Epilepsy medication and long term memory

[Chris-s11]

I've been taking Lamictal since 2005 ever since I had an petite mal seizure. It was 100mg twice a day for until recently this year when I started having twitching problems. So it was slowly increased to 200mg twice a day when suddenly I experienced another seizure, possibly a tonic-clonic seizure. Thus, my medicine was increased to 250mg twice a day. After getting this dose I did some research on side effects and I came upon memory problems. I never really addressed the issue until recently, as I have noticed that since I started taking Lamictal I have had a hard time concentrating and remembering small details. It isn't anything with short term memory, but rather long term things like who this person was, who owns that plot of land, what happened two days ago, what we did to fix this, those types of things. I can remember general details on activities, but remembering exactly what happened is tough. Being told who a person was and then not remembering it can be especially irritating and occasionally embarrassing as I may meet that person again in the future and not remember who they were. It usually takes multiple times reminding me before I can lodge it in my head.

So my question is if the Lamictal I am taking is causing this. I am also worried if my recent dose increase will worsen the problem. I know the issue usually addressed is short term memory, but I want to see if the Lamictal is causing my detailed memory troubles it or if it may just be an unfortunate trait of mine.

[MG (Admin)]

So my question is if the Lamictal I am taking is causing this. I am also worried if my recent dose increase will worsen the problem. I know the issue usually addressed is short term memory, but I want to see if the Lamictal is causing my detailed memory troubles it or if it may just be an unfortunate trait of mine.

It could be either!

In other words...what you are decribing could be due to underlying concentration issues (e.g. ADD / ADHD), the meds, or much less likely, but possible, residual epileptic activity.

If the EEG is normal and there are no attacks then the treating neurologist will probably try and decide whether it is worth tryiong to switch meds to see if your symptoms continue...I stress that this would only be done if they think it is likely that the lamicatl is to blame....as I said it is possible but I would only consider changing it if there was a clear change after starting it or increasing the dose....of course you should change any meds unless your treating neurologist tells you too.

let us know how it goes