Hall89

It's all the same, but Lamotrigine took away the head pressure, tunnel vision, visual hallucinations, 90% of the brainfog and decreased my dr, it didn't do anything for the rest though. So it savedmy life, but it seems that my body is building up a resistance to it, so it feels like my life is coming to an end...

Because SSRI's and many other antidepressants binds to the 5HT2a receptor, just like the recreational drugs that can cause this, that is, psychedelics, cocaine and THC. These psychiatric drugs also possess hallucinogetic properties, >1% actually get hallucinations as a side effect from SSRI's. So antidepressants can in rare cases cause HPPD by itself, so it's not wierd that it worsens it for some.

My vivid dreams went when i got on Lamotrigine around week 8 after the onset, so did the head pressure, visual hallucinations and 80-90% of my brainfog, it didn't do anything for the rest of the visuals though, that is, vs/static, halos, glares/starbursts, ghosting, palinopsia, floaters and bfep.

I'm curious! Has it affected your memory or cognition overall? You don't get sleepy at 1 mg? Do you split it and take 0.5 mg in the morning and 0.5 later in the day?

Good thread mate! So if i got it right, you're on Keppra, Tiagabine and Propranolol? Have your VS actually reduced by 50%? It's not that you just have gotten used to it after all these years?

I only got mild dr with my HPPD, and it didn't do anything for that, but my dr isn't constant, i get those feelings now and then. I have however read about plenty that have had those symptoms reduce with lamotrigine, for some the visual snow does as well, it didn't for me though. So it's worth a shot, it's one of the more tolerable anticonvulsants and serious side effects is very rare, i didn't get a single one.

Since your HPPD has improved i wouldn't touch ANY recreational or medical drug that binds to the 5HT2-a serotonin receptor, like antidepressants, because in rare cases SSRI's can cause HPPD to begin with. And Lamotrigine helped me ALOT. It took away my brainfog, head pressure, regular visual hallucinations and vivid dreams that many with HPPD gets. It didn't do anything for the vs, halos, glares, afterimages, tracers, floaters, bfep, ghosting and tinnitus though, and from what i have gathered, it doesn't for most.

Did it improve your visuals? Also, your profile picture is HORRIBLE haha!

So, i got this hell of a disorder february 21 -21 and after six weeks with it i managed to get prescribed Lamotrigin, which took away the brainfog, head pressure, regular visual hallucinations, well, everything except the static, halos, starbursts/glares, ghosting, bfep, floaters, palinopsia and mild tinnitus, so i atleast became functional. As a plus it also pretty much cured me from my aura migraines. Anyways, i've been on 200 mg for the past 11 months, but three weeks ago i woke up with an aura migraine, which was kind of a chock, and i got another one just two days later and som regular headache two days, which i normally never head, but since then i haven't had any more migraine or headache. Last week i got hit with a brainfog, mild dp and my pheripheral vision felt a bit off, but this passed later in the day. A few days later my visuals that the Lamotrigine did not take away got like 20-30% worse, and i got in to a panic, which you might understand. This lasted the entire day and the day after it was gone. But yesterday morning i got hit with the brainfog etc once again and it's still there today. So do you guys believe that this is my body building up a tolerance to the Lamotrigine? The thing doesn't make me 100% certain of it is that when i got HPPD i was on 20 mg of Citalopram and had been it for nearly 14 years (suspect that the combo with THC is what caused it), so when i found out that SSRI's in rare cases can cause this it, i started to slowly taper of it, and today i'm at 5 mg. From 20-8 mg was quite easy, no mentionable withdrawals, but after that i got pretty severe anxiety and insomnia 4-5 days after each 0,5 mg decrease that lasted for a couple of weeks, which is common, since the lowest therapeutic dose gives around 80-90% of the effect. Anyways, once the withdrawals after my decrease to 4,5 mg went away i stood on that dose for a few months and was stable, but when going down to 4 mg all hell broke loose! I got hit with severe brainfog, feelings of unreality and 10/10 anxiety and my vision felt off, like i had difficulties focusing on things. These are all common withdrawal symptoms, but it was unbearable, so i backed up to 5 mg and after a few days i got better. So now i've been on 5 mg since december, so maybe these are a late onset of withdrawals? It doesn't explain the migraine though. Also, before all this started in early mars i had been splitting my 20 mg pill (has a score) and then cut away a piece of the pill, throwing the rest of the 10 mg piece away (use a precision scale). But i suspected that the active substance isn't even in the 10 mg piece, so maybe i got 3 mg one day, 8 another etc, so just a few days prior to the migraine i changed the way i did this, so instead of throwing away the rest of the 10 mg piece, i simply cut it in half, so that way i guaranteed got 10 mg in my system over 2 days. So maybe this is a reaction on getting a more stable dose in my system? For all i know it can be higher or lower now. What do you guys believe? Also, i haven't seen any of the visual hallucinations that i did prior to going on Lamotrigine, so that gives me hope that all this is because of the SSRI. I'm literally scared shitless here and see the end closing in, because Lamotrigine literally saved my life, if it hadn't been for that i would with a 100% certainty be dead now. The past couple of days i've started preparing for the worst, because there is no way i will live with those symptoms on top of the typical VSS ones. God i'm so frustrated over getting this disorder, especially since i got it from trying to self medicate insomnia and back pain with cannabis, so it sure backfired.

