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Lamotrigine / Lamictal and Bradycardia
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Hi There,

First post but have been visiting the site for many years.

I am wondering if there is anyone out there who has tried Lamictal in the past and noticed a decrease in performance? I regularly train and know my LTHR and FTP figures intimately. I started Lamictal last week (small dose of 25mg once a day due to titration schedule) and noticed that I am about 8% down on LTHR and my watts for a given duration (10 mins, 20 mins) are down roughly 10% across the board. I have managed to replicate this phenomena 3 separate times, not to mention that I am properly rested (though training regularly) and have not changed anything else in my diet.

Bradycardia does not appear anywhere as a 'listed' side effect, though I did find some reading material that indicated some cns depression or respiratory depression though my breathing is normal.

If anyone has experience with this and can offer insight that would be greatly appreciated. I specifically would like to know if this will go away over time or if this is simply a permanent consequence of the medication.

Thanks!
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Re: Lamotrigine / Lamictal and Bradycardia [Borti] [ In reply to ]
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Hi Borti,

I've been on lamictal for about 10 years, due to 2 seizures I had. I've been pretty steady with my performances, just some age related drops. Nothing that has been significant or that came on right away after I started taking it. I have not had any of the side effects I was experiening while on dilantin, constant drowsiness, depression. Also when I was on dilantin, I could not get my heart rate near my previous max, even with max efforts. I wasn't racing at the time and didn't have a measurement of how my speed was with the lower rate, but the hr was down about 15bpm.

good luck with whatever you choose. Don't be afraid to try other meds if something isn't working as you hope. The switch from dilantin to lamictal made a huge difference for me.

Great things never come from comfort zones.
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Re: Lamotrigine / Lamictal and Bradycardia [Barry S.] [ In reply to ]
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Barry S. wrote:
Hi Borti,

I've been on lamictal for about 10 years, due to 2 seizures I had. I've been pretty steady with my performances, just some age related drops. Nothing that has been significant or that came on right away after I started taking it. I have not had any of the side effects I was experiening while on dilantin, constant drowsiness, depression. Also when I was on dilantin, I could not get my heart rate near my previous max, even with max efforts. I wasn't racing at the time and didn't have a measurement of how my speed was with the lower rate, but the hr was down about 15bpm.

good luck with whatever you choose. Don't be afraid to try other meds if something isn't working as you hope. The switch from dilantin to lamictal made a huge difference for me.

Barry,

Thanks for the feedback. Great to hear that Lamictal has worked well for you for so long. I have read zero reports of Lamictal causing bradycardia so it seemed strange to get it as a side-effect. The doctor I am seeing has not heard of anything like this. I am tapering off of an SNRI. He suggested that the combination of the two could cause this until I have fully washed out of the other med. He also mentioned that the body may simply need a few weeks to adjust to the new medication. Thanks for the feedback, though. Gives me confidence that this is temporary. I'll update this thread as things progress.
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Re: Lamotrigine / Lamictal and Bradycardia [Borti] [ In reply to ]
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good luck, my wife's a pharmacist and, like your doctor, she said it might take a little bit to get the snri completely out. But, it shouldn't be too bad if you tapered off of it rather than immediately switching from one to the other.

if you have more direct questions you can pm me and I can ask my wife drug questions
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Re: Lamotrigine / Lamictal and Bradycardia [Borti] [ In reply to ]
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I’ve had the same experience. At 40 I was around 180bpm max hr. Now I’m 49 and it’s 158 max. Maybe I’ve just aged poorly. :)
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