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tegretol and nystagmus

Mon, 05/28/2007 - 11:54
in the past year i have noticed that my eyes shake. not the muscle twitching below my eye but the actual eye itself which then affects my eyesight for a few seconds. no one ever notices because it doesn't last long but it is quite annoying. i went to my optometrist recently and expressed my concerns about this and he asked if i was on any medications and i told him about my tegretol. he looked it up and said that it is a side effect from it though it is not a common one. i was just wondering if anyone else goes through this and what they have done to stop the shaking. its kind of disorienting and makes things hard to focus a few seconds afterwards.

Comments

Re: tegretol and nystagmus

Submitted by solis on Mon, 2007-05-28 - 21:10
Hi Jack, I did a serach on sytagmus and found the following: "WHAT ARE OTHER CAUSES OF NYSTAGMUS? Medications or drugs can cause nystagmus. Rarely, this nystagmus can be associated with double vision and is often worse looking to the side. Causes include excessive drinking of alcohol or use of medications such as those given for seizure control. Often, the nystagmus will improve if the medication is stopped" http://www.nystagmus.org/aao.html I'd suggest you try to switch to one of the newer AEDs as they are believed to have fewer side effects and you may well eradicate the nystagmus by getting off Tegretol. best wishes, ~sol

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