Trileptal symptoms and conditions

My good friend is on Topamax and Trileptal for epilepsy seizures. She has developed severe paranoia. We cant call her on her phone or send her an email as she believes that her phone, computer and house are all "bugged". I have written a letter to her doctor to let him know what is occurring in her personal life as Im sure that he is unaware of her behavior. She lives in a world of fear and her medication needs to be changed.

I have been on trileptal for 3 months and it works great. It has helped with my mood swings, racing thoughts, and depression. The only problem is that I now have horrible pimples on my neck and back. They are larger than average and painful. I don't know what to do. This medication works better than other mood stabilizers that I have tried, but the acne is gross.

I hate it! My doctor prescribed 1200mg a day. When I followed this dosage for a week (approximately 2 years ago) I was so lethargic, my tongue felt as if it weighed 10 pounds plus it was numb and I was the most unproductive individual! I stopped taking 1200 and started with 600; the same side effects occurred. Now, I take it every few days which really sucks because the manic monster rears its ugly head. At this point, I have to do my own research to find the right medication for my bipolar. I do know that I cannot continue this medication. I thought it was going to help control the severe angry outburst; I've broken one of our ceiling lamps by throwing my shoes. It's like being trapped within myself. I hope any and everyone who posts to this and even those out there that have bipolar, finds the right medication. It is so incredibly difficult not knowing which way my mood will take me; what journey: being ok one minute and the next, feeling terrible.

I've been on Trileptal, 150 mg, for about a month now, and I am SO itchy! My back, face, scalp, and head is constantly itching! I experience a lot of bodily discomfort as well. Anything rubbing against or touching my hip is agonizing, and my back aches constantly. Also, my once perfect skin is all broken out in pimples :(

hair loss, memory loss, weight loss, confusion, hand shaking

I HAVE BEEN ON THE LAMICTAL FOR 5 MONTHS NOW( FOR MINOR BI POLAR EPISODE). AT FIRST I FELT A LITTLE "SPACEY" AS I HAVE INCREASED MY DOSAGE EACH TIME I NOTICED VERY PAINFUL MENSTRUAL CRAMPS, WORSE PMS, EXTRA LONG MENSTRUATION CYCLE, JOINT PAIN IN THE HIP, FORGETTING EVERYTHING( LOSS OF SHORT TERM MEMORY), AND EXTREME TIREDNESS IN THE DAY AND NOT SLEEPING AT NIGHT. I HAD BEEN ON 75MG A DAY ( 2 IN AM, 1 IN PM) AND THEN UPPED MY DOSE TO 100MG(2 IN AM, 2 IN PM). THE SIDE EFFECTS ARE WORSENING, ESPECIALLY THE JOINT PAIN. I HAVE ALSO NOTICED PANIC ATTACKS AND IRRITABLENESS THAT I HADN'T HAD BEFORE. WORST OF ALL, IS THAT I HAVE GAINED ABOUT 27 LBS WHILE TAKING THIS MED. HAS ANYONE ELSE HAD ANY OF THESE SYMPTOMS? PLEASE REPLY TO TELL ME THE BEST REMEDY.

I've been on trileptil for about 2 years now and am up to 600 MG and I'm 20 years old having all these side effects! But yet my mood is better then ever I'm doing great besides my frustrations with the side effects! I just need to weigh the pro and cons of if it's worth taking with all these sevre side effects!

I have had temporal lobe epilepsy/ partial seizure disorder since I was thirteen. I was put on Lamictal, serzone, inderal, tegretol and a host of other things for atypical migraine disorder (which we thought I had until I was diagnosed as having partial seizure) and NOTHING got rid of my seizures until I tried KEPPRA. I call it my miracle pill. I take 500mgs 2x day and the only thing I experience is lethargy. I take small naps here and there but nothing that really is debilitating. I may have a lower libido and be slightly dry eyed but compared to the benefits for me it's worth it.

Is this a forum for trashing Lamictal? I've been on it for a year and it probably saved my life. If you have negative effects from taking it, why not drop it and try something else? I'm glad I never read all of these horror stories, as I'm sure it would have scared me enough never to have tried it. That would have been a shame .. I've never felt as symptom free as I do now; I sleep well and dream well, put in long days in my business and never have a problem remaining focused and alert. The perfect cocktail for me turned out to be 250mg Lamictal twice a day, 25mg Trazodone at night, and 40mg Citalopram. I feel really fortunate that my psychiatrist only feels the need to visit with me once every 6 months just to check in. If I miss a day, my wife notices immediately as I start to swing "up" again. Drawbacks? The cost (about 7 bucks a pill), and some weight gain which may have happened anyway .. (I'm 52). If you have the insurance to cover it, I say give it a try.

