You hear a lot about some of the more popular medications used to treat bipolar disorder, including lithium, Depakote, and Lamictal, but one medication that seems to be less common is Tegretol (Carbamazepine).
According to Dr. Fink, “Tegretol is used far less often than Depakote – for no particular reason it seems other than habit on the part of physicians.”
Dr. Fink has quite a bit to say about Tegretol and has recently shared her insights on the Bipolar Beat in her post entitled “Bipolar Disorder Medication Spotlight: Tegretol (Carbamazepine).”
My name is Denise Simon and i would like to show you my personal experience with Lamictal.
I am 57 years old. Have been on Lamictal for 24 weeks now. Lamictal has worked well with no side effects other than the sleep problesm. My problems with other meds included constipation and depression. Lamictal also relieves my anger bouts…and settles me down which probably helps with seizure control.
I have experienced some of these side effects-
Following conversion from tegretol and Zonegran, I began on 400 mg Lamictal. Bad dreams followed with sleep talking and thrashing during dreams. This turned into more vivid short dreams in which I could not discern dreams from reality. I have contacted my Dr asking permission to take the meds earlier and he concurred to try them 4 hrs earlier. HE is leaning toward changing the meds. After laying out a lot of $ for a 3 month supply, I am reluctant to change meds as I am tight on $….
I hope this information will be useful to others,
Denise Simon