Lamictal is prescribed to patients with seizures or bipolar disorder. However, Lamictal can cause serious injury to unborn babies, such as cleft palate or cleft lip, which is noticeable by the gap in the upper lip or roof of the baby’s mouth. Lamictal has also been linked to life-threatening rashes and rashes that can permanently disfigure patients. There have also been cases in which doctors have incorrectly prescribed or pharmacists have incorrectly filled prescriptions because “Lamictal” sounds like and is spelled like many other drugs.
What are some important things I should know about Lamictal?
As summarized above, Lamictal can cause serious injury or death to the patient because of life-threatening rashes, and to the patient’s unborn baby due to cleft palate and cleft lip. Also, the manufacturers of Lamictal advise patients to make sure they have received Lamictal and that doctors and pharmacists have not made a mistake.
Lamictal is prescribed to patients with bipolar I disorder and to patients who experience partial seizures, seizures due to Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, and tonic-clonic seizures.
Seizures are caused by chemicals in the body. They happen when there is sudden, abnormal electrical activity in the brain. Seizures usually last between 30 seconds and two minutes. They can be caused by medicines, head trauma, high fevers and diseases.
People who have seizures caused by brain disorders have epilepsy. Sometimes, doctors don’t know what the exact cause is, and people can suffer hundreds of seizures per day. More than 3 million people suffer from epilepsy in the U.S.
Partial and general tonic clonic seizures are the most common type of seizures, and cause the person to lose consciousness, experience body stiffness and fall to the ground. Jerking movements last for seconds or as much as a few minutes. In the tonic phase, breathing becomes irregular and the lungs begin to lack oxygen. In the clonic phase, jerking causes violent muscle reactions and possible biting of the tongue or cheeks.
Lamictal is designed to reduce frequency and severity of seizures in patients 2 years of age and older.
Bipolar disorder is caused by an imbalance of brain chemicals as well. Bipolar disorder causes severe mood swings, energy shifts and makes it difficult for people to complete daily tasks. Almost 6 million people in the U.S. suffer from bipolar disorder.
Lamictal is designed to delay and reduce bipolar symptoms, including depression, mania and hypomania in patients 18 years of age and older.
Lamictal can cause many harmful and serious side effects, including:
- life-threatening rashes (even more likely when Lamictal is combined with Depakene or Depakote medications)
- disfigurement or death from rashes
- cleft-lip or cleft-palate in babies
- hypersensitivity
- mutli-organ failure
- withdrawal seizures
- sudden, unexplained death in epilepsy
You should contact your doctor immediately if you notice a rash. However, even if you stop taking Lamictal, the rash may continue to spread and cause further injury. Also, you may experience withdrawal seizures if you stop taking Lamictal suddenly, so talk to your doctor about how to stop taking the medication.
Also, contact your doctor if you become pregnant or plan to become pregnant. Lamictal is most dangerous to unborn babies during the first three months of pregnancy, according to the FDA.
Tags: bipolar disorder, cleft lip, cleft palate, Lamictal, pregnancy, seizure