Horrific Lamictal withdrawals anyone?

My last benzo was in Dec 2014.

Started to taper 100mg Lamictal in April 2015 by reducing 5% per month. At first I didn't feel anything but after 5 months I had a horrible crash that took me almost a year to stabilize from. I then held the dose for 3 more years cause I was absolutely terrified of experiencing something like that again. Unfortunately after the 2nd year of holding the drug started to turn on me. I felt like getting psychotic, earned a lot of weight, couldn't process anything anymore, turned yellow all over, felt completely intoxicated.

 

Started a microtaper last November until August this year but realized that would not be fast enough. I just couldn't live with these symptoms any longer.

 

Long story short in August I came off of the last remaining 60mg within 11 days. It's been 3.5 months and I seriously feel I won't survive this. I had massive dissociative seizures from day one until around a week ago.

The head pressure and confusion are so bad.

 

The shaking is getting worse and worse and so is the confusion. Something inside my head is starting to throb again. I can feel a massive crash coming again and know I wouldn't survive that a second time.

 

Is there anything I can do?? And is there anyone who had a horrible experience with Lamictal and its withdrawals? I feel so alone with this and am so afraid.

you may find better advice on an antidepressant withdrawal support page - as often lamictal is used to treat depression - the reason it provides relief in benzo withdrawal is it works on the NMDA receptor - so it helps hold off the surge of glutamate that occurs after stopping benzos -  which is also why avoiding gluten foods is so useful in helping to heal from benzo withdrawal. 

 

i am sorry to hear of your suffering but appreciate you sharing your experience as so many people turn to other meds to find relief - but in most cases - it only leads to facing yet another bad withdrawal down the road...... i can say i tried an SSRI once  - years ago - the side effects quickly made it unappealing and worse than the issues i had been trying to deal with - i did taper off it and went through a 6 month horrific situation that no one connected to the SSRI and i was totally unable to work - was put on disability it got so bad. 

 

lamictal should be avoided in benzo withdrawal  -as its just putting a bandaid on the huge imbalance that is created and will ultimately prevent healing...... praying you will find healing and relief soon

Dear NeverEnding,

 

I am so sorry to hear about your terrible symptoms since you stopped taking Lamictal.  I hope you hear encouraging information from someone who survived a similar experience.  Is there any chance you can find the support of a good holistic pdoc who tries to prescribe the least amount of drugs if medication is necessary.  I've heard that some of the best docs are found at teaching hospitals if by chance that would be possible for you to arrange.

 

 

....so many people turn to other meds to find relief - but in most cases - it only leads to facing yet another bad withdrawal down the road...... i can say i tried an SSRI once  - years ago - the side effects quickly made it unappealing and worse than the issues i had been trying to deal with - i did taper off it and went through a 6 month horrific situation that no one connected to the SSRI and i was totally unable to work - was put on disability it got so bad. 

 

lamictal should be avoided in benzo withdrawal  -as its just putting a bandaid on the huge imbalance that is created and will ultimately prevent healing......

 

Hi SSR1975, 

 

So sorry you had such a bad experience and became disabled.  I respect your experience and can understand why you feel the way you do.  None of us want to go on medication but when faced with a life-threatening and completely disabling illness, sometimes we have to evaluate the trade-offs and decide to take medication for unbearable symptoms.  I personally am taking Lamictal and it has helped me go into a remission from a severe depression episode. Unfortunately there do not seem to be long term studies of the the effects of Lamictal for depression.  But my pdoc told me there are people who have taken it for many years for seizures without problems.  I pray that will be the case for me as I believe I will need to take medication for the rest of my life, just not benzos.

 

I do everything I can to stay healthy naturally.  But it's not enough to keep me out of depression.  I am not anti-medication for myself and others if that is what's needed and wanted to give a different experience than yours. Some of us need to seek medical treatment.  Thanks for accepting a different point of view. Each of has to weigh our options and decide on the best treatment for ourselves.

