Posted by leslieg on December 28, 2011, at 15:40:30
I've browsed through past posts and I see that others have had some bad abdominal pain and/or gas w/ Lamictal, but it is the only drug we've found that can keep my bipolar II depressions under control -- this is the first winter in ages that I've not been suicidal. So I'd like to try to figure out something. The trick is that I had 3 "life changes" in the same 2 weeks.
1. I had been on Tegretol for over a year but started weaning off it about 10 months ago due to excessive fatigue. (I have narcolepsy and am also on Vyvanse). Pdoc thought it was a great opportunity to re-try Lamictal. I started a very slow ramp in May? but kept the low dose of Tegretol (100 mg / day). In August I reached full dose of Lamictal (200 mg / day) and on September 17 I stopped the Tegretol.
2. I am gluten-free but had been being poisoned by illegally marketed bread, I found out and stopped the bread on Sep 16. This also meant I skipped lunch more often and ate other foods more often as I'd had sandwiches every day.3. My son had been re-tested for food sensitivities and beef was added back into our allowed foods. (I'd had beef once every 1 or 2 weeks before but starting, you guessed it, about Sept 21, I have beef a few times a week.
Everything was fine until mid Oct.
Oct 12 - 15 I had "more stomach pain" than usual.
Oct 20 I had "bad gas and bloating" (I'd been keeping a chart of my bowel habits as I was in pelvic floor PT at the time.)
Oct 21 I saw my GP. He said "constipation" and sent me home. I've been constipated 1/2 my life and never had pain or gas like this!
Nov 2 I saw a Gastro. I had an abdominal ultrasound (and another xray) and was told "constipation", although they also gave me Nexium and that helps because now the burps are not painful.Bad times come and go. More bad than not. Good times are a day or maybe two between days and days of bad. Bad days I burp as much as 5 times a minute -- for hours! I am bloated and in pain. I now take (broad-spectrum) enzymes at every meal, probiotics at least once a day. (And 1/2 cap Miralax every day and a laxative about 1 / week.)
Nothing quite makes sense. But I'm wondering if anyone has experience with or knows any theories that might support my theory that the Lamitcal is the cause of the pain but the Tegretol was somehow holding back or preventing it. Because if there is any clue my theory is right, I'm adding back the Tegretol! (My main reason for stopping it is the cost.)
Thanks for listening...
poster:leslieg
thread:1005722
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20111226/msgs/1005722.html