Lamictal for absence seizures

Heather - posted on 04/19/2012

I've 29 and have been on lamictal since I was 22. I love it. I feel normal- kepra made me extremely tired and depressed. Ive only had 1 seizure since being on lamictal- it was 2 days after giving birth to my now 3 year old

Terri - posted on 10/14/2010

My son tried Lamictal and handled the first dosage fine, but when we uped it he got worse, like your son with Keppra. My son handle Keppra fine. The key we have found is- what works for your child is best for them. Seizure types are different, meds are different, your child's body chemistry is different. I am sure you would freak at the amount of drugs(dosage wise) my son is on. don't like medicine at all, but to get his seizures under control, it requires heavy doses. He also has a Vegal Nerve Stimulator, which has helped considerably. I don't know if you are a God fearing person or not, but our trust has fully been in the Lord and He has not let us down and I have to trust that even with heavy doses of medication God is ultimately in control because my son is created by Him. Hope you find what works for your child.

Jami - posted on 10/13/2010

My son has been on Lamictal for over a year and it seems to work for him. He also is taking Keppra ( which we are taking him off of) and topamax. When we started the lamictal he was also taking dilantin. Once we weaned him off the dilantin and he was on only lamictal it worked well until he would hit a growth spurt then we would have to increase. He hit the max dose for his weight so they couldn't increase it anymore. I think it is a great medication. His mood swings were less, not as emotional.

Susan - posted on 10/13/2010

Lamictal is a wonder drug for our daughter. She was on Tegratol but had a serious reaction so they switched her to Lamictal and she has been on that for about 2 and 1/2 years. She only has seizures when her med dose needs to be increased. She has Partial seizures though. I would try Lamictal it worked great for her. Our son just started Keppra last week and so far he has not seized. He also has partials. This is the first med we have tried for him.

Leslie - posted on 10/10/2010

Lamictal has been around for awhile. It is not a newer drug. It has helped lots of people with seizures and depression. It has had quite a few studies done on it because it has been around for awhile. Unfortunately these kids are so vastly different what works with one usually doesn't with another. It will be a matter of finding the right "cocktail of medicine" that will work with your child. I know all to well having a child with a seziure disorder how scary it is. Lamictal is a drug that has to build in their system which I am sure that you know. But you can go up quiet a bit still in amount. Good luck with your surgery coming up this week with the implant!

Cher - posted on 10/09/2010

Thanks Sarah, How is your daughter doing at school? The keppra put our son in what we called zombie state. It didn't help us. I'm glad it's working for your daughter. He is still taking 8ml Zarontin twice a day , 15mg of Lamictal twice a day. Next week we will up to 20mg. Is she still having seizures? I hope not. Our son is still at 5 to 10 a day that we see.

Sarah - posted on 10/08/2010

My daughter, who will be 9 in a couple of months, was diagnosed with absence seizures at 4 1/2 yrs. Zarontin didn't work for her and neither did Valproic Acid. She has been taking Lamictal for almost 3 years and is taking 125mg twice a day. There was a small change in the amount of seizures she was having but she was still having an estimated 100+ seizures a day. The docs added Keppra about 1 1/2 years ago and she has been taking 750mg twice a day along with the Lamictal. Big change, her EEG in March showed a significant change in seizure activity and I only see the occasional one when she is sick. Her seizures used to last 5-20 seconds and she did some unusual things while having one. She would mumble, or sing, or wave her fork around when she was eating, or scribble on her spelling tests and assignments at school. After starting Lamictal this did not happen very often. The only side effect I have seen from the Lamictal is some anxiety but not bad, basically she chews her nails alot now which is something she never did before she started Lamictal. Overall, I am happy with the results of the 2 medications she is taking now.

Cher - posted on 10/03/2010

That's great to hear. My son took his last dose of keppra tonight. He had a bad day with the seizures. Around lunch time he had a cluster. I noted 15 all together today. They all last between 5-10 seconds. Do any of your kids.make sounds or talk during one? They can be very weird. He is still on Zarontin 8ml morning and night . He's taking two 5mg chewables of lamictal morning and night. I know it takes awhile to up the dose with latictal with the rash side affect. So far the only side affect is sleeping at night. he has never been a good sleeper. It drives us crazy. I'm still hoping this one will work.

Marisa - posted on 10/02/2010

my daughter was on keppra....hated it, then in Dec 08, we put her on Lamictal....and we have been seizure free since feb 09, when she was totally weaned off the keppra....I love it.

Brandy - posted on 09/29/2010

Lamictal worked for my son by itself from age 3years to age 13.There where few side effects but none were "bad".We had to add Keppra about a year ago,they have increased.Our doctor will not allow his patients to try more than 3 drugs at a time.I hope this is helpful.

Trudy - posted on 09/29/2010

Both of my kids are on the generic form of Lamictal. It hasn't worked very well for my younger son who is also on Keppra, Klonopin and Topomax and recently had VNS surgery. He continues to have frequent seizures especially when he is ill. However, Lamictal has worked great for my older son. He was actually seizure free for several years and was taken off of medicine but he is 9 now and has recently started having absence seizures again. He has started back on Lamictal and is doing very well.

