bewise, I've been taking Tegretol/carbamazepine for years. Since 2001 I think.
I take it for bp, epilepsy and trigeminal neuralgia.

It's always been a good med for me. I take 700mg/day.

I do have to have labs regularly, not only to check Teg levels but also liver function/enzymes. Tegretol can be hard on the liver but I've never had any problems so far. I have labs every three months.

I honestly don't remember any side effects in the beginning, but when we tried to increase it to 800mg last year it was a no go, felt sick. Once we dropped back to 700mg I was fine.