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Trileptal Delayed Side-Effects?
Tue, 07/04/2017 - 19:20I had what my neurologist said is a focal seizure around Thanksgiving on 2016. Since then, I have been on 900mg daily of Oxcarbazapine (Trileptal).
About a month ago 6/6/17, I began getting bouts of confusion and anxiety. I have a hard time explaining my experiences but it is like someone tazed my brain and it stops me from my thoughts and dulls my thoughts for a few minutes which causes extreme anxiety. My neuro says it isn't likely to be a seizure because these don't happen when I am strongly focused and working, particularly working. But it happens during conversations, driving, watching tv.
She is directing me to my regular MD as she thinks it isn't related to my epilepsy. My question is: Is it possible that such side effects could begin 6 months after beginning trileptal?
My neuro doubts it but I wanted to see if anyone else has experienced this. From what I have read, I do not want to experiment with other meds unless I need to.
Comments
interesting article about
Submitted by Amy Jo on Fri, 2017-07-07 - 09:07
interesting article about other causes of anxiety or depression https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/26/well/live/when-anxiety-or-depression-mask-a-medical-problem.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share
Thank you. I always feel
Submitted by EALANE85 on Sat, 2017-07-08 - 15:12
Thank you. I always feel doctors are swamped and are, unintentionally, just checking my appointment off their list rather than trying to seriously solve the problem. It's nice get some feedback from people who have a few minutes to really consider the circumstances.
anxiety and cognitive issues
Submitted by Amy Jo on Thu, 2017-07-06 - 01:53
anxiety and cognitive issues are often associated with epilepsy, can stem from meds or occur from some other reason - docs don't like these kinds of problems as it can be complex. epilepsy can change so it can also be a moving target. :(our child would see anxiety build before seizures, so much so that I was glad when a seizure occurred and cleared it away. there's a high degree of normal/baseline anxiety but this was exceptional. if you can track any pattern to this it might give you better info to bring to you appts. if you add/change meds, some epilepsy meds like lamotrigine are also mood stabilizers and might be something to consider.our child also had reduced cognitive issues for a 3-4 months except her teacher didn't see her when it wasn't a problem so didn't understand why I was asking about stuff all the time. but because of ongoing seizures we adjusted meds up periodically and the problem stopped abruptly with a certain dose change. this occurred on trileptal and the cognitive issue wasn't from the drug, it was the epilepsy. the cognitive change wasn't subject to different situations, it was no longer being able to connect dots to connecting dots again. the teacher wasn't told of the meds change and reported being really amazed at the difference. for someone else, it might be from the drug but generally this drug is not known for causing problems with cognition. if your neurologist is blowing off your concerns, a new doc might be in order or a consult/second opinion with an epileptologist but it doesn't sound like your doc is doing that. still, these intermittent issues are difficult at best. other options might be to have a neuropsych exam to see what your current cognitive baseline issues are.