Posted by JahL on April 20, 2001, at 12:15:32
In reply to lamictal, posted by storm on April 20, 2001, at 11:47:42
> > I was reading an article & it said that one in fifty to one in one-hundred patients will develop a potentially fatal rash. I was thinking about asking the dr for it but it seems so dangerous. is this drug new? and is tegretol as harmful?
Yes (the rather new) Lamotrigine carries the risk of a nasty rash, & tho' it's pretty rare, a search thru previous posts here will demonstrate it does occur.
The good news is that the chances of developing the rash are greatly reduced by slow & gradual upwards titration of the drug, avoiding sharp 'spikes' of dose increase, which are thought to precipitate the rash. Also VPA doubles Lamictal serum levels & necessitates an even more cautoius dosing regime.
If you do develop a rash (usually red & blotchy) then immediate discontinuation of the drug will usually quickly resolve the problem. So you can see that generally only reckless disregard for the drug will lead to a life-threatening situation.
I take 150mg & my only brush with the rash occured when I missed a dose, allowing blood levels to fall sufficiently such that the next dose caused a sharp increase. The rash faded after 12hrs.
Of the 2 (IMO) Lamictal may be the better choice for bipolar/unipolar depression; Tegretol tends to be more helpful in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy depression.
What other drugs have you tried?
Take care,
Jah.
poster:JahL
thread:60579
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010417/msgs/60581.html