]

my answer  to you it would be the illness in itself...lamictal  would take over that time frame to cause this..now deppreshion will cause thuis very rapid...i have alot of this and im unmedacted bp1..

[opus88]

thx for this info, again I don't necessarily say the problems I am having are due to Lamictal..........of course an assessment has to be done and all other possible reasons need to be taken into consideration....but I think everyone agrees that it is necessary for anyone taking medication to be aware of all possible side effects than to weigh the pros and cons for themselves.
thx again and have a good day

[adel_ezz]

concerning searching for words it happens to everybody. I have been talking about this phenomenon to many people because i was concerned and I don NOT take lamictal now and when i took it for a month it was 2mg infantile dose. Now many people have it, my father who is not bipolar has it too and sometimes i find him extremely extremely sad because he misses a word or spelling. it's ANXIETY believe me, not the lamictal. Now the book says 90% of BP pts have anxiety most of the time.

It's easy to find out the truth about memory loss. Now this forum is for BP, there are others for panic disorder, GAD, major depression and Schizoph.. now all you have to do is to ask whether anybody has a loss in concentration and memory. I bet all of them will agree. Besides if someone here asks: I have some itching in my neck and i take lithium, do you think folks that it might be from lithium. I bet everybody will agree and will start to feel itchings in the neck. This is called chronic worrying from the illness itself. I remember once i felt aches in my knee and my bones were hurting me, so i thought rheumatoid arthritis. I kept going to the pyramid area and buried myself in the hot sand for one whole year. I believed i had it and anybody questionning it i would shout at him because i was damn sure, no doubt about it. Until i happen to have met an orthopedist and he assured to me that it doesn't happen at my age and mostly to women, i was cured.

So the bad thing about our illness is that we believe wrong ideas, our illness can be comorbid with OCD and GAD and you just name it. It's the problem of the brain which functions incorrectly

good morning

[DaisyKat]

I've beenm taking Lamictal for over one year as well as Tegretol and Celexa.  I do have a bit of memory issues, specifically searching for words.  It's minor compared to what it was when I was taking Prozac.  You just have to weigh the good efffects and bad effects.  I am finally stable after years of trial and error.  A few instances of searching for my words are better than the other option.