 

Wishing peace and ease for all,

 

Luey

 

 

you may find better advice on an antidepressant withdrawal support page - as often lamictal is used to treat depression - the reason it provides relief in benzo withdrawal is it works on the NMDA receptor - so it helps hold off the surge of glutamate that occurs after stopping benzos -  which is also why avoiding gluten foods is so useful in helping to heal from benzo withdrawal. 

 

i am sorry to hear of your suffering but appreciate you sharing your experience as so many people turn to other meds to find relief - but in most cases - it only leads to facing yet another bad withdrawal down the road...... i can say i tried an SSRI once  - years ago - the side effects quickly made it unappealing and worse than the issues i had been trying to deal with - i did taper off it and went through a 6 month horrific situation that no one connected to the SSRI and i was totally unable to work - was put on disability it got so bad. 

 

lamictal should be avoided in benzo withdrawal  -as its just putting a bandaid on the huge imbalance that is created and will ultimately prevent healing...... praying you will find healing and relief soon

 

Thank you for the reply

I was on Lamictal before even starting benzos. So it wasn't used for benzo wd. It is the one drug that seems to top benzos in my case, in side effects as well as in the severity of wd.

I am a member of a Lamictal group but just wanted to see if there is anyone here on bb that made a similar experience with this drug.

Thanks again and all the best.

Dear NeverEnding,

 

I am so sorry to hear about your terrible symptoms since you stopped taking Lamictal.  I hope you hear encouraging information from someone who survived a similar experience.  Is there any chance you can find the support of a good holistic pdoc who tries to prescribe the least amount of drugs if medication is necessary.  I've heard that some of the best docs are found at teaching hospitals if by chance that would be possible for you to arrange.

 

 

....so many people turn to other meds to find relief - but in most cases - it only leads to facing yet another bad withdrawal down the road...... i can say i tried an SSRI once  - years ago - the side effects quickly made it unappealing and worse than the issues i had been trying to deal with - i did taper off it and went through a 6 month horrific situation that no one connected to the SSRI and i was totally unable to work - was put on disability it got so bad. 

 

lamictal should be avoided in benzo withdrawal  -as its just putting a bandaid on the huge imbalance that is created and will ultimately prevent healing......

 

Hi SSR1975, 

 

So sorry you had such a bad experience and became disabled.  I respect your experience and can understand why you feel the way you do.  None of us want to go on medication but when faced with a life-threatening and completely disabling illness, sometimes we have to evaluate the trade-offs and decide to take medication for unbearable symptoms.  I personally am taking Lamictal and it has helped me go into a remission from a severe depression episode. Unfortunately there do not seem to be long term studies of the the effects of Lamictal for depression.  But my pdoc told me there are people who have taken it for many years for seizures without problems.  I pray that will be the case for me as I believe I will need to take medication for the rest of my life, just not benzos.

 

I do everything I can to stay healthy naturally.  But it's not enough to keep me out of depression.  I am not anti-medication for myself and others if that is what's needed and wanted to give a different experience than yours. Some of us need to seek medical treatment.  Thanks for accepting a different point of view. Each of has to weigh our options and decide on the best treatment for ourselves.

 

Wishing peace and ease for all,

 

Luey

,

 

Thank you for your thoughts on this!! I hope you are having a better time on this drug than I did. More drugs would kill me, I am sure about that. I don't tolerate anything at all any longer. This has to work without adding anything. I pray it will.

Hi Neverending,

 

I honestly don't know much about Lamictal. It's unclear exactly what it does from reading about its pharmacology (always a good sign  )

 

But since it is used as a medication to treat epilepsy, I'm going to assume it suppresses the nervous system in some way. So the withdrawal is going to involve plenty of nervous system hyperactivity, kind of like benzo withdrawal, hence the seizures.

 

I think the non-pharmacological treatments for anxiety might provide some relief. I don't know if you are able to exercise, but that might help. Even just walking or moving around, using your muscles. That will use up excitatory neurotransmitters and take them out of circulation for awhile. It will provide temporary relief and make you a little bit stronger over time.

