Trileptal vs. Lamictal, efficacy and safety

I was on Lamictal for seven months. I was hypomanic the whole time. However, it stopped my seizures. Off Lamictal I started to have myoclonic seizures again but didn't want to take Lamictal because I hate being hypomanic. I was wondering if Trileptal might be a good alternative for a female person who doesn't want to take Depakote for my seizures as well as bipolar disorder. For the past three months I survived on Omega 3's alone but took them in too high amounts and had problems with blood thinning and they made my seizures worse I swear, an uncommon effect! So yes, even Omega 3's can have side effects. Does anyone like Trileptal and describe your experience please? I read that 50 percent of bipolar patients received help for their manic phase on Trileptal, most of them male. However, Lamictal interfered more with female hormones. And at the same time Trileptal is somehow more tetragenic (toxic) but more likely to reduce mania while Lamictal is more likely to reduce depression. I suffer from both but most of the year I'm more manic than depressed. I hope a doctor will figure this out for me and be able to stop my constant eye twitching and myolconic seizures, in the meanwhile, experiences?

P.S.-My eye problem is called myokemia and my myoclonic seizures are hypnic jerks of the sleep cycle. My aunt died of her epilepsy due to having a seizure that caused her to tumble down the stairs and die. Any advice? I am a rapid cycling bipolar.

I don't take Trileptal but from my understanding it's a milder form of Tegretol. I may be wrong. I took Lamictal with Seroquel for quite awhile and stayed in a black depression. My new PDoc prescribed Tegretol and it took away the depression but made me hypomanic - mostly irritability and difficulty sleeping but usually only when my dose goes up.. He kept me on Lamictal but removed the Seroquel.

That's probably not helpful since they're two different drugs but take it for what it's worth.

Best of luck.

Very helpful information. Trileptol IS a milder form of Tegretol, the one thing better about Trileptol is it doesn't produce as many toxic hepatitic enzymes and doesn't require blood testing, neither does it wipe out red or white blood cells like Tegretol. I nearly smacked myself with a hammer on Seroquel to make it stop. Lamictal worked for a short time for me. Everyone's chems are different.

I have been on trileptal on and off since august. It brought me out of a terrible depression and kept me stable as long as I was taking it. I had a breakthrough episode of depression on it but that was rectified with Seroquel. As for hypomania, I guess I would describe being on a lower dose of trileptal (900mg instead of my prescribed 1500mg) as a hypomanic state without the high energy or impulse control problems. So essentially everything good about hypomania without the bad parts, except I was QUITE irritable. When I as taking the prescribed amount I was definitely more baseline than anything.

It works really well for me. I just have to commit to taking it, which I am finding difficult.

My only problem with committment is the dumbing down effect. I will take as prescribed for a while though.

Well I didn't have any adverse side effects. My commitment issue is more about not wantig to take medication, be marked as bipolar, etc...I dunno. Can't really explain. Wish I understood because maybe I'd stop doing this to myself.

But anyway yeah no side effects from it at all, cognitive or otherwise, even at 1500mg.

I switched from Lamictal to Trileptal because I had a severe skin rash. Trileptal stabilizes my sleep and most of my moods effectively. It has been the least effective with anxiety and lethargy.

Still, I haven't had a major hypomanic episode, breakdown (e.g. uncontrollable crying, anger spells, etc.), or severe depression since I started taking it in October 2013. Overall, although I cycle through episodes, they are much milder.

I take a dose in the morning and a higher dose at night.

Some caveats that I experience:
* (Possibly) interferes with oral contraceptives and female sex hormones, including progesterone and estrogen. I have PCOS, so although I don't think that my Trileptal has interfered significantly/noticeably with my contraceptive, I have to be more careful when having sex.
* (Possibly) Teratogenic to fetuses
* Causes drowsiness, disorientation, and double vision. These effects wore off after a week or two, but they do come back every time my psychiatrist increases my dosage.
* Mental fog, and a sense of being "slower" both physically and mentally. Trileptal makes me a bit clumsier than usual. I have a tendency to bump into things and hit my head while sleeping when my psychiatrist increases my dosages. But that might just be me.

Let me know if you have any specific questions. I'd be happy to try my best to answer them.

I was only on trileptal for about a year and a half and it worked really well but every few months I had to increase it to feel the full effects. Finally when I capped off at 2400mg my pdoc started taking me off of it and put me on lamictal. I personally found when I was on a higher dose of lamictal and a lower dose of trileptal it helped control the moods the best. However, the doctor wanted to take me off of the trileptal and I'm actually waiting for my pdoc appt to get here so I can argue to be put back on it.

I found no side effects with either drug and they both seemed to stable my mood but different aspects of my mood.

I have no problem being associated with people associated with creative genius.

I'm going to ask about switching to this because I don't like the need for blood tests and the damage to blood cells. Plus the Tegretol makes me SO itchy.

Thanks for asking the question!

If you're a woman there's a bit more to worry about.

I'm confused. Do you mean that there are things that I've left out, or that women have to be more careful than men when taking Trileptal?

Amazing that you had no side effects because 75% of people report sleepiness. Not a big deal.

Hmmm well I was tired but no more than usual. My default state is rather tired so I don't think it was trileptal. The Seroquel, though, that knocked me out. I gave it up after a couple of weeks.

Breastfeeding, pregnancy.