Migraine

Hi all.
I'm on 25mg Lamictal and in my third week. So far no major side effects but am still having weird woozy days (I suffer from migraine vertigo ie chronic wooziness, some vertigo days, dizzy nights, nausea and occasionally head pain but also tight neck/back of head pain, thumping head etc). In anybody's experience, how long was it before a good result came through on this medication? I am due for a review of the meds. in May, but staying at 25mg until then on advice from neurotologist. (I previously had very bad time with topiramate). Had two days of head thumping, chronic aching neck and shoulder and head ache in back of head at the weekend and felt quite nauseous for a few days too.
Any feedback would be most helpful.

It really does depend on each person how long it may take to see a reduction in Migraine frequency, sometimes up to three months! A slow increase is always best, and only according to our doctors instructions.

I don't have a magic answer for you, I'm sorry to say.

Thanks Nancy. I'm certainly going to persevere with this one and discuss with neurotologist in May.
Ali

I've been taking Lamictal for 4 or 5 years. I'm currently taking 400 mg, twice a day. It took a LONG time to get to this dosage -- years! In the beginning, I could increase by 25 mg, every other week. I don't remember what "therapeutic dosage" was, but it took several months to get there.

I'm sorry, I don't remember how long it took for results. But I've seen improvement, enough to stay on it for a long time.

Gretchen in Mississippi

I've also been on Lamictal for 6 years. For me, it took a very slow titration to get to a therapeutic dose. However, it seems to be the medication that is most effective in holding down my left-sided hemiplegia.

In the beginning, I found it quite difficult to tolerate. It just plain made me feel weird and not myself. Every increase was a little easier, but still definitely noticeable.

However, for me it is well worth it. I've tried reductions (doctor advised ones, obviously) at different times, and always noticed an increase in symptoms in a week or so. It's been an important part of my regimen.

Do you think you could ask your doc if you could split pills (I know they're tiny and crumbly and hard to split!) to go up slower? Or maybe space the pills differently? Sometimes those little adjustments make the side effects easier to tolerate.

As you know, three weeks isn't really long enough to evaluate the med, especially if there are increases in your future. Only you can decide how long it's worth it to persevere, but if I were in your position I'd keep going. Especially if you had trouble with Topamax (I did also, and Lamictal was the next antiseizure drug I tried, and it was part of the magic solution).

Good luck!

Lynne