Tegretol and double vision

i've been on tegretol for well over 15 years now, for my Status Epilepticus (severe epilepsy). i was always on a small dose (600mg daily i think). but due to my epilepsy being poorly controlled, the dose got increased to 800mg - that was around 10yrs ago.

i am 6' 5", and used to weigh around 224 pounds. Since the dosage was upped to 800mg/day, i have gained around 84 pounds in weight, and have allways had drowsiness, lack of concentration, poor short-term memory, double vision and terrible balance. And still the epilepsy has been poorly controlled, still suffering petitmal and grandmal seizures.

So around a month ago, my neurologist was informed of my side effects becoming so severe. He told me they are "toxic side effects" of the tegretol.. Yet told me to increase the dose, by 200mg/day, increasing it every fortnight.

i.e. up to 1000mg/day, then 2 weeks later go up to 1200mg/day, etc.. he told me to keep doing this till i get to 1600mg/day. then possibly go as high as 2000mg/day.. !!

i have to tell you all, that since i started following his advice and increasing the dosage past 1000mg, i have felt absolutely terrible. I find myself needing over 13hrs sleep, then more sleep a few hours later. I also have difficulty reading (despite my eyesight testing ok), and unbearable migraine-style headaches.

at 30years old, my daily routine is not too good at present. And still no benefits have been noticed since upping the dose. On 13th October, i increase it to 1400mg/daily.. :(

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

i've been on tegretol since october 2002- i've noticed lethargy, double vision ,lack of mental aquity(poor concentration and memory), and my favorite - 30 lb weight gain. i have decreased my dosage on my own and the side effects seem less-good luck and God bless