Interested in Trileptal

[rowen]

I'm not one to fuck with my meds. But my inability to lose weight is getting to me. I know some of you know me and my obsession with weight loss. So I'm probably sounding like an ass right now. But honestly, I'd like to lose a healthy amount of weight. And I haven't been able to do that since I started taking Abilify. And it can make me kind of dopey. Plus I hate the idea of being on an AP for an extended period of time. TD risk, metabolic problems - ick.

So, I'm seeing my pdoc next week and I'm interested in giving Trileptal a go. I have some questions:

1. Is it sedating?

2. Does it contribute to weight gain?

3. Have you taken it with Lamictal? Is it OK to do, or is it one of those very-bad-ideas?

4. Sexual dysfunction, yes/no?

5. Is it helpful for hypo/mania? (Currently stable, so more looking for maintenance than stopping a mood state)

[Velvet Elvis]

Well, you're more likely to choke on the pill and die than get TD from Abilify, so you really don't need to worry about that.

I haven't taken trileptal but I've taken tegretol which is the parent drug and is very closely related. It was weight neutral and pretty neutral on all side effects other than cognitive ones which were fairly significant. Trileptal is supposed to be a bit better in the side effect department but at the cost of being a bit less effective.

It's helpful for (hypo)mania for some people. Depends on the individual, as always For some people the two drugs are their silver bullet.

The medscape interactions checker found no interactions with Lamactil.

[rowen]

Well, you're more likely to choke on the pill and die than get TD from Abilify, so you really don't need to worry about that.

I laughed at this. I get a bit anxious about the meds I take. Can you tell?

I don't recall gaining much weight from it. I was able to exercise and keep things under control.

That's a selling point!

Cognitive side effects don't appeal to me. But then again, I have them already. So hopefully they wouldn't get worse.

It didn't work very well.

That's what I'm afraid of. I think I know maybe two people who take it. I've been wondering if there's a reason for that.

[nalgas]

1. Is it sedating?

It can be but isn't necessarily. It's not known for being particularly so and wasn't at all for me.

2. Does it contribute to weight gain?

Off the top of my head, I think it's relatively neutral-ish.

3. Have you taken it with Lamictal? Is it OK to do, or is it one of those very-bad-ideas?

I haven't, but it does interact with it, significantly so. It affects the rate of metabolization of Lamictal, among other things, because it's one of those fun enzyme-inducing meds. You'd pretty much have to redo your Lamictal dosing every time you change your Trileptal by a significant amount, and it potentially affects several other meds, too, including some hormonal birth control.

4. Sexual dysfunction, yes/no?

In theory, no. In practice, occasionally, since it does raise levels of an enzyme that processes at least one or two sex hormones, which can affect levels/relative balance of them (see above re: birth control, too). It's kind of unusual, but it happens occasionally. For me, that's apparently the only way for a med to cause that problem for me, since only large amounts of Trileptal or Topamax have done it, and they both affect that stuff in the liver similarly, but no SSRIs or anything ever put a dent in it.

5. Is it helpful for hypo/mania? (Currently stable, so more looking for maintenance than stopping a mood state)

It can be. It's not one of the super-effective ACs for mood, but it's certainly more reliable than something like Topamax, and I believe it has a bit of a better track record for the mania side of things than something like Lamictal does (while being less effective at the depression end).

Overall, I kind of have a soft spot for it, because it's the first med I ever took that actually did anything helpful for me instead of purely negative. However, raising the dosage to the point that it was actually useful also resulted in me leaving roughly every seventh word out of sentences without noticing (both spoken and written, oddly enough) and forgetting how prepositions worked entirely. It was pretty hilarious but not particularly useful. Lower doses didn't do that, but they also didn't help me enough to be worth staying on. YMMV.

[crtclms]

My husband is on Tri-leptal, Lamictal and Vimpat for epilepsy.

He thinks Tri-leptal made him lose weight, but I would take that with a fistful of salt: He also started riding his bike.

He is on huge quantities of both the Tri-leptal and Lamictal, so it is possible.

He does have occasional sexual dysfunction, but it has also been a stressful year, so who knows. We *do* think it is the Tri-leptal, but really, it is not a very frequent thing.

[SashaSue]

If Abilify is working, I'm not so much thinking trileptal is likely to be a great substitution. I've never taken it, but I can only maybe think of one person around here who's really liked it as a mood stabilizer.

I always want to smack people who make suggestions like this to me, but maybe it would make more sense to at least try meeting with a nutritionist, and seeing if you can come up with a livable diet that would allow you to lose weight while staying on Abilify?

[rowen]

I always want to smack people who make suggestions like this to me, but maybe it would make more sense to at least try meeting with a nutritionist, and seeing if you can come up with a livable diet that would allow you to lose weight while staying on Abilify?

I've tried low-carb (fun when you're veggie), Weight Watchers (that lasted a day - I thought I was going to pass out), starvation, calorie counting without starvation (around1400), eating small meals throughout the day, eating three square meals, skipping breakfast, adding breakfast, lunch as the largest meal, exercise, green tea...I think that's it. I've been trying to lose over the last year. I lost a ton while breastfeeding, but then the weight loss stopped when I went back on Abilify, despite the fact I was still breastfeeding.

It probably wouldn't hurt to see a dietitian anyway. Spendy, though - insurance only covers it if you have diabetes. Which hell, maybe I'm pre-diabetic - but I would notice something like that, right?

Argh. I wish there were a simple solution for this.

[sirwriter]

Trileptal is the only med that's ever worked long term for me as a mood stabilizer. Lamictal (alone, max dose) worked for me about a year and a half, before it just stopped working one day. Today I take 1800 mgs of trileptal. I tried Tegretol first, but it gave me a few side effects I don't get with Trileptal. I know you can go to the maximum dosage of 2400 mg daily for Trileptal, but 1800 works for me. I've been on it now for about four years. I also take 60 mgs of Adderall XR to make the head work properly and with that I don't have the problem of losing letters. I take 2 to 3 mgs of Klonopin daily and 450 mgs Wellbutrin XL. Additionally I take Verapamil and Lisinopril for high blood pressure, and .125 Levoxyl for thyroid. The last three years have been the best in a long time. It took years to find this combination. I could fill a page with meds I have taken that didn't work for me.I think I've tried every mood stabilizer on the market.

[seamonkey]

I was on a low dose of trileptal as a last ditch effort for my insomnia because I had tried everything else. It was weight neutral for me, but I could not orgasm at all on it and it gave me wicked double vision and body aches