Posted by psychosage on June 1, 2004, at 23:57:18
In reply to Quitting Trileptal, posted by AMD on June 1, 2004, at 19:43:49
> I was on Trileptal for about two weeks, quickly titrating up from 300 mg daily to 600 mg bid. After three days at 1200 mg I began to feel zonked, and then quickly started dropping the dose, 300 mg per day, until I was off it for two days. By yesterday I felt so jittery that this morning I took a 300 mg to take the edge off, so to speak.
>
> I had read that you can induce a seizure by quitting Trileptal too abruptly, but my understand was this would happen only after having taken it for several months. But was my jitteriness a sign of seizure? Can Trileptal /give/ you epilepsy or a permanent seizure disorder on its own? Or cause permanent disfunctioning of the temporal lobe?
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> I plan to take 150 mg tomorrow, and prehaps for a few days, and then finally quit.
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> I'd appreciate some opinions on this.
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> Thanks,Are you bipolar or epileptic? Is this all you are taking for bipolar {monotherapy}?
I ask because I wonder if there are prescribing differences depending on the reason you are taking it or your past experience with anticonvulsants.
I wonder if you moved up way too fast.
In some cases I think it is reasonable and normal to move up slowly.
I think moving from the first 150mg pill to 300mg bid could have been done over an entire month. That was my situation, so I assume I was moving slowly but surely. I eventually hit 1200mg/day, and the move was pretty easy since my mind and body knew what to expect.
If you kept increasing over a mere 14 days you would have had virtually no break from the dizzy drunken feeling. Having that many screwed up days in a rwo where you have to take naps and wonder if your brain just turned into jello can be discouraging.
If I am not mistaken i think I took a mere 150mg for 4 days or a week before I even hit 300mg/day, and my target dose before I took a single pill was 600mg a day. I wasn't allowed to reach that though for a full month according to my pdoc.
Trileptal has a great side effect profile relatively speaking, and the only thing to be concerned about thus far {trying not to be presumptuous in light of serzone} is the sodium issue. So blood work should be drawn for that {regular metabolic panel I think}.
Good luck if you decide to ever go back on it or on your next med.
poster:psychosage
thread:352826
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040527/msgs/352903.html