u/-kinehora-

I've been on lamotrigine for almost a year, haven't felt it has helped and so I am tapering off. Was taking 50mg at morning and 75mg at night now taking 25mg at morning and 50mg at night. It's been just a few days but I have been getting an increase in neuropathy-like symptoms, specifically a random stabbing type of feeling in some of my toes especially at night. I've gotten this on occasion for a long time but it has really ramped up and I can't remember if it was before or after I started tapering. My heart rate is also pretty high, but again I haven't been tracking it until yesterday so I don't know if it's been like that... I am thinking there is something going on with me anyway because my heart rate jumped to 160 while showering last night.

Sorry, long post, but has anyone had any sort of neuropathy-type symptoms while coming off or lowering their dose? Any heart rate changes? I made an appointment with a neurologist but I'll feel silly if it is just from the lamotrigine.

I have failed every ssri I’ve tried and my psychiatrist is now prescribing effexor. I’m currently taking wellbutrin 300 and lamictal 250, starting to taper off lamictal. I just stopped paxil after a month as I had side effects.

I am very hesitant about taking any medication as I never really feel like they sit well with me, I am pretty prone to side effects possibly due to my autoimmune disease. This sub has scared me, honestly. I am extremely depressed and anxious and I know I should be throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks but it seems like most of the posts here are about coming off effexor and dealing with massive withdrawals. Is it even worth it? I don’t want to try anti-psychotics which is supposedly next if I fail effexor so I don’t really know where to go with all this. Feeling backed into a corner here.

I suspect I have glossopharyngeal neuralgia and would like to know if any of this sounds familiar. I’ve had a few experiences where for a day or two the back of the left side of my throat will be in a lot of pain when I swallow. It feels almost like a patch of my throat is completely dry and no matter how much I try to get water down that side of my throat nothing changes. (I have Sjögren’s so I’ve just been assuming this must be a dryness thing.) During that time swallowing is incredibly painful, as if there’s a shard of glass stuck there. Even just swallowing saliva. It isn’t a constant pain, just while swallowing. It happens for a day or two and then is fine. I also outside of this also feel like the left side of my throat by my tonsils is itchy, like I do a lot of trying to scratch it with the back of my tongue if that makes sense. I have gotten tonsil stones before so I guessed that’s what it was.

I am starting to believe I have some peripheral and small-fiber neuropathy due to Sjögren’s and came upon glossopharyngeal neuralgia while researching and could not believe how similar it sounded to what I figured was weird flare ups of dryness.

Is this something my PCP can help with or should I try to get an appointment with a neurologist straight off the bat? I’m a little scared to be honest. If this sounds like something else please don’t hesitate to say so!! Thanks.

Unsure how to word this. I currently use biotene fluoride toothpaste as I have Sjögren’s and suffer from dry mouth. I don’t find that it’s really been helping. Recently bought some toothpaste from dollar tree because it included xylitol, but it does not contain fluoride. If I were to use a mixture of these on my toothbrush, would I be minimizing the anticavity protections a significant amount? I was also thinking of keeping fluoridated toothpaste for morning/night and using the xylitol toothpaste to use midday.

I have seen Spry toothpaste with both fluoride and xylitol online but never in stores. It surprises me there aren’t more similar products out there! Is that worth ordering?

If anyone is wondering the dollar tree brand of toothpaste is modern whites, they have a mouthwash with xylitol that has been much more effective for me than biotene which is why I checked out their other products. There’s also a xylitol mouth spray that I think could help with my dryness but I haven’t seen it in my store yet. Biotene has been a bit of a bust for me personally and I am looking everywhere for dryness relief.

I am considering getting visible as I have Sjögren's and the fatigue can be quite debilitating. Most of my family seem skeptical that I really am as sick as I feel and it makes me wonder if my fatigue is just laziness. Like I know logically that it isn't but there's nothing tangible to understand how I feel. Visible seems like it could provide some proof for myself that it's not all in my head. However I don't know if my heart rate changes drastically enough for the armband to pick up any patterns. Not sure if I should buy the armband and subscription if for some people it just does not provide any useful information.

Also if anyone uses it for Sjögren's I'd be super interested to know if you'd recommend it.

I am in the process of making an appointment to meet with a neurologist as I have Sjögren's and am nervous of peripheral neuropathy, small fiber neuropathy, and dysautonomia. In the past I got some EMGs and they were normal but I am pretty convinced there is something going on. I'm learning that there's a lot I deal with that isn't normal and so I am wondering if there were any symptoms that you thought everyone experienced day-to-day.

Some things I want to mention at my appointment:

• random stabs of pain usually in big toe, notice it mostly at night when laying in bed
• when laying down with knees bent and feet planted on mattress, it hurts where my feet meet the mattress. not sure what people mean by burning sensation but possibly that?
• muscle spasms
• go pins and needles in extremities very quickly in certain positions, for example legs and feet fall asleep a lot when I sit on the toilet, hand falls asleep while holding phone
• change in feeling of grip of dominant hand. holding a game controller feels very strange now, my hand on the steering wheel can feel different from before and it's almost like my two middle fingers on that hand are in the way of each other if that makes sense
• pupils can be weird, sometimes one seems bigger than the other, dilate a ton when drinking alcohol
• sweat a lot and it comes quickly with temp changes
• some dizziness upon standing/vision goes dark

Mostly I thought most of these were just part of being human, now I think they are signs of some sort of dysfunction especially of the autonomic nervous system. I feel like this should be enough to warrant some type of testing but am not sure. I have no idea how they decide who gets a sweat test, skin biopsy, etc. What else should I be paying attention to? How can I best communicate it to be taken seriously?

Guy at a bar tonight was convinced I was on coke bc my pupils got so huge. Like no baby that’s the autonomic dysfunction, one drink and my pupils forget how to work. It’s actually crazy how this disease affects everything, I just wanted to have a fun night out and now people think I’m on drugs lol.

I’ve had depression for well over a decade and have bouts of suicidal ideation. No meds seem to work and I am extremely frustrated. A month or two ago I brought up Spravato to my psych and he said he doesn’t really know much about it and would talk to his boss. Last time I saw him I expressed my frustration with the current meds and he laid out a whole plan of what we would try in the future if I was still not feeling better. SNRIs and then antipsychotics, then lithium and then stimulants and THEN he said we could think about Spravato. I am already on SSRIs and a mood stabilizer, I’m not interested in trying antipsychotics or lithium. This guy had previously mentioned ECT so I am very surprised that he’s not more open to this treatment.

At this point I don’t know what to do. Did anyone change their psychiatrist over this? I go to this place for therapy so I have to stick with one of their psychiatrists. I’m considering switching to someone else but… I don’t know, it feels like so much work to start over with someone new. I’m at a really low place and honestly I’m desperate. I don’t know how to bring this up again as it feels so confrontational, it took me weeks to even bring it up in the first place. If you dealt with this I’d love to hear your experience.

Edit: I’m stupid I meant psychiatrist.

I have two burst blood vessels? capillaries? on my face that I want lasered off. One of them is just a small dot and the other is a small dot that has spread out a little around it. A lot of the pictures here show a lot more than just two spots being done so I am wondering if they then use a different type of laser. I am on a waitlist for a consultation but just wondered what people’s experiences here have been.

The one that’s spreading is right below my eye and it’s looked like I’ve had a very red pimple for months lol. Had I known laser treatment would fix it I would have done it much earlier! I’m also a bit concerned that these are just going to randomly show up every once in a while and I know treatments can be costly as they’re cosmetic. Any experiences would help!