I can't advise you on the risk/benefit decision, as it's not me who has to live with the decision. The incidence of aplastic anemia is 2/1,000,000 patients per year of treatment. Not huge, but more frequent than found in the population at large. Thrombocytopenia (reduced platelet count) is also a potential effect, so you'd have to monitor your clotting factors very closely.

There is an active metabolite of Tegretol (carbamazepine), marketed as Trileptal (oxcarbazepine) which does not carry the aplastic anemia warning, although it can also cause thrombocytopenia. I believe that Trileptal is easier to tolerate (for most people), but it would still be very prudent to monitor your blood parameters frequently.

Lar