Trileptol Side Effects

Hi Lisa My husband has been on Trileptal for almost 2 yrs now...so far so good. He gets irritated at times especially when he is tired...which the medicine does make him tired so the Neuro spread out his doses thru the day which has helped. He takes 1800mg/daily = 600 in am, 600 in afternoon and then the last 600 at bedtime. He does get dizzy too because I see him lose his balance even though he will just not acknowledge it when it happens. Hes been on high doses of Dilantin which did harm to his body and he eventually had a Grand Mal seizure thru the highest dose of that, they switched him to Lamictal which caused him to be paranoid, altered him mentally and eventually he had the deadly rash and then they switched him to trileptal....so far so good with the exception that hes been working ALOT lately not getting his rest and well, hes been having auras again so we arent sure if he will continue this medicine, if they will up the dose or they will can it all together and start from scratch again...Im hoping not. He just had an ambulatory 48 hr EEG and we should know the results in another day or so. God willing hes not having small seizures...but hes been acting really odd and having some difficulties so we dont know yet. Good luck on the meds. He has frequent blood work as well and the only thing that is showing is Liver Enzymes are elevated but Doc said it cant be from trileptal. But when he was on Dilantin his liver enzymes were astronomically high and he had all kinds of issues like bleeding swollen gums, excessive hair growth all over his body and other issues. DIlantin is known to cause these side affects. Trileptal has been more on the gentler side for him. HUGS 2 U!

Hi I have been on Trileptal for about 5 years now, and at the time was changed over from Tegretol which I found really bad (almost like a zombie). Trileptal has been good as it has minimal side effects and fairly good seizure control. Its one big side effect however is tiredness, so I do need a lot of sleep which affects my quality of life. However, other anticonvulsants tend to have several side effects so I think it is probably better than most. It has covered my seizures fairly well (complex partial/secondary generalised), and although I have had about 10 in the last five years they have often been triggered by lack of sleep and stress. It is unfortunate that anticonvulsants can only control seizures so far (I am on the highest dose of Trileptal and still have had seizures). I've found having epilepsy difficult, mainly because of the medications (I am also taking Lamictal) and still having occasional seizures, and they do not know what causes them. I just have to lead a fairly restricted life and mainly have early nights. The tiredness is difficult though, just going to work is often enough. I wonder if there are any better medications out there for this type of epilepsy. If anyone can suggest any, that would be much appreciated. Anyway, wish everyone the best of luck. Stephanie