Friday, September 30, 2011

Lamictal 150 mgs: Fun with Flea Control

Lamictal is a med known for its ability to cause skin problems.  People complain of dry skin, acne, dermatitis, rashes, and then of course there's The Potentially Fatal Rash.

I've had dermatitis off and on since starting lamictal.  It was worse when I first started, and has gradually decreased as I've titrated up.  Nonethleless, my skin is still more sensitive than it used to be. The elastic on a pair of underwear may never have bothered me before, but now it's itchy and irritating.  The itchy irritation of bug bites are exacerbated.  I got a few spider bites several weeks ago, and ordinarily they'd have healed by now -- but they're still red and angry looking.  At least they've finally stopped itching!

My skin is normally sensitive to Advantage flea medication.  For those of you without pets, Advantage is a liquid pesticide that comes in little squeeze tubes, from which it is applied directly to the animal's skin between the shoulder blades.  Capillary action disperses the pesticide over the animal's body so it can poison all the fleas that are torturing your pet.

Advantage is not toxic to cats or dogs, and in the amount applied to their skin, it's not toxic to humans either.  Or so the manufacturer says.  I hope they're right, because it's impossible to avoid inhaling some of it.  I've always been aware of the smell (it's not supposed to have a scent at all) and I've often noticed that my lips and nose seem slightly irritated for a few hours after applying it.  As with many skin irritations, it turns out that lamictal makes it that much worse.

Last night I applied Advantage to both of my cats.  I washed my hands immediately, but in due course, my mouth and nose became slightly irritated (maybe I should also wash my face ... hmmm).  Then, they started itching.  The itching spread to my chin and neck.  By bed time, everything was itching so badly that I was scratching the area around my lips, under my nose, my chin, and my neck.  I must have had a sharp cuticle or something, because I managed to break the skin at one point, leaving a very faint cut on my chin.

Advantage is one of the better products out there for controlling fleas.  The downside is that you now have a toxic substance on your cat's shoulders.  It takes awhile to be absorbed, and until it does, you inhale it every time they come near you.  Both my cats are lap cats, and one of them sleeps near my head at night.  Our house has an open floor plan, the bedroom is a loft, so we can't shut the cats out of the bedroom.  I don't have much choice but to inhale Advantage all night.  Last night, that meant some skin issues.

Fortunately, the dermatitis seemed to die down after a few hours.  This morning I'm aware that the skin around my mouth and nose feels "different", but it's not irritated.  But next time, I wonder if I should wear a mask when applying it?  I'll definitely be washing my face as well as my hands!

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