Dear Makers of Lamictal

Dear Makers of Lamictal:


I wish we could trade our fate for a moment. You'd be sitting here with "bee-stung lips" scratching the skin off your legs and torso; also looking at the huge bright pink patches covering your shins, calves, knees and thighs. YES, I have the infamous Lamictal rash. This is so not fun and you know it. It is incapacitating, debilitating and frustrating. There is no Benadryl, Claritin or Cetrizine that will make me feel better. There is no cream that will help. I wake up in the middle of the night because I itch. I can't concentrate on this writing because I itch. I have been like that for over six days AFTER I  stopped taking the  medication. I wonder when this is finally going to stop. 


Believe me, I am not a crybaby or emotionally weak patient. I tolerate pain well. I have been very sick with like, dengue, and survived it with a positive attitude understanding illness is a part of life, even though my eyes hurt so much they felt like they were about to pop out their orbits (one of the common symptoms of dengue is a severe headache especially around the eyes). I had my two children the natural way, which is the painful one, no epidural and no Demerol, and recovered quickly. I am not a whiny patient and I am open to try medications that will help me with my conditions. I follow medical instructions and I am never absent to one of my appointments. Enough said about my tolerance and quality as a patient.


This is how all started: My Psychiatrist prescribed 50 mg Lamictal to help with impulse control a little bit. It worked for a long time. However, due to stressful life circumstances, doctor decided I would benefit from a higher dose. At this new dose I started having the well-known Lamictal rash, an allergic reaction that is fairly common, especially when doses are increased. La mictal is good for your psyche, but it is awful for your body. The "good" part is that the Lamictal rash is basically annoying and that's it. The bad part is that it can lead to a life threatening condition, and that, by the time the rash appears, there might be something wrong internally.




Darn, this itching is annoying. Why don't you take Lamictal off the market for a while, pretty please???? Thanks. 

Lamictal.(New & Approved)(lamotrigine from GlaxoSmithKline)(Brief Article): An article from: Family Practice News

Our Alienated Leaders

Governor Luis Fortuño recently said to a newspaper reporter that he doesn't follow the current news and that's why he always keeps his cool. Our new Women's Advocate said during an interview that she is not currently reading books because she doesn't have time to read.

It is curious, but I, too, sometimes avoid news programs and newspapers so I don't get even more depressed than what I normally am.

I am including a few examples of things you'll encounter in the Puerto Rico news:

• during the first ten days of year 2011, 33 people have been killed as a result of crime, accidents or homicides.
• a nine year old boy was brutally murdered 10 months ago, but the Department of Justice has not arrested anyone yet;
• a woman and her boyfriend sexually abused of their five children while allowing the neighbors to enjoy the "show"; 
• the students at the University of Puerto Rico have paralyzed the university system by what they call a student strike that has required the activation of the police anti-riot unit and the use of pepper spray against the students and whoever was standing nearby. 
• The Governor's Secretary said that the conflict on the Rio Piedras campus is led by a "group of pseudo professors that need to be kicked out of the university."
• a man chose a family holiday 

meeting taking place at a relative's house as the momentum to retaliate from a previous dispute with family members and set the house on fire, killing five people.

• a young mother of two was viciously killed by a thief while she was working at a fast food store drive thru.  
• five year old girl was run over by a drunk driver.
• unemployment rates keep rising
• crime rates keep rising

Hey, I am not a governor. I can CHOOSE not to read the news once in a while. But if I were a governor, I'd like to read about the chaos I should be trying to fix. I would need to know, so I can make decisions, do some strategic planning and take corrective measures. I wouldn't hide my head, in ostrich like fashion, from the reality that the common people face day to day. No wonder a guy, who threw an egg at the governor while speaking at an event, responded he wanted to be known as COMMON GUY  when he was requested his name by the press. If he were Muslim, he would probably had thrown his shoe at the governor.