All About Bipolar

Posted By atorturedsoul on September 30, 2009

Side effects of medication

Day 2 of no medication. Let the Lamictal (lamotrigine) withdrawals commence! Oh wait, they already have.

Withdrawals are always fun but I did manage to do some research and I am finding that some of the things I didn’t even think were withdrawal symptoms really are.

Bear with me. I may not make much sense or I may talk in circles. It’s been a long day—and it only started an hour ago. (Yes, I woke up ten minutes before the kids had to get on the bus. Always fun.)

Yesterday, my stepdad went to the doctor because he fell on Monday. They said caffeine was to blame and cleared him to go back to work. He’s excited. I’m excited for him. That was the high spot of my day. Honestly, the rest of the day is somewhat of a blur. I had times where I just curled up in the recliner and would be lost for a while. Then I would have to get up and walk around in circles because I felt like I was shedding my skin like a snake and was symbolically moving around to try to speed up the process.

I just got lost again—I’m getting back on track.

I take 200 milligrams of Lamictal a day and have for I don’t even remember how long now. Almost a year? I’ll tell you when my brain clears. I’m not trying to stop taking it. I simply ran out and am too afraid to go to the pharmacy to pick up my refill. My husband is working late and he can’t pick it up. Agoraphobia bites, I tell you. (After this, I am seriously going to weigh the benefits of taking this med and decide if it is worth all of this trouble in the end. I’m thinking it’s not, but then again I know I’m not thinking too clearly.)

So, how am I doing? I started with waves of nausea yesterday. It wasn’t very bad and it came and went. I had times where I could focus and times where I couldn’t, but it came and went so it wasn’t too bad. I had moments where I felt like I was on the edge of my seat (anxious) and then I had moments where I was just overwhelmed and felt tired even thinking of moving. All of this was manageable, until my skin started crawling.

I had periods with racing thoughts and ideas and then times when I was shaking inside and was trying hard not to cry. There were times when I couldn’t stop talking and times when there were too many voices talking to me. (“It” is back…and I believe with friends.)

There were other things….

“I ran out of Lamictal for 3 days. By the time I got into the psych last week, I had the most horrific back pain and what I can describe as spasm/charley horse type of pain all over my back. Once back on the Lamictal that stopped.”

Posted at Furious Seasons

I have back problems occasionally but it is only bothersome when I do something to aggravate it. Yesterday, I had several shooting pains that felt similar to electricity running down my back and hip. I was trying to figure out what I did to my back but now I am thinking it wasn’t anything I did.

“Once, some time this year, I was without my medication for two days. My prescription had run out and I couldn’t get in touch with my doctor. He was away at a seminar. I felt like I was “losing it”. I knew it was an effect of not having any medication, but there was nothing I could do at the time. My Mom knew the pharmacist, and though it was highly irregular to dispense medication without a prescription, I got some “medication”. The effects were immediate. I felt “normal” again.”

Posted at Furious Seasons

Wait a minute…so I will feel well as soon as I take the Lamictal again? Well, anything would be an improvement today so I believe that. I will try to remember to let you know how that worked out.

The odd thing is that I can remember thinking there really weren’t any side effects to mention when I started taking Lamictal. Compared to any of the other drugs I have taken over the years, there really weren’t enough to mention. I was convinced that this drug would be no problem to quit. I was wrong.

I have seen where a few people have posted that this is the worst drug withdrawals they have experienced. I wouldn’t say that. I wouldn’t say that it is any worse than any of the other times I have been through withdrawals from psychiatric medications. I have been through this several times before and it is honestly about the same as the Effexor and Wellbutrin withdrawals. The problem is that I was not prepared for this. I didn’t expect to have withdrawals at all with this particular medication.

So what will I do? My husband is trying to talk me into going to pick up my prescription. I don’t think it would be safe for me to drive at this point because…hey look, a squirrel! Get my drift?

Oh well. The joys of bipolar disorder are only intensified by our drug interactions, reactions and withdrawals. *Insert sarcasm here*

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Categories: About Bipolar Disorder, Agoraphobia, Bipolar 1, Bipolar 2, Cyclothymia, My Personal Experiences, NOS, Psychosis, Symptoms
Tags: about, Agoraphobia, all, back, bipolar, crawling, disorder, electrical, fatigue, hearing, ideas, lamictal, lamotrigine, nausea, pain, racing, skin, Symptoms, thoughts, voices, withdrawal