Trileptal, Tegretol, etc. Anyone take them?

If so, what are your side effects like? Does it do a good job with managing symptoms? Any other reason why you love it or hate it?

[starbunny]

I take 1400mg a day of the tegretol retard slow release. The side effects were mostly in the beginning - drowsiness was the hardest, but tolerable. The best thing to do is tirate the dose up slowly. Now I have no side effects at all from the tablets. It did a very good job at managing symptoms for about 5 years or so and then failed to hold back a manic episode that occured last year triggered by a job that required irregular night shifts. I needed the extra help of seroquel with that one. I would say that it has been a good mood stabiliser, but with time (years) the effectiveness has decreased for me. Hope this helps.

[wj74]

Thank you!

[adel_ezz]

i took tegretol for 2 months and caused me headaches, but i am not a standard typical example because i can't tolerate drugs easily. trileptal its cousin is much weaker.

if you compare tegretol with depakote or lithium the 3 most famous classical old drugs for BP and mainly for mania then tegretol is the least harmful and this i read everywhere. So if you consider an MS then tegretol is your best bet. Sure you will need from time to time to do some blood tests (not with trileptal) but at least it won't make you put excessive weight or hair loss like depakote or the other known side effects like lithium

BTW egyptian doctors write it all the time. In asking them why not topamax, lamictal etc..they say tegretol is much older so the side effects are pretty well known so well taken care of and better dealt with than the newer ones whose side effects are debatable and will take a few decades to understand them  

good luck

[ILADVOCATE]

Tegretol can have some interactions and also requires regular blood tests. Trileptal is basically the same medication but modified so that its safer and does not require those specific blood tests so generally that's replacing it. I found Lamictal the most tolerable out of the 3 and it worked specifically on rapid cycling and mixed states and could not tolerate Tegretol, Trileptal and Depakoate because of personality changes (but that's a potential side effect of all anti-convulsants used as mood stabilizers including the one I take now) but each person responds  differently to each medication although generally, side effect profile aside as it is the only medication approved as a mood stabilizer before any other usage, lithium is generally considered the most effective but individual responses vary. I do know people who have done well on Trileptal and that is gradually replacing Tegretol so it would make sense to ask about that.

[wj74]

Thank you!