Thank you for being there for me. I was diagnosed with HIV a year ago and my numbers have been decent. They are as follows: July 2008: CD4/499, Viral Load/52900 Sept 2008: CD4/497, Viral Load/42000 Mar 2009: CD4/449, Viral Load/67900 Up till now, I have not had to take medicine. As listed above, I had a viral load of 67000 in March of 2009. In April of 2009, a doctor prescribed me Lamictal, an anti seizure medication, in order to treat mild bi polar disorder. I experienced a range of strange side effects and returned to the doctor. Upon deeper researching of the side effects, my doctor discovered that Lamictal should not be given to patients with HIV. I had blood work done immediately after. Remember that in March of 2009 my numbers were CD4/449, Viral Load/67900. In May of 2009 (two months later), my viral load had sky rocketed to 1,752,534! This is not consistent with the progression of my HIV as evident in the numbers provided. Something seems to have altered my numbers dramatically. My CD4 count went up as well to 537. My interpretation is that the CD4 count went up because my body was attempting to counter-act the effects of a huge viral load increase. I have researched HIV related statistics online and it seems as though individuals with a viral load of approx. 2,000,000 have had the virus for the better part of 6 to 12 years! This substantial increase in such a short amount of time is alarming! I have been told that individuals that are HIV positive can take Lamictal but, I am wondering if these individuals typically take it after they are on anti-viral medication. I have researched Lamictal and have come across information that suggests that Lamictal can definitely affect the blood and immune system. Is it possible that Lamictal caused my Viral Load to soar to such astonishingly high levels? If not, is such a dramatic increase in Viral load at all normal and if not, what could have caused this? I have been very healthy since diagnosed and have done nothing out of the norm besides taking this medication. Also, why was the doctor inclined to take me off of Lamictal?

Assuming that no other ongoing illnesses or immunizations occurred, it appears that the drug could be the source of these changes. The mechanism of action of lamotrigine is not known. Given that skin rashes and other allergic/immunologic type reactions can occur, it is possible that this kind of reaction could activate t cells an cause the viral load increase.