I have been taking Neurontin for 2 months. I didn't think it was really helping because I still couldn't function normally. I have had 3 disk surgeries on L4/5, and still have severe pain in my right hip and down my right leg all the way to my foot. I am told there is scar tissue build-up in the area causing the nerve pain. I started taking Neurontin in small doses and have built up to 1200mg 3 times a day. I still couldn't walk more than 20 feet without leaning on something, but the pain was noticably less severe. My doctor put me on Trileptal instead, and the first day off the Neurontin was a nightmare...the pain was worse than ever. I went back to the Neurontin immediately. I have experienced some weight gain, but have attibuted that to no exercise. It does seem to make me forgetful, tired and somewhat depressed, but without it, the pain is completely debilitating. I want my life back, but I don't know what to do from here. Neurontin has helped the pain to a more tolerable level, but if I still can't even walk, I'm not even close to functioning normally. If anyone has a suggestion, I would love to hear it...thanks.

I used to take Lamictal 150mg at night, no problems, but started feeling anxious in the afternoon/evening. My Dr. Rx'd 300mg lithium at night to see if it would help the anxiety, but I had very fitfil, unrestful sleep to the point where I was not sleeping much and very tired all day. So, the Dr. took me off lithium and substituted Tripletal 300mg in the evening. That worked, but I was still a little depressed & she increased my Lamictal to 200 mg at night. I started waking up after about 4 hours with horrible nightmares. I thought the nightmares were from Trileptal because that was a new med, but even after I discontinued it, I still get the nightmares/panic feeling that wakes me at night. I took 2mg Lunesta for a while to help me sleep, but then I slept too much 10-12 hrs. I take the Lamictal now in the morning & don't get those nightmares & I sleep fine now, but I feel anxious & dizzy and have trouble concentrating, again about 2-4 hours after I take it in the morning. Dr. says I can take ativan to help the anxiety, but I feel like I need to get off Lamictal and try something else. Maybe lithium will help if try to take it now witout the Lamictal.

Hi all. I was diagnosed 3 or 4 years ago with epilepsy. So far, I have on about 5 different epilepsy meds. I can't recall the first 3 but had to get off them because of physical side-effects. My last one was Dilatin which worked pretty well for a year. I slept great - 8 hours on the dot. Then, I started to have short seizures that began to successively lengthen. So, I was switched to Keppra.

I started at 250mg/2xday on Keppra and now am up to 1000mg/2xday. I also started taking B6 100mg/day. A couple of days after starting Keppra, I started to get slight headaches. These went away after about 2 weeks. I also got a numb patch on the same place on the bottom of each foot. When I went up to 500mg/2xday, the numb patch spread, I started to feel off-balance, and I started to get the "rage" symptoms. I went up to 1000mg/2xday and most of the bottom of my two feet went numb and cold, I began to get slight tingling in my fingers and a mild case of tightness in my chest. I still felt off-balance and the rage symptoms were there. It began to get hard to get to sleep and I would get up unnecessarily early and not be able to fall back asleep. I want off this med. Maybe it works great for other people but for me it I take it at the levels I need to, I won't be able to work or do much of anything.

Mt daughter had encephalitis march of 2005 since then she was dx with intractable multi focal seizures she was doing well. She is now 9 on phenobarbitol, trileptal, topamax, ddavp, she got her first lupron shot in june of this year from starting puberty early then got her period 2 weeks later. since then she has an increase in seizures nosebleeds, and swelling in the face not sure what is causeing this. Any one with any info or similar expreince. Thanks

I had a hypertensive crisis in early July. I went to the Doctor for a history and physical for pre surgery on my knee. I had been in severe pain in my knee since March.. The doctor found my blood pressure to be 200 over 108. I had been put on Toprol XL50mg, 1 & 1/2 tabs at night,(of which I was only taking one tablet) and 10-40 mg. of Vytorin the previous year by this doctor's partner, (and wife) for mildly elevated blood pressure. On May 25th, my psych, who treats me for ADHD and mild depression checked my blood pressure in her office and it was normal. 120/75. This doctor then Doubled my Toprol, Added Lisinopril and postononed my surgery. I told him that I had been in angony and felt that this may be causing my spiked blood pressure, as I tend to do this. Less than three days later I was admitted to the hospital through the ER with high blood pressure and tingling in my arms and wrists. The doctor added Norvasc to bring down my heart rate and Klonopin to control my anxiety. After many difficulty and expensive tests, he concluded that I had high blood pressure due to stress from pain, medications, and a problem with anxiety. I had my surgery and am recovering nicely from my knee pain. I saw my psych, and she put me on topomax and trileptal to control mood swings. I am now into a full blown major depressive episode that I believe is being caused by any or all of these medications. None of my doctors have time to talk to me or want to help me. They only see things from their specialty. I am so frustrated and angry. Has anyone else experienced severe depression with this lisinopril. I need to get my life back!!! This is a bad Drug!!!

