I am weaning myself off Tegratol right now. I have chronic headaches, for the last two weeks I have had a headache every single day that lasts almost all day. Nothing relieves the pain, and the headaches are pretty severe and debilitating. Thing is I never got headaches untill I started med treatment for bipolar. I've had cat scans, cerebral angiogram, and no answers for the headaches. My opthamologist suggested lithium might be the culprit a few years ago. And really I am sick of the headaches, and they effect my mood a lot.

I'm stopping the Tegratol as I don't think it really does much of anything for me. I've been on anticonvulsants lots in the past and the have never really helped. I'm still on lithium, which I suspect is the real source of the headaches. That is the first drug I started with and have always been on. So it might seem backwards off be going of the Tegratol first. I do want to get to a med free place and clear my system and see what happens physically, because physically I am a mess. But I'm scared to go off lithium first.

I do not have my pdocs approval, so I'm going to be clear about that. And I don't plan on going off lithium quickly either. I do understand that if I start to slide I will go back on my meds. I have talked to my bf and sister about watching my behavior and letting me know if I seem off.

I'm just new at weaning, I've gone off meds many many times but have never weaned off without guidance from a pdoc. My pdoc is happy with me on a LOT of meds, we don't exactly see eye to eye, but I am upfront with him. In the past I have just abruptly stopped taking them. Obviously that never ended well. But I feel stronger and mentally in a good place. I think Im ready to give it a go. I'm still trying to figure out how slow to go off Tegratol, I'm taking 200 mg a day right now. Would 2 weeks sound to fast? I'm really not sure, when it comes to anticonvulsants.

[hamster-bamster]

Anika,

My response has nothing to do with the meds you are on or trying to be off, but with headaches in general. The more hydrated you are, the better. Electrolytes solution provides a higher degree of hydration than H2O alone. I get mine from a product called Vitalyte. It was developed many years ago by a marathoner and biochemist Bill Gookin, whom I know just a little bit to be awestruck - he is so physically active in his golden years, even though he needs a cane now. The product is better than others I have tried - it has a wonderful clean taste, just a little sour to my liking. Immediate absorption from the stomach (unlike water). Out of 4 flavors, 1 is bad - orange, the others are equally good. To my taste - you can order free samples. One glass contains 40 calories, but for an anorexic this should not be a problem. Does not contain questionable artificial sweeteners. I try to drink throughout the day to avert my migraines, and if a headache is starting, I would drink three glassfuls in one sitting and then more after a while. It truly is a solution (no pun intended) for a migraineur like me.

I hope this helps.

Thanks hamster,

I take nuun electrolyte tablets right now, and drink coconut water. I thought dehydration might be a factor too, but I started with the electrolyte tablets because of bikram yoga and the excessive sweating. But it hasn't improved at all. But I do wonder because you need such a large amount of water on lithium, then with the hot yoga, maybe it still isn't enough?

I get a mix of migraines, ice pick headaches, and cluster headaches along with tension headaches. It really sucks. I'll look into the electrolytes you mentioned tho and compare them to the nuun tablets I'm using, maybe they would work better.

Thanks for all that info.

I just looked at mine and saw sorbitol I've read that can cause headaches, but I'm not sure.

[~Christina]

I have no first hand knowledge about Lithium to speak of .... But I use to get alot of headaches (lifelong) when I was diagnosed with Fibro One thing I read over and over was to eliminate any and all artifical sweetners and flavors etc .. I noticed a differance in my headaches when I did this ..

Its amazing how hard it is to find foods that arent loaded with fake garbage

((((((Hugs))))))))

[BuggsBunny]

You might want to cut the dose in half for a week, then in half for another week, and so on until you get down to a very low dose. Then you skip a day between doses, for a week and finally go off. This is what my doc recommended for getting off drugs you have been on for a long time. You may need to get a pill cutter to get the dose down to a quarter of a tablet, if your pdoc is not willing to help.

You might want to get a migraine med from your regular doc for the headaches. You can get a prn one so you won't be on it constantly.

Ya it's really hard. I've been in so many restrictive diets, like gluten free, no dairy, chrones diet, allergy elimination diets, and no sulfites ect. Food doesn't like me and I apparently I don't like food.

I really need the will power to stick to a basic whole foods only diet, free of what my body cannot tolerate. The worst part is the money behind it. Eating healthy is really expensive here. And that's a big part of my problem. some of the allergic free foods are outrageously priced.