Vanessa - posted on 09/29/2010

My son was on the generic one. Second opinions are good but so is continuos care. Building up a relationship with your neurologist is key so try to get one that really understands your needs and stick with that one. In the end mine chatted to my son about girls and school and drinking and he actually listened. LOL. We live in The Netherlands so they can drink at 16 but he talked to him about the dangers to him with his meds etc. My son, with the rest of the family started sdrinking this health drink called Xango and that seems to have had an effect on his absences. We are still hopeful that he has actually stopped having them altogether.
Vanessa

Lisa - posted on 09/29/2010

Hi Cher,

I have a son Dylan who was diagnosed June 2008 with Juvenile Myoclonic absence epilepsy. Dylan is now 10 years old. He has aprox. 5-50 myoclonic and absence seizures daily. His last Tonic Clonic was last year. He has also had status Epilespy 2 times. He has been on Keppra, Zarontin,Deprokote,Topromax, clonzapam,klonapin, and a few others I can't think of right now. His longest medicine he has been on is Lamictal xr and regular Lamictal. He continues to have the same amount of seizures daily and they continue to slowly increase his lamictal. In 3 week he will be on a total of 400 mg of Lamictal. He goes to school daily but rarely makes it an entire week in school. They send him home becasue of the side effects he is having from the meds or so many seizures a day just tireds him out. In my opinion Lamictal has worked the best for him so far. He is still having several seizures but he hasn't had a Grand Mal in a year. Our doctor thinks it is due to the Lamctal. OF course our worry is the same as yours we worry about all these meds he is on. It is very upsetting and dsicouraging at times. However, I have to remember to stay positive and just take things one day at a time. Good luck to you and your two beautiful children.

Any time you want to vent or just talk feel free to email me. ny2ga67@aol.com

Lisa

Cher - posted on 09/29/2010

I'm glad to hear they are doing better. That gives me hope.

Emily - posted on 09/29/2010

We use the generic of Lamictal and my daughter has been doing just fine with it.

Caterina - posted on 09/29/2010

We use generic Lamictal (Lamotigrine) and haven't had issues with it like we had with the generic Keppra. My daughter had surgeries in December to remove a damaged portion of her right temporal lobe - an area where they determined the seizures were coming from.
Since then, she has been seizure free, but they don't want to take her off the meds just yet. Hopefully we can start reducing them, at least, when it gets to the one year mark.
I'm glad to hear you have some plans for the second opinion - even though they may concur with his current Neuro, it is peace of mind for you guys.

Cher - posted on 09/29/2010

We leave in Cincinnati. My son's Neurologist is at Cincinnati Children's Hosp. Once he gets his cochlear implant surgery over with we are moving forward to a second opinion. I already have a list here in the area. They may see something he is missing. He's already on the generic of Lamictal . What would happen if he was changed to the brand name. I would hate to see his seizures pick up again. Do any of you use the generic Lamictal? Thanks again for all the feedback. It's nice to be able to talk with other moms that understand.

Caterina - posted on 09/29/2010

Excellent point about seeing a different Neurologist. A second (even 3rd or 4th!!) opinion is a good way to try and see what alternatives are available. Our local Neuro was good, but he recognized that after ALL the medications we tried (Trileptil, Zarontin, Carbatrol, Keppra, etc...) with no positive results, perhaps a consultation with a larger practice would be appropriate. I am so grateful we went to Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and met her current Neurologist. He and his partners in the Epilepsy Clinic were able to do so much more for my daughter.
So it is worth looking into if you haven't already done so.

Vanessa - posted on 09/29/2010

Hi,

My son, now 19 was on lamictal for a few years. He has now been medication free for about a year (crossing fingers and praying). Once he started taking it, that was the only medication he was on and it worked for him. It took a few weeks for the body to adjust and for them to get the dosage right (my son was quite tall) but after that I found it worked the best of all the different medications he used.

Good luck! There is light at the end of the tunnel.

Michelle - posted on 09/29/2010

Hi,
My son was on it for 2 years and he did so well we thought he had stopped having seizures. We took him off and 2 weeks later they came back big time. He has partial complex seizures, but when they started up again, they were absence seizures. After trying trileptal for 2 years and having lots of break-throughs, we went back to lamictal. He is 100% better. I do recommend going with the brand name only. I noticed that he had more seizures with the generic. He seems a little more hyper at times, but it might not have anything to do with his meds. He has been on them all his life. I hope this helps you!

Emily - posted on 09/29/2010

My daughter went through the same thing with Keppra. We ended up taking her to a different nuerologist because the other one's solution was to always increase the Keppra, making her worse to the point where she started having hallucinations. She is now using Lamical and we have never been happier. Shes been on it for a little over a year now for absent seizures and she is almost completely seizure free. Good Luck to you and your son!

Cher - posted on 09/28/2010

Thanks for your posts. He is on the generic for all three. He is on his last week on the keppra. Glad to see that one gone. Then it will be just 8ml zarontin and 2 lamictal chewables twice a day. He's acting like himself again. But, he's still having 5 to 10 a day. I hate seeing them. He's getting his second cochlear implant October 15th. I was hoping they would be a little more under control. Did you all have any problems with side affects?

Caterina - posted on 09/28/2010

Have you checked to see if the Keppra is brand name, or is it generic? My pharmacy switched on us one month when the generic became available and although it was significantly cheaper, it caused my then 14 year old daughter to have a grand mal seizure. She NEVER had one of those before - she always had absence seizures prior.
So the difference between brand name and generic, at least with Keppra, can make a huge difference.
She is also on Lamictal, and it seemed to help once she got used to it. I am sorry to hear that your son is having so many seizures a day...but I understand how you feel about all the medications, believe me. We went through quite a few meds before we found 2 that worked the best.

Desiree - posted on 09/27/2010

My son has been on Lamictal for a little over a year and within a month after starting the Lamictal he stopped having seizures. It has controlled them wonderfully. He has been seizure free since July 2009! It is one of those case by case things but it is worth a try but discuss it with your pediatrician or neurologist first for a professional opinion.