 

Other things that might help an overactive nervous system:

-Slow controlled breathing exercises like deep breathing, meditation

-Progressive muscle relaxation

-countering and questioning negative thoughts like "I won't survive"

-neurofeedback

-reading self-help books about recovery (tough to find much from benzo withdrawal or stuff like lamotrogine, but there are plenty from alcohol. Alcohol has a similar withdrawal to benzos).

-distraction

-gentle massage

-being in nature

-being around supportive people

 

I know you might laugh reading some of these. It probably seems like attacking a tank with a knife, but I think your goal should just be to survive each day and develop a stable routine to cope with the symptoms. I don't think there is any cure to an adverse drug reaction and then rapid withdrawal. You're going to just need to do what you can to survive and stabilize. Whatever works, stick with that. Obviously avoid all drugs and supplements, like caffeine, sedative teas etc. Sleep as much as you can and avoid consuming junk consumer products with weird ingredients if you can. There is lots of crap in our environment thanks to lax enforcement of safety regulations and a pretty bad system that allows chemical compounds to be used in mass quantities before they are finally taken out of circulation after regulatory authorities realize they are harmful. A cheap water filter you can install on your tap is a good investment for that reason.

 

Good luck. I hope we hear from you a few months or years down the road when you are getting better or fully recovered.

Hi Neverending,

 

I honestly don't know much about Lamictal. It's unclear exactly what it does from reading about its pharmacology (always a good sign  )

 

But since it is used as a medication to treat epilepsy, I'm going to assume it suppresses the nervous system in some way. So the withdrawal is going to involve plenty of nervous system hyperactivity, kind of like benzo withdrawal, hence the seizures.

 

I think the non-pharmacological treatments for anxiety might provide some relief. I don't know if you are able to exercise, but that might help. Even just walking or moving around, using your muscles. That will use up excitatory neurotransmitters and take them out of circulation for awhile. It will provide temporary relief and make you a little bit stronger over time.

 

Other things that might help an overactive nervous system:

-Slow controlled breathing exercises like deep breathing, meditation

-Progressive muscle relaxation

-countering and questioning negative thoughts like "I won't survive"

-neurofeedback

-reading self-help books about recovery (tough to find much from benzo withdrawal or stuff like lamotrogine, but there are plenty from alcohol. Alcohol has a similar withdrawal to benzos).

-distraction

-gentle massage

-being in nature

-being around supportive people

 

I know you might laugh reading some of these. It probably seems like attacking a tank with a knife, but I think your goal should just be to survive each day and develop a stable routine to cope with the symptoms. I don't think there is any cure to an adverse drug reaction and then rapid withdrawal. You're going to just need to do what you can to survive and stabilize. Whatever works, stick with that. Obviously avoid all drugs and supplements, like caffeine, sedative teas etc. Sleep as much as you can and avoid consuming junk consumer products with weird ingredients if you can. There is lots of crap in our environment thanks to lax enforcement of safety regulations and a pretty bad system that allows chemical compounds to be used in mass quantities before they are finally taken out of circulation after regulatory authorities realize they are harmful. A cheap water filter you can install on your tap is a good investment for that reason.

 

Good luck. I hope we hear from you a few months or years down the road when you are getting better or fully recovered.

 

Thank you so much for this, data guy!!!

 

If have to say I have never experienced anything even close to what I am experiencing with Lamictal withdrawals. Not one other drug did to my brain what this drug is doing.

It's an absolute myth to me how there are people that are able to get off of it without these fatal symptoms.

 

I pray this is surviveable, I really do. Thank you so much for your survival tips. I am tryinh my very best.

 

Never

I was prescribed lamictal and Ativan at the same time and have taken 300mg a day for nerve pain for 9 years. I’ve been  tapering off the Ativan since July and am at 2.02 milligrams. I recently missed a dose of lamictal and just thought it was a “wave” from my taper. Realized by the end of the day that I’d missed a dose of lamictal- found out how dependent I am. Had severe vertigo and couldn’t drive home- felt physically sick. My neurologist said he didn’t think that would be a hard one to come off- I don’t believe him.

Where can I find your lamital support group?