Also I never had acne in my life until I went on lithium, then my skin went crazy and I'm still tryin to find solutions. I'm starting to scar, and it does make me self conscious.

Thanks Buggs,

I do have a pill cutter, so I can do that. That is really helpful info, just what I was looking for. I've tried a few different migraine meds, but none have them have worked for the pain, and all of them have made me sick to my stomach. Just prn ones, I have tried. Do they make you feel sick?

[BuggsBunny]

The only one I was was on back when I had cluster headaches was Midrin. It didn't make me feel sick. But I don't remember how well it worked, either. It was a long time ago, and they have come up with better stuff since then.

With the Lithium, one of the reasons I had to go off of it was because of what it did to my skin. I have psoriasis and the Lithium made it flare so badly that the patches would crack and bleed when I bent my knees or elbows. So I would guess that the lithium is doing the same to you, just with acne.

[moremi]

Originally Posted by Anika

I am weaning myself off Tegratol right now. I have chronic headaches, for the last two weeks I have had a headache every single day that lasts almost all day. Nothing relieves the pain, and the headaches are pretty severe and debilitating. Thing is I never got headaches untill I started med treatment for bipolar. I've had cat scans, cerebral angiogram, and no answers for the headaches. My opthamologist suggested lithium might be the culprit a few years ago. And really I am sick of the headaches, and they effect my mood a lot.

I'm stopping the Tegratol as I don't think it really does much of anything for me. I've been on anticonvulsants lots in the past and the have never really helped. I'm still on lithium, which I suspect is the real source of the headaches. That is the first drug I started with and have always been on. So it might seem backwards off be going of the Tegratol first. I do want to get to a med free place and clear my system and see what happens physically, because physically I am a mess. But I'm scared to go off lithium first.

I do not have my pdocs approval, so I'm going to be clear about that. And I don't plan on going off lithium quickly either. I do understand that if I start to slide I will go back on my meds. I have talked to my bf and sister about watching my behavior and letting me know if I seem off.

I'm just new at weaning, I've gone off meds many many times but have never weaned off without guidance from a pdoc. My pdoc is happy with me on a LOT of meds, we don't exactly see eye to eye, but I am upfront with him. In the past I have just abruptly stopped taking them. Obviously that never ended well. But I feel stronger and mentally in a good place. I think Im ready to give it a go. I'm still trying to figure out how slow to go off Tegratol, I'm taking 200 mg a day right now. Would 2 weeks sound to fast? I'm really not sure, when it comes to anticonvulsants.

Im going off my tegretol too. Thanks Buggs. I was on 200mg twice a day been taking 200mg once a day for about two weeks now. Guess I will go down to 100 now. Im ready for a med free body for awhile too. I may keep the abilify as it seems to have helped me come out of depression. The tegretol didnt seem to help with anything at all since I started it. Glad you asked this question Anika.

[mommyof2girls]

My advice would be consult your pdoc before you stop taking your meds.....

I've already consulted my pdoc. His advice was to stay on my meds. Like I said we don't see eye to eye on this. He feels I need to be on antipsychostics for life and I think I'm lucky I even got him to agree to drop those, it took much much convincing on my part. Ive had this pdoc for about a year now. I don't trust him or his judgment, and he apparently doesn't trust mine. We have had plenty of incidents where we don't agree with my treatment, but I've been doing this a long time, and I know my body and brain pretty well.

It's just something I have to do to know for myself. I'm in a much different place than I've ever been in my life, and I really want to try it on my own. If anything goes starts to go badly I will go back on my meds. I've thought about this a lot. I'm going to take it really slowly and be cautious.

[hamster-bamster]

Originally Posted by Anika

I just looked at mine and saw sorbitol I've read that can cause headaches, but I'm not sure.

Yeah, when I tried to move from Vitalyte to something else with less sugar, I ran into those questionable sweeteners everywhere. So I decided to stick with Vitalyte. And I can totally see that between Lithium and Bikram you need even more electrolytes than you are taking!

[hamster-bamster]

Originally Posted by Anika

Thanks Buggs,

I do have a pill cutter, so I can do that. That is really helpful info, just what I was looking for. I've tried a few different migraine meds, but none have them have worked for the pain, and all of them have made me sick to my stomach. Just prn ones, I have tried. Do they make you feel sick?

Imitrex Nasal Spray does NOT make you feel sick to your stomach at all!