Geodon has definitely proved useful for me, thus far, for the depression side of my bipolar disorder, and compared to Lamictal (which had many and terrible side effects for me, even at a low dose) and Trileptal (to which I discovered I'm quite allergic), it's been a blessing. Took it for three days and it was like throwing a switch to turn off my depression, which had been increasingly bad and getting worse over the past two years. I've been on it for only two weeks, but thus far, I have had minor problems with a rash (easily controlled with a small dose of benedryl, and which will hopefully go away in time), one night of insomnia, and a day of frequent need to urinate. The jury's still out as to whether or not it is affecting my blood pressure. I'm also taking Klonopin, which may be why I have not had much trouble with sleeping, but the need to suddenly run to the bathroom every two hours (or less) is disconcerting and will be watched. I'm taking what most doctors would probably consider an extremely low dose, only 20 mg, but my particular variety of BPD makes me extremely hypersensitive to drugs of any kind. My doctor has suggested that I try increasing the dose in another two weeks, but so long as I'm doing well at this level, I have no intention of doing so, and he knows it. I am seldom able to reach "normal therapeutic levels" for these kinds of drugs, and if I do, it takes years for me to get there. Thank God my doctor understands that if the level I'm taking is effective for me, it doesn't matter that it's half, or less, of what "normal" people take. Because nobody's body chemistry is the same, and one size does not fit all when it comes to drug dosage.

actually any side effect is worth it to me. This has literally saved my life. I have had nunerous injuries, especially a bulge on a disc in my neck that dr.'s won't do anything about until it herniates. I literally couldn't do anything without pain, and even doing nothing my pain was excruciating. I was admitted into the hospital do to thinking about suicide. I was put on this 1200mg X 3 and trileptal and a sleep aide. It changed my life. I still have pain but it doesn't debilatate me as often.

My son has been takiing tripeltol for over a year, he is only 11 yeard old; he has been expresing extreme aggresive behavior in the last year or so. He can not communicate very well what he is feeling, but he is in extreme disconfort (unhappy, aggressive, mad, grauchy, etc.) I am starting to believe that trileptol is the cause; he is also taking geodon and abilify, which are suppose to control bal behavior. However, nothing is helping. Am I in the rigth track believing that trileptol is the cause of his bad behavior?

for a number of years i had been taking tegretol for depression, my dr. then switched me to trileptal suggesting it was a purer form of the same drug, i've been on trileptol for over 3 years now, my face is a mess rash, itching alot of the time , i have never ever had any such problem before, also i am experiencing musle and joint pain, another big one is my hair is thinning loss of condition, my question is can long term rx use be causing too many toxins in my system?

i am 15 years old and i have frequent awakening, my eye twiches alot, weight gain, dizziness, and ears keep popping. i also take trileptal. does anyone know why all this is happing? the mg i take is 1 1/2 mg of risperdal and 600 mg of trileptal. if anyone knows any thing about my side effects please let me know!

my son is 10 started taking zyprexa 1yr ago along with zoloft topamax straterra all for bipolar odd adhd...........since the zyprexa hes gained 35lbs maybe more hes VERY tired & lathargic THe weight gain is totaly unacceptable he also has the weakness in his legs hes too young to have these problems the benefits dont out weigh the side affects im weaning him off the zyprexa and at the same time starting Trileptal hopefully we can find something that can help us without all the BAD sideaffects.

To who it may concern,
Hello, my name is christel mahler. I have a question to ask you which I hope you can help me with. I've been getting seiures since 4 years old and i've been taking different kinds of medications until it was under control. I get seiures every week, and my neuroligest is trying on me different medication on me. I'm taking right now, Lamictal 25 mLg and 100 mlg. I'm also taking trilepal 150 mlg which is a new medication and so is keppra 500 mlg, which I'm taking right now. I just got off tegretol XR-400 and 100 mlg, which I took also. I'm taking trileptal now which my DR. subscribed to me, which he just put me on besides keppra 500 mlg. I like to know if the Tegretol that I've been taking,(which I'm off now),if that has side efects like seeing double vision and not be able to see straight and lose balance? Please let me know? Does keppra 500 mlg, trileptol 150 mlg, and Lamictal 100 and 25 mlg also causes that also? Please let me know, Please? My dr. got me off slowly on the Tegretol 100 mlg and increased my Trileptal 150 mlg to 10 pills a day, 5 in the morning, and 5 at dinner time, and seeing double also.
So I told my dr. that I've been getting double vision, and he said to go down to 4 pills in the morning, and 4 pills at dinner time, which I'm taking now at this time. I've been seeing double vision everday when I took 10 pills a day. Since I'm down to 8 pills a day of the Trileptal, I've been seeing double every so often. Why is this happening? Does the medications that I'm taking causes this? Is this side effects of the medication? Let me know. I/m really nervous about this. If this is not the medication thats causing this, then what could it be from? I like to know very much. I hope you can help me? Please get back to me as soon as possible, I really would like to know about this? Thanks for listening to me and being patient with me, I appreciate it very much. Please Respond.

P.S. I hope to hear from you.
My E-Mail is: christelsplace@earthlink.net

Sincerely,
Christel Mahler