Now 6 years, and Bipolar 2, I want to stop taking Lexapro Wellbutrin and Lamictal, and have reduced my dosage to half and now one quarter over the past 21 days. I am supposed to see my doctor at Bridgeway but the appointment keeps getting delayed, now until the 16th. I hurt all over and I'm having hot and cold flashes, more each day, and my knees and foot bones seem to be softening and my joints everywhere are popping. I don't know if this is the onset of menopause, but it just came upon me in a rapid way. I am 49. I felt overmedicated and drugged on these meds and was always breaking things and making mistakes. It was affecting my relationship and my work. I one time ended up at the crisis center when I ran out of everything for one week. I have never been admitted, and don't know if I need to be. I have felt nauseated, sweaty, and have had deep purple red rash on my thigh for 5 months. My hands are starting to tingle. Can I make it to the 16th or should I go to the center to be seen? What would likely happen to me there? Thank you!
I was just recently put on Lamictal about a week ago and due to the severe side effects I stopped taking it after just a week. Lamictal for me was basically instant as****e in a pill. Bad mood swings, double vision, loss of balance/staggering/clumsiness...basically BAD, and since this was added as a secondary medication to the Dilantin that does a pretty good job of controling my seizure disorder I decided to stop taking it before my body got too used to it and made withdrawal difficult for me. I've been doing a lot of research on it since I was put on it though, and woudn't wait to see a doctor if you have that rash on your thigh. From what I understand, Lamictal can make you succeptible to a life-threatening rash called SJS, which is nothing to mess with. Actually, it's the only side-effect that my doctor mentioned which is why I am pretty disgusted with them right now. I have a feeling that their motivation for prescribing this drug is more for the kickbacks that physicians receive from the pharmaceutical companies than it is to try to help their patients. I don't even think that they understand how bad this drug is and how serious the side effects can be. I believe that it is something that goes against that damned hypocritical oath they take to "do no harm", as it certainly seems to do plenty of harm to prescribe this stuff and not warn people about what to expect in the way of side effects. It damn near cost me my job because all they told me was to watch out for a rash. That being said, they did say to watch out for a rash and to discontinue use and get in to see a doctor if one appeared. That leads us to the next problem... when I called to let my doctor know I was discontinuing use and to see if they recommended titrating down the doctor just told me to go ahead and discontinue it and "see how it goes". I don't think these people get trained about any negative side effects at all.
I ran across your posting and wanted to know if you had success in stopping your medications as I am on the exact same ones and want to discontinue them! Please let mek now. Thank you!
CC
CC
Hello,
I just recently went off of both Lamictal (100mg) (5 years) & Wellbutrin (300mg) (9years) for treatment of severe depression. I've tried in the past to stop taking both of the them but the withdrawal symptoms were too severe. But I have again stopped taking them cold turkey, mainly because I have lost my insurance and didn't feel like scrounging for meds again. I can say this the withdrawal symptoms have been fair to severe. I have had several raging outbursts, very irritable, very angry at times, high high anxiety at times, feelings of mania, cussing fits, unstoppable hunger, horrible sleep patterns, bad insomnia, fatigue, lethargic, rapid thoughts, deep depression and so forth. It has been difficult, but I have to say this time around has been far far better than times in the past. All of these withdrawal symptoms come and go and never last for more than a few hours or so. It's been hard on my relationship but I hope these feelings will pass in time. Another reason I stopped was because I felt like I had a thin layer of atmospheric dust between me and the real world, a murky veil of sorts. Everything felt a little numb, like my body wanted to feel excited about certain things but the emotions had hit an inner ceiling and even though I could feel happiness trying to push it's way out, inevitably the excitement would pass and all I could ever do was hope for the better next time. I was tired of feeling this way. I don't ever suggest quitting meds cold turkey but for me I felt at this time I had to. Although I have other things that help me stay in tune, I have a 12 step program that I'm very much vested in, I exercise and I'm in a loving relationship. I've been in therapy for the past 5 years but lost it last year when my insurance stopped. Once I get that back you could be sure I'll start again. Hang in there friend and best of luck to you.
sincerely,
mike z. 8-|
I just recently went off of both Lamictal (100mg) (5 years) & Wellbutrin (300mg) (9years) for treatment of severe depression. I've tried in the past to stop taking both of the them but the withdrawal symptoms were too severe. But I have again stopped taking them cold turkey, mainly because I have lost my insurance and didn't feel like scrounging for meds again. I can say this the withdrawal symptoms have been fair to severe. I have had several raging outbursts, very irritable, very angry at times, high high anxiety at times, feelings of mania, cussing fits, unstoppable hunger, horrible sleep patterns, bad insomnia, fatigue, lethargic, rapid thoughts, deep depression and so forth. It has been difficult, but I have to say this time around has been far far better than times in the past. All of these withdrawal symptoms come and go and never last for more than a few hours or so. It's been hard on my relationship but I hope these feelings will pass in time. Another reason I stopped was because I felt like I had a thin layer of atmospheric dust between me and the real world, a murky veil of sorts. Everything felt a little numb, like my body wanted to feel excited about certain things but the emotions had hit an inner ceiling and even though I could feel happiness trying to push it's way out, inevitably the excitement would pass and all I could ever do was hope for the better next time. I was tired of feeling this way. I don't ever suggest quitting meds cold turkey but for me I felt at this time I had to. Although I have other things that help me stay in tune, I have a 12 step program that I'm very much vested in, I exercise and I'm in a loving relationship. I've been in therapy for the past 5 years but lost it last year when my insurance stopped. Once I get that back you could be sure I'll start again. Hang in there friend and best of luck to you.
sincerely,
mike z. 8-|
Hi, I've been on Lamictal for about 6 weeks and dont think I have side effects but I am wondering if my popping joints are related?