Yeah i follow the VSI and have read the research, and yes, maybe they share some pathophysiological mechanisms, i hope so, but i'm sceptical. And i don't want to be negative, but don't hold your breath for a "cure", there's no money in that, our hope is a treatment.

For those that doesn't know, the study is on ice because of lack of funding (big surprise there) and the lead researcher Wei He has jumped ship.

So you got this full blown and almost ended up killing yourself, then you decide to trip again once better. There's stupid, and then there's that. I don't even...

If you had used cannabis or psychedelics prior to starting SSRI, i'm pretty certain that you have those to thank for it. The SSRI was probably just what made a full bucket pour over.

I'm glad to hear, but as said, what were your symptoms? You didn't get afterimages, tracers, halos around strong lights, starbursts, ghosting, started seeing a ton of floaters and bfep? Tinnitus?

What were the other symptoms and how can seeing static everywhere not affect tour quality of life? Or maybe you got it mild?

Do you believe that the pathophysiology of HPPD is neurons or 5HT2-a receptors actually getting destroyed or damaged?

I don't want to be the bringer of bad news, but no, the symptoms that's caused by our brains reduced ability to filter out unnecessary visual stimuli, like the ones you mentioned, is almost certainly permanent.

I got this screenshot from a guy on Reddit that had talked to you on Twitter, and who is this fool in your organization? He or she doesn't want to spread awareness about HPPD through a big platform and believes that people will get HPPD from doing it. Literally, wtf?

If you got persistent visual disturbances and pseudohallucinations after a drug use it's HPPD.

It's impossible to ignore the vs, floaters, bfep, ghosting, palinopsia, halos and starbursts that i have, they simply disrupt my vision too much. And no, if you got the visual snow and all the other shit it wasn't "clear" for you, you simply got used to it, but if you could get your pre-hppd vision back you would've seen what clear really looks like.

To me it's crazy how you dare use a drug that's an not all to uncommon cause for this

Lamotrigine took away everything for me except the typical visual snow syndrome symptoms and slight derealization, it saved my life.

I'm sorry to hear! Sadly antidepressants can cause this as well, like all "serotonin attacking" drugs that possess hallucinogetic properties, it seems to be much rarer to get it from these than psychedelics and weed though. I don't want to bring you down, but sadly the prognosis isn't good. Since getting this a little over a year ago i've desperately searched for stories were the visual snow have subsided, but out of all the hundreds, probably over a thousand posts i've read, i've only heard about four that say that their vs has actually subsided, but who knows, they might just have been trolling. So no, this will almost certainly not go away no matter what you do.

Sounds like it. Just another acceptance post.

Isn't it thanks to the PRF that it's actually happening?