I started having grand mal seizures one day out of the blue, and ended up going to the emergency room.  I had numerous tests performed on my head, some of which were performed multiple times to ensure that nothing was missed.  To this day, my neurologist has no idea what causes my seizures, and this is his specialty in neurology.I went through a rigamarol of medications to control my seizures, and one of these was tegretol.  One of the main reasons that I was given this prescription was because it is cheap, and I was a struggling graduate student at the time.  I know that tegretol is effective on seizures induced in a particular part of the brain, and because the doctors could not determine the source of my seizures, trying tegretol was a shot in the dark.  My issue with it is not that it was not effective but the serious side effects.  I felt like I was drunk the entire time I was on it.  I was literally staggering around and my doctor set me to the hospital immediately to have blood work done.  Apparently the drug levels were much higher than they should have been, and I had to stop taking the medication immediately.  My body was having a difficult time metabolizing the drug, and thankfully it was discovered fast enough that it did not destroy my liver.

crystallinegrenn

Tucson, AZ

  Tegretol Carbamazapine Medication  has evened out the symptoms of my Bi-Polar Disorder, without making me feel constantly medicated. I was diagnosed with Bi-Polar Disorder in June, 2006. I was very hesitant at first, but agreed to taking the Tegretol (200mg) twice each day,once in the morning and once in the evening, for a month to see how it was going to make me feel. I was very pleasantly surprised! Prior to taking the Tegeretol Carbamazapine, I was subject to "crying spells" that would come on me at the drop of a hat, and most often,for no reason at all. This was the depressive side of my Bi-Polar Disorder. Very often, it would only be an hour later and I would be entertaining a group of strangers in a grocery  store. I was 50 years old, and even I knew I needed help. As I am again, so very pleased to say, Tegretol Carbamazpine has made  living a "normal" life possible. I don't feel dopey or over-medicated, I don't cry unless it's over a romantic movie. My thoughts don't race. Tegretol Carbamzapine medicine has "levelled the playing field" for this Bi-Polar grandmother !

sb91156

Quincy, IL

I was put on this medication because I suffer from Epilepsy/Seizures. I was on 100mgs/3 times a day and then 200mgs/3 times a day. At first I thought it was great because, well, no more seizures! But then I realized it had a bad side to it: -The chewable tablets made my mouth numb and tasted like children's tylenol doused in gasoline.  -I couldn't eat grapefruit any more. -Made me extremely, extremely tired. -My short term memory went kaput. I started forgetting things I had done ten minutes ago. -It made me really, really stupid. Math? Forget it. Even addition gave me problems.   Again, it did stop my seizures, but I just couldn't deal with the side effects, so no more tegretol for me! (Plus having to get all of those blood tests, etc. to make sure I didn't get some horrible disease didn't help either. Sacry!)

Lavendot

Boston, MA