Many people can take lamotrigine safely for several months or years. But there are some side effects that might happen over a long time. Long-term treatment with lamotrigine can cause osteoporosis and osteopenia, increasing your risk of breaking a bone. Your doctor can arrange for tests to check your bone strength.
Is Lamictal a high risk medication?
Lamotrigine (Lamictal) has been associated with a rare, but serious and life-threatening adverse reaction called hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), which can lead to multi-organ failure resulting in hospitalization or death, particularly if diagnosis and treatment are delayed.25 Apr 2018
What does lamotrigine do to your brain?
Lamictal also binds and weakly inhibits several other signaling receptors in the brain, including those to which dopamine and serotonin normally bind. By inhibiting these receptors, signaling in the brain is “tuned down,” or reduced, which can also decrease seizure activity.
Is lamotrigine a long-term drug?
Lamotrigine oral tablet is used for long-term treatment. It comes with risks if you don't take it as prescribed. If you stop taking the drug suddenly or don't take it at all: If you take this drug to treat seizures, stopping the drug suddenly or not taking it at all may cause serious problems.
What is a serious adverse effect of lamotrigine?
Lamotrigine may cause serious allergic reactions affecting multiple body organs (eg, liver or kidney). Check with your doctor right away if you or your child have the following symptoms: fever, dark urine, headache, hives, muscle pain or stiffness, stomach pain, unusual tiredness, or yellow eyes or skin.1 Jun 2021
Can lamotrigine make you crazy?
Lamotrigine is generally well tolerated; however, some psychiatric problems have been reported in patients using the drug to treat mental disorders (mainly bipolar) or epilepsy. The clinical features of these psychiatric side effects are: affective switches, full acute psychotic episodes, and hallucinations.
What does Lamictal do to the brain for bipolar?
Lamotrigine, acts through several molecular targets and overcomes the major limitation of other conventional antidepressants by stabilizing mood from “below baseline” thereby preventing switches to mania or episode acceleration, thus being effective for bipolar I disorder.
Does lamotrigine affect thinking?
Conclusion: Treatment with lamotrigine as monotherapy and as adjunctive therapy was associated with improved cognitive functioning and reduced neurocognitive side effects, regardless of index mood polarity.
Does Lamictal calm the brain?
While the exact mechanism of action is not entirely understood, lamotrigine delays the time between mood changes and manic or depressive states in people with bipolar disorder by decreasing the intensity of irregular electrical activity in the brain.
Does lamotrigine cause cognitive problems?
Lamotrigine is generally accepted as a well-tolerated medication with few cognitive side effects.
Does lamotrigine cause dementia?
The greatest risk for Alzheimer's and dementia was observed with valproate. In contrast, medications with no known cognitive adverse effects, which include oxcarbazepine, vigabatrin, tiagabine, lamotrigine, gabapentin, levetiracetam, pregabalin, and lacosamide, did not correlate with an increased dementia risk.19 Apr 2018