Tegrotol (equantro)

[finallyIamdone]

Anybody have experience with tegrotol? First two months on it ok, last six weeks depressed. Pdoc will not help me get off it. I have started weaning myself off this week. Was taking 400mg, this week 200 mg per day. Podcasts says I will have a manic episode if I quit cold turkey. Anyone with same issues? Anyone just stop taking? I am scared.

[Anonymouse88]

I do my best.  I hope you succeed in finding a treatment that works for you!

[finallyIamdone]

Thank you for your replies, they were very helpful

[Anonymouse88]

Hmm.  Are you diagnosed as bipolar I or II?  Bipolar I is probably a good enough reason to be medicated in some way, since mania can be so destructive, but bipolar II with few episodes might be controllable with therapy.  Depression can be quite destructive too, so the question is really how much does whatever mood disorder you have **** with your daily life, your happiness, and your ability to function?  For me, at least for now, meds are way better than what I was dealing with without them, but that's not true of everyone.  Also, some drugs just aren't good for certain people, and it might take a few tries to get one that doesn't suck in terms of side effects and also controls the moods.  One thing to keep in mind is the kindling theory--some people think that the more mood episodes you have, the worse they'll get, and they'll eventually be more frequent, therefore medication should be taken to prevent worsening of the disease.  

Overall, it sounds like tegretol might be a bad choice for you.  It's got a high side effect profile, and interacts with lots of things, including oral contraceptives (don't know if you're male or female).  It's mainly good for mania apparently, but not so much for depression.  If it's mainly side effects that are bothering you, trileptal is related but has fewer side effects, although bipolar is an off-label use of trileptal.  Lamictal is good for depression.  There's also the atypical antipsychotics, like seroquel and geodon, or the third generation antipsychotic abilify.  They all have mood stabilizing properties, although most of them can cause weight gain.  In short, there's a ton of meds out there for bipolar in several different classes, and one of them might be good for you, but you won't know for sure without trying them.  And nothing will have zero side effects.  It's a trade off.

You should definitely bring up your concerns about a misdiagnosis and over-medication with your psychiatrist and ask her to have a thorough discussion with you about it and about your options.  CrazyMeds has a ton of information on different psych meds, including quick run downs of important points, but also the full prescribing information that doctors use if you want to know more than the quick sheet you get from the pharmacy.  You can look through and see if there's one you think would work better for you, and you can look through the forums to see other people's experiences with that drug.

[finallyIamdone]

I am doing it slowly, if podcast calls back I will tell her what you said. I am not totally convinced I am bi polar, my manic and depressive cycles are not real strong, drpression lasts around 1  to 2 weeks maybe 3 or 4 times a year, manic is more often. But I never act out or have an episode. Mainly just hyper silliness. Think I may be over medicated. Your thoughts

[Anonymouse88]

This sounds like a bad plan.  If you truly cannot stand tegretol, but you've been having mood episodes (especially manic ones), you need to start a different mood stabilizer, preferably before or while stopping the tegretol.  And are you having major side effects, or are you just upset that you're still getting depressed?  Major and/or intolerable side effects are the only good reason to quit fast.  If it's not working well enough, a dose increase or adding something else could work.  If you really insist on quitting, tell your psychiatrist that you are GOING to quit, and that since short of a court order no one can *make* you take meds, you would like a good weaning schedule and to try another drug.  But please try to get something else on board before you quit, or start one while quitting the tegretol.  Especially if there's reason to think you could go manic, it's safer to wait a bit and change drugs than to just stop.

I have not personally taken tegretol.  Have you tried lamictal?  It works well for a lot of people and has one of the best side effect profiles of the mood stabilizers, and is good for depression (although they might want something else to keep mania in check).  I'm on lamictal, and despite having had some wacky side effects, it's working well enough that it more than makes up for the annoying bits.