[HALLIEBETH87]

I'm starting it today and titrating up.

I'm excited! Any opinions on trileptal? I'd never heard of it before.

[Moogieotter]

Please keep us posted. I've been curious about that one!

moogs

I'm on it. I was on depakote and depakote worked wonders, but my hair started falling out bad. So I weaned off depakote and titrated up on trileptal. I'm now on 1500mgs and it works great. Did notice at the beginning a lot of thirst, but it went away.

Good luck with it!

[ringtailcat]

I've been on it for about a year, seems to work good for me..

[Travelinglady]

Trileptal is good.

[*Laurie*]

I was prescribed trileptal about 2 months ago. I started on it, but I was also starting another medication at the same time. I noticed that after 2 trileptal pills I felt somewhat anxious/panicky. I decided that it wasn't a true test of the efficacy of trileptal to start it at the same time as the other medication. So I stopped taking it.

I am re-starting it tonight. I'm going to take half the recommended dose to begin with (I often find that the full recommended dose of meds is too high for me to start out on). I am hoping for a more stabilized mood and less of a depressed mood. We shall see......

I hope the trileptal works well for you. Keep us posted, and I'll do the same!

[Yoda]

I took it for a couple of months at night and I always got a mild chest pressure about a half hour after I took it. Nothing serious but it was disconcerting so my doc and I decided to DC it.

[HALLIEBETH87]

So far so good but im on a really low dose and titrating up!

[HALLIEBETH87]

Is 900mg of trileptal a lot? I feel like Im already tired a lot and Im only taking 150mg so far. lol But....its a snowy day so Im feeling lazy anyway.

[*Laurie*]

900mg sounds pretty high, but I'm not at all sure. I'll check my own dose and see what I'm supposed to go up to ultimately.

I'm still at the tiny half-dose...I don't think I'll be raising it until the week-end. So far I haven't noticed anything "good" or "bad".

[HALLIEBETH87]

He has me going up every three days. I just took the first 300mg dose. He did tell me that while Im going up if I get to where Im having a bad side effect or whathaveyou to go down to where I was before and stay there.

I really don't know much about Trileptal. It doesn't seem too popular.

[*Laurie*]

He has you raising the dose awfully fast, but I'm sure he has his reasons for doing so. I'm supposed to raise mine over a period of a month (& I'm doing it even more slowly). I checked my dose and eventually I'm supposed to be at 600mg.

Have you seen this? Oxcarbazepine Reviews & Ratings at Drugs.com There are 52 reviews for Trileptal & overall, they're pretty good reviews. I think the most common medication for mood stabilizing is Lamictal. From what I've read and heard, most people really like Lamictal. I didn't find either Lamictal or Tegratol particularly helpful, so that's why my p-doc prescribed Trileptal.

[HALLIEBETH87]

Actually I take lamictal 300 mg each morning. Every three days I go down on lithium too and in 6 more days I will be off of it! I'm up to 300 mg trileptal now. I feel really tired but I think it's the combo of zyprexa, gabapentin and trileptal all at night! Tegretol made me a space cadet! I couldn't tell you anything I did that week! I am optimistic! I've been in such a good mood for a week now!

[*Laurie*]

That is great, Halliebeth87! I'm so glad to hear that the trileptal is helping you. And yeah...I would expect you to feel really tired from that med combination. Give it time.

I'm going to go ahead and take a whole trileptal pill tonight (I've been taking 1/2-pills). I so hope it works out for me so I can get off Seroquel.

[HALLIEBETH87]

Yea I've had to take naps lol but I set an alarm and only sleep an hour!

Hope all goes well for you!

[*Laurie*]

Thank you so much. I appreciate your well-wishes.

[HALLIEBETH87]

What about my meds right makes you'd think I'd be tired? Two anticonvulsants?

[*Laurie*]

The zyprexa, gabapentin and trileptal. It seems to me that most psych meds cause sleepiness.

[HALLIEBETH87]

Yeah Im wiped. I mean not a zombie but I *have* to take a nap! Im going to talk to my T about it next week and they can talk to pdoc about maybe cutting the gabapentin in half. It might help as I take gabapentin in the am too.

[Moogieotter]

Hi Hallie,

Glad the new med is going well. Not sure how much Gabapentin you are on and for how long. Please be careful lowering it - I had very bad anxiety and panic attacks from coming off 600 too quickly. I'm sure you'll be ok just wanted to give you a heads up!

moogs

[HALLIEBETH87]

I was thinking of just taking 300mg gabapentin tonight instead of 600. Just tonight. I have to be up early and with Daylight's...I cant afford to be so wiped. I take 200mg of it in the am too.

I just want to ask T if maybe I could take just 300 and not 600mg at night. Just because I am wiped from starting trileptal. itd give me a little break from being sooooo tired lol

[ladisputelover]

Trileptal seems to work okay for me. I'm on it for bipolar disorder and I haven't had a manic episode in about a year! Although, my depression has been pretty bad so I'm not sure it that's causing it or it's just my anti-depressants not working.
Hope this helps! ps sorry its so late

[*Laurie*]

Well, I've taken a whole pill (150mg) for 3 nights and awoke this morning feeling agitated and anxious. Less depressed, yes definitely, but it's not worth the trade-off. Since Kaiser cancelled the appointment I had with a p-doc tomorrow (I have not actually seen a p-doc since last May because Kaiser has cancelled EVERY appointment...I'm having an awful time with them) I'm going to make the best decision I can and drop the trileptal down to 1/2 a pill. I feel soooo dicouraged, like I'm the only person in the world who cannot tolerate mood stabilizers.

[HALLIEBETH87]

If it makes you feel any better, I have a huge issue with antipsychotics. Almost all of those Ive tried, I cannot tolerate. Its trial and error with meds. I hate it. I hope things get better for you.

[*Laurie*]

Thanks, H. I'm sorry you have trouble with the anti-psychotics. Yeah, the medication merry-go-round...it's just so stressful.