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Q: Lamictal & Short Term Memory: Long Term Memory & BP
I have been taking lamictal for 5 years. I am 32 years old. I have
noticed that I am losing my short term memory. Is it possible that the lamictal
is doing this? And is it possible that the bipolar disorder wipes out some long
term memory?
Dear Cindy --
Unfortunately it is well established that mood disorders interfere with
short-term memory. So can medications, though. It would be unlikely that
lamotrigine (Lamictal) would start doing that after 5 years where it did not
before, unless there was a dose increase (at high doses, 300 mg and up, I've
seen people have difficulty with memory; generally not at lower doses).
Nevertheless, you'd have to ask your doctor about the idea of lowering
lamotrigine to see if your memory got better. DO NOT do this on your own (sorry
about yelling there; gotta make that clear). But that is the only sure-fire way
of knowing if the lamotrigine is playing a role -- and even then the result may
not be so clear, if any other variables, such as your symptoms worsening as the
dose went down, were to occur at the same time.
As for the idea that the illness itself can cause
problems with memory, the good news is that getting symptoms treated can often
improve memory. I've seen this in my own patients, where they are more likely to
talk about memory problems when other symptoms are active as well, and less so
when they get better. But it's also been demonstrated in formal research
studies. Mind you, much of this research has focused on brain size changes, so
if you go there, brace yourself: it all looks scary at first, I think, seeing
that mood changes are associated, in some people at least, with brain changes.
But the point is to show you an example in which memory improves, all the way to
normal in this study, with treatment; see the studies in depression, on the
page describing
how brain
changes can be reversed.
Good luck with your efforts to understand this memory
problem and your options to address it.
Dr. Phelps
Published March, 2006
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