L' Hermittes sign

My neurologist wrote to my Dr saying I have L'Hermittes and to start me on carbamazepine (an anticonvulsant drug used to treat epilepsy and bipolar disorder I believe,) which I'm starting tomorrow in the hope it will settle down,

Has anyone been on this? It's 100mg a day to start with, wondering if there's side effects?

my Dr feels the neurologist is sitting on the fence and should have ordered more tests straight away, he hates limboland and actually apologised for it - bless him!

Val x

[essdipity]

This med is generic for what is Tegretol in the US. I don't take it but quite a few here do. Let's hope they check in and give you their experiences.

ess

[Wobbly]

sorry I don't take it, but good luck with the new meds... wish you could get more testing done, but sometimes it take more time then test will show changes...??


take care
wobbly
dx

[doublevision1]

Hi, I am a bit behind in my reading so not real familiar with your history.  I take it you are being watched for possible MS?   What kind of testing have you undertaken so far?
Lhermitte's was my first MS symptom, in 2006.  MRI's of head and neck were normal, though contrast was not used so who knows what that might have showed?   A year later I had a major attack, and repeat MRIs w/contrast revealed lesions consistent with MS, and I was dx'ed pretty soon afterwards.

Lhermitte's can sometimes be attributed to other problems (ie: low B12) but seems to be most common in MS.  If you are concerned about not taking further action (other than to treat the Lhermitte's), you could press for more testing: lumbar puncture, evoked potentials, if these have not been done yet.

If you are in early MS, ie: if your Lhermitte's and other sensory symptoms are actually indicative of CIS, there are lots of studies to support treating early with a DMD; these studies have demonstrated that such early treatment delays the time to the second relapse, ie: development of full blown MS.  

Sorry if this has already been discussed and I'm stating the obvious.  Just wanted to throw in my 2 cents.  I try not to stress about what might have been, but I can't help but wonder if I had been treated for CIS in 2006 (if I'd have met the criteria, don't know for sure that I would have), I might have put off this whole MS thing, at least for a while.

Listen to your gut and be persistent if you're not comfortable with the wait and see approach.

[Valerie64]

so far I've had a MRI head and neck which showed a 1cm frontal lobe lesion and high signal changes which the consultant radiologist says are highly suggestive of MS -

the neurologist doesn't want to do any other tests yet which my Dr can't understand, he expected him to do blood tests and possibly a LP -

I'm trusting the neuro at the moment as he said on my visit last week that this is possibly MS so I felt he wasn't dismissing it and I'll do the wait and see thing because if I'm lucky this won't be MS after all and it'll all go away...I'm not in denial or anything...just hopeful...

Val x