Should i discontinue taking Lamictal inspite of having hives?

Posted on Thu, 27 Mar 2014

Question: I was taking Lamictal per my Neurologist and was advised if I started breaking out in hives to discontinue and inform her. I have been unable to get in touch with Dr. XXXXXXX at Northwest Florida Regional Hospital and slowly wined off of this drug and started taking the previous one which was Topamax but fifty mg., in the morn., and evening is not doing the job. I was taking 100 both morning and v=evening when I left UAB under DR. Knowlton's care but he is no there and I took Dr. XXXXXXX as my new Neurologist, can you advise me what to do? I can't sleep due to the auras no staying under control, I have not had any seizures since 2003 of August after having surgery to remove the damaged area.

Answered by Dr. A.S. Keerthi (4 hours later)

Brief Answer: Go back to Lamictal if auras are better controlled Detailed Answer: Hi, From the information provided by you, I learn that you are a patient of epilepsy who underwent surgery for the same in Aug 2003. But I do not have the details as to what type of epilepsy you had, what was the seizure semiology(events chronology during the attack) and what surgery you underwent. The choice of antiepileptic drug depends on the type of epilepsy, apart from your other clinical profile. If your seizures/auras are better controlled with Lamictal than with Topamax, it is better to go back to it. And if it's still causing those hives there are other drugs which may be of help to you like carbamazepine, oxcarbazepine. These medicines need to be monitored closely by a physician. It won't be an easy task for you to do that without your physician's help. So I recommend that you get back to the doctor whenever possible. If you have any further queries please feel free to get back to me. Dr. Keerthi consultant neurologist.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad