Dear Cathy

You must think positive, things do become better, given  a little time.  It
is still early for you both.  We are all here for you.

I am on 150 lamictal, 50 am and 100 pm and am under control along with
tegretol retard 600mg.

You will have a life you enjoy.  All is not lost.  You will have
indepantance. Just not be able to spell certain words like me. A little
patience is what you need.  Let us know how things go.

Lots of love

Isabelle

  I don't know if Lamictal is like the Dilantin, Tegretol and Clobazam I've
used at various times since 1993, but it's important that he follow the
Doctor's 'dosing rate'  and not miss or purposely 'skip'   any doses.   If
they do Bloodwork to check how the med. is being absorbed, they will assume
he's taking it at xx mg twice a day or whatever is the rate they've asked
him to use.    If the bloodwork were to show the levels as lower than they
expected (depends on body weight and metabolism, etc.),  they might UP the
dose to beyond what he should need.
   So long as he follows the rates set out, you both and his Dr. will be
able to find a dose level that will give him Maximum Control, without being
above or below the optimum level.

   The World has not ended !! :-<   It just FEELS that way.   Give the
Medicines and Doctors a chance to get him to optimum control, and stick
around here.   More than 95% ?? of the people who are posting here were
where you are now once, and have now either achieved 100% control   OR have
achieved far better control than we ever thought possilble.
   This is an International Support Group so you may get answers to some of
your questions over the next 48 hours.  One of the 'blessings' of this
group, is if you don't get an answer to your concerns or questions 'today'
on your timezone, you might get an answer overnight or tomorrow.   We have
people from the UK and Europe,  the U.S. and Canada, sometimes South America
and even Australia and New Zealand.
  And we have lots of people who have used Lamictal with varying success --
most good some who had to change to other pills.
  I had an older post that listed about 5 support information sites you can
look through at your leisure.   If I find a recent version I'll send it to
you Inline direct.
  In the meantime if you see any posts by Dave or Julie they list their
websites at end of their posts, and http://efa.org  is the U.S. Ep.
Foundation of America which has a Medications Glossary within its
information.     Your Pharmacist should have given him a printout with New
Pills if there's anything he should avoid (often alcohol, but sometimes
other things conflict too).   I seem to remember posts about some people
getting a rash using that, but I don't know what percent of total Lamictal
users they represented.  That was an indication that  an allergic reaction
might be triggered and they had to change to Other medications.  There are
Lots of other medications.    But if he's able to get control with what he's
using,  it can take e.g. 2-3 weeks to get to a Therapeutic Level in his
blood, then he's home free.

   I was told I might 'hope for'  2-3 seizures per Month (!!) as a Target
to hope for in 1993.   Last 2 seizures I had were Dec. 1997, and June 1998.
G./

You have probably been instructed to watch for a rash with
Lamictal and to report it immediately - this is VERY important,
hard as that is to believe. A rare but very serious side effect of
Lamictal can be that rash. Otherwise Lamictal seems to be
quite safe...

As others have pointed out, life may have changed, but this
is not necessarily the end of things as as you knew them.
Your relationship may have changed for the "moment" (I
have been very dependent on my partner for a year now),
but with the right medication(s) and dosing, if good control
or improvement can be achieved (very often possible),
your husband can return to most activities. I stopped
driving voluntarily, and the boat sits in the parking lot - but
I now take walks alone (I'm down from as many as 20
"events" a day to a couple...) and go out without my partner
with friends who know how to "handle" me if there is a
problem. I do not have "grand mals" (I'm thankful for that!),
but someone I knew did, and I was with him during two.
They can be scary for the observer, but hard as it may to
be to believe now, once you understand what is and is not
needed on your part during these events, your feelings may
change for the better. A GM takes over your husband for
only a few minutes - then after a short recovery time, he is
"back" (and these are relatively rare compared with some
other types of seizures...).

Many people gain excellent control...

Yes, very likely...

Read the replies of others - they've "been there"...

Anytime!
--DR

Hello,

Worst part of epilepsy is the period while being diagnosed: waiting on
results of tests and trial and error stuff of medications which may or may
not help. At this point, it is important to start reading about epilepsy so
that you (both) know what doctors/neurologists are talking about. This
newsgroup, the Internet and some good books will certainly help to gain
control again over your live and his live. Starting reading about epilepsy
also means that you somehow "accept" that this is now part of your (new)
live.

Yes, live changes when someone in your personal live is diagnosed or when
you are being diagnosed yourself with epilepsy. The possibility to drive,
the possibility to relax without being worried about the next seizure, any
personality changes: this will have to be dealt with. In addition,
coworkers, family, friends, relatives, etc. will have to be informed what
might happen before, during and after a seizure and they also need to know
what to do while such an event is happening. You will have to understand
that for all these people, this might be also a quite scarry event and some
of them might even not heard about it or might not even have seen someone
with epilepsy though lots of people have epilepsy with a complete normal
live.

There will be positive reactions and there will be not so positive reactions
unfortunately. This is because people react in different ways. Again, at
this point, having a complete but general understanding of epilepsy in
general may remove their fears and any prejudices they might have.

Right now, your husband needs your full attention, your full support, not
having to be worried about you as he is the one that has drops attacks as
you described. Live isn't over at this point -though I do understand you
completely and I am now remembering this dark period in February 2004 when I
had my first grand mal / tonic clonic seizure which looks like what you
described regarding what your husband is experiencing. During that period: I
reported myself ill, stayed at home, I was completely scared for any next
seizure / I was completely worried what people might think, etc. After a
couple of weeks -while nothing happened though I did not feel happy, people
start saying to me that this may be just one seizure and that I should stop
worrying and go out again. They meant it very well, but really I did not
fell that way. During my first EEG test, epileptic activity was found and
then people start saying, hey man, there are good medications available,
etc. I still was not sure and not happy with the situation. Now, it is
September and I have not had any more seizures, I go out again, I started
sporting again and I am taking 1000 mg of Depakene Chrono (Depakote in US I
believe). My drivers license has not yet been returned (I will possibly get
it back February 2005), I cannot take a bath without someone watching me, I
cannot swim without someone watching me (I used to swim daily to prevent RSI
(Computer Related Repetitive Strain Injury as I am working in the IT
business). In stead of swimming, I started playing tennis (though I will
start swimming in February without someone watching me) and I am having much
fun.

I guess it all depends how you (both) deal with it but for now: yeah, it is
a bad period. Good luck to you both.

Bye,
Marco

The explanation for the differing dosages would appear to be in the following
which shows a lower doasage for those taking Valproate (Depakote) like Dave
is:
"it is important to increase the dose of lamotrigine slowly. a typical
starting dose is 50 mg/d for two weeks. after two weeks, the dose may be
increased to 50 mg twice daily for another two weeks. After this time,
lamotrigine may be increased 100 mg/d every 1-2 weeks. for the treatment of
epilepsy, a maintenance dose is typically 300-500 mg/day.

if someone is concomitantly taking valproate, the initial starting dose of
lamotrigine is 25mg every other day for two weeks, followed by 25 mg/d for
another two weeks. the maximum daily dose of lamotrigine for people taking
valproate is 150 mg/d."

The above info is found at:
<http://www.stanford.edu/~johnbrks/theCafe/psychopharm/mood%20stabilizers/lamotri
gine.html>

I also took Lamictal, but got the rash and had to quit quickly and be given
other drugs to help with the rash. Too bad, because it had been helping my
condition.

Bob