ButtJuice Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Hi, Apart from what individuals have said, I can't find much literature on this, so I decided to take my query up with this forum board. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder a few years ago and have since been on various regimes of medications, but recently I've been experiencing a few adverse side effects that are really pissing me off! I'm currently on geodon (240mg), lamictal (200mg), and trileptal (2100mg, which I take incrementally three times daily -- 900 at night, 600 in the morning, and 600 in the afternoon). Recently, we've upped the trileptal from 1500 to 2100 and it's really affecting my cognitive abilities. My short-term memory is going to shit, at the end of every day I have a hard to remembering all the things happened that day, sometimes I have little awareness of my surroundings, I mix up my words and grammar (completely unlike me), and I have the hardest time grasping really simple concepts. I can't understand squat! My intelligence has seriously been at a relative low. I read more slowly, I don't always comprehend what I read, and I can't do my school work. Stuff that would have otherwise been easy is a struggle. Anyone else have any similar experiences? Is this a common, but undocumented, side effect of trileptal? Or is it an idiosyncratic reaction? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nalgas Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Anyone else have any similar experiences? Is this a common, but undocumented, side effect of trileptal? Plenty of people, including me. I liked how it worked at fairly low levels, but even at 1200 mg/day I couldn't remember how prepositions worked. It was funny but not useful. Doesn't happen at all for some people, and other people get it worse at even lower amounts. It's actually not uncommon with most anticonvulsants, not just Trileptal, and it can vary a lot between different individuals and different meds. Topamax is notorious for doing it more often than other meds, but I was able to to take a ridiculously large amount without ever having it cause that problem, yet a relatively small amount of Trileptal, which is generally better about that sort of thing, made me forget how to speak English. Many of people have the opposite reaction to the two of them, though, or both cause that problem, or neither does... YMMV a lot. Anyway, short version: Yes, Trileptal does that sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megant Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 Hi, Apart from what individuals have said, I can't find much literature on this, so I decided to take my query up with this forum board. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder a few years ago and have since been on various regimes of medications, but recently I've been experiencing a few adverse side effects that are really pissing me off! I'm currently on geodon (240mg), lamictal (200mg), and trileptal (2100mg, which I take incrementally three times daily -- 900 at night, 600 in the morning, and 600 in the afternoon). Recently, we've upped the trileptal from 1500 to 2100 and it's really affecting my cognitive abilities. My short-term memory is going to shit, at the end of every day I have a hard to remembering all the things happened that day, sometimes I have little awareness of my surroundings, I mix up my words and grammar (completely unlike me), and I have the hardest time grasping really simple concepts. I can't understand squat! My intelligence has seriously been at a relative low. I read more slowly, I don't always comprehend what I read, and I can't do my school work. Stuff that would have otherwise been easy is a struggle. Anyone else have any similar experiences? Is this a common, but undocumented, side effect of trileptal? Or is it an idiosyncratic reaction? Thanks. Yeah I notice the same thing if I go up on the Trileptal or anything that reportedly assists in mood regulation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 Yes, all ACs can do this. I only react to zonegran so far in this manner, which really is the killer of them all cognitively for some people... but for me, it was like instant altzheimers. Shortest med trial ever. You could try waiting it out, or increasing more slowly. Two ACs combined at high doses can also have an additive effect. Anna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatientZero Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Here's an Article comparing the cognitive effects of 5 anticonvulsants and Lithium. Trileptal (Oxcarbazepine) is at place 2 after lamotrigine, which is supposed to have the least cognitive side-effects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt07 Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Ok, so Trileptal scores far better than my drug carbamazepine. I would like to switch over to Trileptal, but I cannot afford to at the present time because I don't think that Trileptal is generic yet. Does anyone know when Trileptal is due to go generic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
humanoid Posted December 22, 2011 Share Posted December 22, 2011 Ok, so Trileptal scores far better than my drug carbamazepine. I would like to switch over to Trileptal, but I cannot afford to at the present time because I don't think that Trileptal is generic yet. Does anyone know when Trileptal is due to go generic? I take generic Trileptal, it's called Oxcarbazepine. I have always taken the generic version, so it's been available for many years, at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.