# Lamotrigine dizziness



## revdoc (Jan 2, 2005)

Hi - I've just been moved up to 100 mg of Lamotrigine, and am experiencing unpleasant feelings of dizziness and wooziness. I've only been on this dose for two days and I'm wondering if anyone can tell me if this effect is likely to go away over time.
Has anyone else experienced this problem?
(I'm also on 60mg of Citalopram.)
TIA
simon


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## dreamcatcher (Sep 23, 2004)

increasing and meds will give you some more side effects but only short term.....just think what it was like when you 1st went on to the meds.....they start you on low dosages you get the side effects so when you increase them your body has to adjust to it


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## Guest (Feb 6, 2005)

Dizziness is one of the side-effects of Lamictal. I also take it and have recently moved up to 200 mg. As the doseage moved up I experienced some dizziness as well. So far it has only lasted a couple of days and then fades. It has not gone away, but is minimal.

Hope that helps

allan35


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## xxthursday09xx (Jun 3, 2012)

Hey guys! wow this thread is quite old! ok...lets get to it. I am 26 years old with epilepsy and depression. I was taking depakote. My doctors moved me onto lamotrigine because it has also been used for depression/bipolar disorder. 2 birds one stone. I take 200 mg twice daily. When I first started I was fine. I could take it just fine. But then after a few months (I had been on it for a few months now) I get this awful awful dizziness/vertigo. I am incapacitated for about an hour. When I try to move i can't walk. I look like a very severe drunk person. I went to a walk-in dr and he said to take my medicine 12 hrs apart. I was taking it when i went to bed and woke up...only about 6 hrs between the last dose and the first. the first night it worked fine...last night, not fine. I had to sit for an hour, wasting company time...flipping out because I couldn't move. as much as it sucks, I may ask to go back to depakote...so there are my 2 cents. I haven't found any way to fix it. I have to make an emergency appointment with my neurologist on monday


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## Amelie (Jul 24, 2007)

xxthursday09xx said:


> My doctors moved me onto lamotrigine because it has also been used for depression/bipolar disorder. 2 birds one stone. I take 200 mg twice daily. When I first started I was fine. I could take it just fine. But then after a few months (I had been on it for a few months now) I get this awful awful dizziness/vertigo. I am incapacitated for about an hour. When I try to move i can't walk. I look like a very severe drunk person.


This is disappointing news for me. I was planning on asking my doc for lamotrigine at my next appointment, but anything that can cause dizziness/vertigo of that magnitude really won't work for me. I have chronic, permanent balance problems due to the removal of the vestibular nerves on my right side. I had a brain tumor, and it was not possible to dissect it off the vestibular nerves, so they had to go--and they control balance. Luckily, we have them on both sides, so my left side ultimately compensated as best it could, but losing my balance is now just part of my life. I really don't want to take anything that can exacerbate the problem.


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## insaticiable (Feb 23, 2010)

Amelie said:


> This is disappointing news for me. I was planning on asking my doc for lamotrigine at my next appointment, but anything that can cause dizziness/vertigo of that magnitude really won't work for me. I have chronic, permanent balance problems due to the removal of the vestibular nerves on my right side. I had a brain tumor, and it was not possible to dissect it off the vestibular nerves, so they had to go--and they control balance. Luckily, we have them on both sides, so my left side ultimately compensated as best it could, but losing my balance is now just part of my life. I really don't want to take anything that can exacerbate the problem.


Amelie-I am sorry to hear about the troubles you are having with your balance as is, but I just want to say that I have gone as high as 350 mg of Lamictal (highest dose is 400mg) with no issues of vertigo or dizziness. I wouldn't completely rule out trying Lamictal just because someone posted that they had issues with it. What may not work for someone, might yield quite successful results for someone else. Just something to keep in mind.


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## Amelie (Jul 24, 2007)

insaticiable said:


> Amelie-I am sorry to hear about the troubles you are having with your balance as is, but I just want to say that I have gone as high as 350 mg of Lamictal (highest dose is 400mg) with no issues of vertigo or dizziness. I wouldn't completely rule out trying Lamictal just because someone posted that they had issues with it. What may not work for someone, might yield quite successful results for someone else. Just something to keep in mind.


Thanks for that! You're absolutely right that it may not affect me that way at all. It's just that I've had really awful side effects--for example, Lyrica turned me into a complete zombie, unable to get off the couch, and Neurontin took me as close to suicide as I've ever been. And I should mention that I don't check a drug's side effects before starting on it (other than drowsiness warnings, which are on red stickers on the prescription bottle), as I don't want any possibility of subconsciously triggering those effects. (I didn't explain that well, but hopefully you'll get what I mean.)


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## insaticiable (Feb 23, 2010)

Amelie said:


> And I should mention that I don't check a drug's side effects before starting on it (other than drowsiness warnings, which are on red stickers on the prescription bottle), as I don't want any possibility of subconsciously triggering those effects. (I didn't explain that well, but hopefully you'll get what I mean.)


Yes, understood perfectly. =]


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