Tegretol-xr (carbamazepine) Side Effects, Uses Dosages
Side Effects for Tegretol-xr (carbamazepine)
Cognitive fatigue, pulsatile tinnitus, insomnia, agitation, low sodium and chloride levels, rapid eye movement, spacy.
Anxiety, reduced cognition, extreme agitation, lowered white blood count, and more.
The med was a secondary med and could not handle partials or complex partials, much less tonic clonic seizures. That was in my case. It might work for others and could be worth a try.
Mostly effective in controlling severe and disabling TN, especially when switching to XR. But over time, the side effect for confused thinking and balance took hold. It had a severe and insidious impact on my life.
Looking back, I wish my MD had been more attentive to the side effects and considered alternatives to Tegretol. When I presented in 2012 with severe TN (levels 7-10 pain, couldn't talk, no solid food), I got immediate relief.My current MD says that my 1200 MG dosage is like constantly having two beers and knocks 5 pts off your IQ. It has a subtle influence on your judgment.While this was all happening I met a fantastic woman and became engaged. To merge our families with three kids meant I had to be sensitive to her needs, sell my house and buy a new house for us, while also holding a demanding job and going to school part time.I was very good with the fun tasks. But if it was complex, things got foggy. Contact a realtor, get a loan, fix my credit, create a list of things to fix in order to sell the house, create a list to invite to the wedding. I would step back and look at myself, "You're not doing this. How odd." I see now Tegretol made me into slug. And my fiancé saw this, didn't see the connection to Tegretol, and began to wonder about me.My MD knew the basics of our situation, had met my fiancé. If he had been more compassionate he might have seen what was happening and counseled me on what to expect.Ultimately my finance saw what I was doing, became angry and defensive, interpreted my actions as meaning that I really didn't want her and the marriage, and cancelled the wedding five weeks out. I was angry and confused,
Early morning joint stiffness is a definite side effect..it does wear off after 30 minutes or so.Walking down the stairs in the morning after getting up is very slow and precarious. I changed to Lamictal because of increase in appetite and resultant weight gain on Tegretol.Whilst on Lamictal I had no stiffness whatsoever-it was a surprise..totally unexpected bonus.Unfortunately it kept me awake and after a year on it I had v.bad seizures and went back on to Tegretol Retard.The stiffness returned and I noticed an immediate slowness in my thinking.I am 67 and and it is now 17 years since I went back on to it ..total no.of years taking Tegretol is 37 less 1 year when I changed to Lamictal.I have injury-induced aches and pains in addition to the Tegretol side effects.One morning I felt less stiff and realised I had forgotten to take a tablet the night before.As an anticonvulsant it works so I am afraid to try anything else.Another bad side effect is increase in cholesterol..mine was 10 plus!!Am now on statins..at least for now.
Nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy
Dizziness, ringing in ears and extreme vomiting.
This could only happen to me! My sleep neurologist started me on 800 mg of Tegretol for NFLE and she forgot to titrate the dose. After taking it for one night and the next morning, I ended up in the ER due to extreme dizziness, vomiting and a ringing in my ears. I switched Doctors and changed to lamictal (titrated) which is working well.
Just about every side effect listed on your page, incompetence, mood disorders, instability, feeling like a drunk, could not remember what I had done that morning, started to contemplate suicide as I was not able to cope in my job and perform as a provider for my family.
Now on Epilim and I am back to the old me. Please if you are anything like I was go and persuade your neurologist to try something else.
When I was a teen my anxiety was misdiagnosed as Bipolar Disorder and the doctor gave me tegretol, not sure what the dosage. I went from weighing 115 to weighing 163. I stopped being able to remember everyday words as simple as license plate or macaroni. Sometimes I couldn't remember my own name, age or phone number. Thinking became so hard for me that I had to drop out of school. My mood did not get any better, the doctor just thought it did because I was no longer able to express any emotion. My hair stopped growing, my nails got thin and they were always breaking, my skin broke out in the most horrific acne I've ever seen. I slept about 16 hours every night and still never felt rested. After about 3 years I had enough of living in that zombified state and stopped cold turkey, the withdrawals were horrible, shaking and irritability like you would not believe but it was worth it to get that devil drug out of my system. It took at least a year for my memory to come back and for me to f
Weight gain, memory loss (technical words, names), depression
While Tegretol has been right for my pain, I would like to pursue a different treatment to avoid the side effects. Acupuncture has been mentioned as a possibility.
