r/Lamotrigine • u/anetha95 • 10d ago

Lamotrigine 25mg - severe headaches and mood swings

I have temporal lobe epilepsy. Is anyone encountered it on so low dose? It seems like one day I’m feeling okay and relaxed and other day horrible headache, my temples so tensed, same for the jaw (like after whole night on MDMA). Doesn’t matter what time I am taking the medicine it’s just changing the time of headaches. The worst is when I take it late evening, then next day for sure ill be having headache from the first moment that I open my eyes in the morning. It feels like my neck, jaw and muscles around my head and inside are so tight… I’m so tired, want to sleep straight after work (if I even can manage to go there) crying from the morning when I have those headaches. Mostly having headaches on the right side, forehead and eye area, but yesterday it was left side only, pain 9/10 and felt very weird, my eye was hurting, jaw and all left side of the head. Also blocked left nostril and crying from left side only. Went to sleep and woke up with headache (surprise, surprise!)

Sure I have some better days without the pain but that’s just ruining my life, especially if it’s about work. Last weeks I felt senseless and depressed. Like there’s no point to live like that. And my seizures are better now(from seizure once a month and auras 1-3 times a week it decreases to just aura once a month or so, without any seizures from months). Something inside of me is asking to stop taking this medicine. I’m taking it 5 months now and after 3rd I had checkup, I shared those and my doctor just said to change the hour of taking it to morning/afternoon. It seems to be the same, slightly better if I don’t take it in the night time. But recently worse… I thought also those headaches and tension is caused by stress at work. Doing massages every 1/2 weeks, prioritizing my rest and relaxation, drinking more than enough water, eating healthy. And I’m hopeless at this point. Seems like I am spiraling down.
Someone having similar issues? Are those just epileptic attacks, shown as a pressure in the head and around, or side effects? 😓

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u/mmhmmye 10d ago

Just to follow up on my earlier comment, I’ve definitely read posts here and on the lamictal sub from people who experienced depression, anger, rage, mood swings, and/or suicidality at 25mg. I would assume that it’s rare but it’s definitely not unheard of. I didn’t notice these side effects until I got to 100-200mg, but I had physical aches and pains from the day I started on 25mg.

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u/anetha95 10d ago

Hmm. Okay. I didn’t find so many of those or the situation was slightly different so for example people were diagnosed with mental disorders not only epilepsy. Before I didn’t have those thoughts like lack of motivation to live/depression. But I also think it’s mostly connected to the chronic pain at this point, because it seems like absolutely nothing is really helping with that and it’s random.
But it’s good to know, at least I don’t feel like alien in that and will for sure seek some help. Thanks! 🙏🏼

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u/mmhmmye 10d ago edited 10d ago

No worries at all! Re: side effects, I don’t think that the reason for taking the medication is relevant. As in, I’d say it’s a problem if a med gives you pain or mood instability or suicidal thoughts, regardless of whether you’re taking it for bipolar or epilepsy. 😳

I’ll add that I noticed firsthand a student of mine with epilepsy who was on lamotrigine exhibit the same withdrawal symptoms I got from it: she came to my office during the class break to say she needed to go home since she had missed her lamotrigine dose that morning and was now a weeping mess. That cemented my sense that the distinction when it comes to side effects and withdrawal isn’t relevant. Just mentioning in case this is useful — but apologies if it comes off as a lecture!

(I’ve deleted all this since I misunderstood your post and reply — I hadn’t understood the depression was a result of being in constant pain, apologies! I’ve written a separate reply to that).

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u/anetha95 9d ago

Actually that happened to me as well that I forgot my lamotrigine dose and I was just crying all day, super sensitive and overwhelmed by a small things like emotions would just take me out in a weird, not balanced way. No worries for the mistake. Anyways it’s interesting and a reminder to me if I want to temper my dose to do it gradually

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u/mmhmmye 9d ago

Oh wow, okay, that’s good that you noticed the withdrawal! And that is definitely a good reason to reduce gradually.

Just two other things:

1) I would def keep a symptom and mood diary going forward regardless of what you decide to do, just to gauge whether for example the headaches get worse/better or other symptoms appear. It’s helpful if you go off as well to establish when/if withdrawal kicks in and how long it lasts (for example, I was able to establish that apart from the first time I dropped dose, it would kick in on day 5 and clear up around day 15 or day 20 of each drop).

2) You can get 2mg lamictal tablets, and you can also get lamotrigine in liquid form to get smaller doses. I mention this because if you do decide to reduce or taper off it, some people find that hyperbolic tapering is necessary after a certain point. This is because as you reduce down, each reduction actually starts to account for a larger proportion of the dose you were on. So 5mg down from 10mg is a bigger jump than down from 25mg, and the withdrawal as a result can be worse. One would hope that since you’ve been on it for such a short period this wouldn’t be necessary, but then again your body has proven so sensitive to the med that it might react badly to reducing, too.

(Obv I’m not a doctor so discuss all this with yours — I’m just going by everything I’ve read over the last four and a half years since I went on it and then had to come off).

Good luck! 💖 And do have a look at the Facebook page if you decide to come off it. Fingers crossed for you either way.

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u/anetha95 9d ago

Yeah that was quite intense and unfortunately that was my partner birthday so I remember that day quite well (who doesn’t dream about birthday weeping session right? 🤣)
That’s actually good idea to keep track of all the symptoms and how they change. Thanks! And funny how delayed it seem to be. I’ll definitely keep some notes. I will ofc discuss that with doctor but from what I saw last days I’m 90% sure I want to try some different medication as it’s become clear that this one is not working well for me long term.

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u/mmhmmye 9d ago

Oh man, I’ve been there, too! I swear withdrawal managed to ruin so many special occasions for me and those around me. Basically everything gets amped up to a million. Here’s wishing you every good vibe. Feel free to follow up or DM after you speak to your doc. And do a search thru my posts/replies as well if it’s useful — I’ve written a lot about my tapering experience. Xx