It has helped he reduce the amount of the seizures I get.
Tired, sometimes I struggle to find words, weight gain. I can tell it's burning through the other meds I am taking, so some adjustment is still needed.
It has been a miracle drug for my head pain. I still have daily pain, but not as bad. I have to take 2 in the morning and 1 at night because I was having problems waking up in the morning.
Pain headache confusion can't wake up forget things but remember bits and spices later
drowsiness/tiredness, slight confusion, some memory recall problems esp short term (though can remember later usually).
mostly its the drowsiness... i take 150mg in the morning and 200mg at night, and it can be tough waking up sometimes, like in a fog. I was on 200mg during the day but went back down to 150mg as i couldnt function properly. Thinking of going back to 150mg at night (as my original dose) however am concerned about it not having quite enough effect and i can get some very slight seizurelike activity (without unconciousness or anything, just like a cut off semi seiz..) wierd.But this tiredness, lethargy, bad recovery, im not sure if its just the teg or some remnants of a more serious issue i had with tiredness even before taking it... like chronic fatigue/system worn out...All in all though the tegretol has stopped my seizures (one every 6weeks or so) for 8months now which is great.
Inital side effects lasted for about 8 days. Although were strangley enjoyable, felt quite drunk! Giggly, silly, goofy. A metalic tast in throat some times, a bit tired, a bit unsteady. Not the best - but manageable. After the first 8 days, the inital side effects dropped off and I began to feel very drugged and scared. My mood became very unstable. I am now weening off it.
FYI: I am very sensative to medications in general!! The inital side effects were fine, although once it settled in - I wasn't fine at all! But that is just me. I have heard a lot of people have done well on it.
Side effects were very minimal. Mouth dryness. Mood was exceptional. Very happy all the time. Also slept really well and didn't even wake up tired. I had been on Keppra for 2 1/2 years and never slept and was tired all the time. I thought this was going well. Then I developed flu-like symptoms after about two weeks at full dose. I started out at 100mg. I had horrible head pain, neck pain, chills and body aches like I had been thrown down the stairs. I had a blood test and told to stop the tegretol immediately.
After I stopped the medication, I thought the symptoms would stop, but they did not. They got worse. I had toxic liver something. This has been going for a week and the doctors say it might be another week. I never would have taken this medication if I had known this might happen.
When I started getting seizures I was put on Dilantin which was not working for me because I was getting major mood swings. When I was 11 I was put on tegretol XR and that's when I started to get less and less seizures. Now, I have been 7 years without a seizure and I am very happy with what tegretol has done for me!
Fatigue, goes away somewhat, hair loss, skin thinning and spots, easy to burn, dry mouth, insomnia, short term memory problems, word recall problems sometimes, increased appetite
For me living without a medication like tegretol is just not possible. As such medications go I have had the fewest side effects on tegretol. I know the hair, skin and probably memory problems have a lot to do with vitamins and I do take a multivitamin but it is not enough. I do not gain weight because of the tegretol but I have to watch my diet because I do feel hungry a lot of the time. Still well worth living with these side effects than the dark hole of depression I most often find myself in with no medication.
General fatigue, ability to fall asleep anywhere, anytime. Loss of sex drive. Weight gain. Serious brain fog.
It controls my complex partial seizures, which is good. I haven't had a seizure in more than three years, and I'm now starting to taper the dose downwards VERY slowly (going down by about 100 mg/day this year, maybe another 100 mg/day next year.) On the not-so-good side, Tegretol completely erased my sex drive. It also kind of blunts my emotional responses to events, so that I retain a kind of detachment (which makes sense when you remember that it's also prescribed as a mood stabiliser).I would go off it if I could.
Has ended the grand mal seizures and has stabilized the seizures to a decent but not total control point. Also tried Depakote and Zonegran in conjunction and they are not totally gone away. Overall good but not great.
TEGRETOL-XR (CARBAMAZEPINE): Carbamazepine is used to prevent and control seizures. This medication is known as an anticonvulsant or anti-epileptic drug. It is also used to relieve certain types of nerve pain (such as trigeminal neuralgia). This medication works by reducing the spread of seizure activity in the brain and restoring the normal balance of nerve activity. Some forms of this medication are also used to treat bipolar disorder. Carbamazepine can help to decrease extreme changes in mood and help you feel less agitated. (Sources: U.S. Centers for Medicare Services, FDA)
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