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starting zonegran
Thu, 05/22/2008 - 22:33Comments
Re: starting zonegran
Submitted by Peaches78 on Mon, 2008-05-26 - 19:52
Re: starting zonegran
Submitted by suebear on Tue, 2008-05-27 - 18:31
Hi Peaches,
That's good that you're on the brand, it's a heck of a lot better than the generic because of the mix. My neurologist felt the brand name worked better than the generic even though others say different. I found out after talking to a pharmacy, there is differences between generic and brand in how they are made. Unfortunately, my insurance wouldn't pay for the brand name. After a year of being on the generic, it was time to make a change.
Anyway, as for the VNS I'm doing okay with it. With the VNS, it took about six months for us to get everything working just right but I started to really see a difference even before then. My moods improved and I felt better in general. With my surgery, the device was turned on the first day then we waited for two weeks and I went back to the doctor's office for my first tweak of the device. The two week wait was to give my vocal chords a break but the device actually was working in default mode.
I actually used it that night because I had an aura, swiped the magnet, and it was amazing how fast it picked up. When we did the first tweak I noticed a little bit of horseness to my voice but that only lasted about 30 minutes if that and then it went away. Your neurologist will help explain a lot of this to you but if you'd like to speak via phone or on the Internet, let me know and I would be happy to be in touch.
Something I can also suggest is to be sure whomever does the surgery is a neurosurgeon as they should be familiar with the procedure. In my personal opinion, patients need to consider carefully who they choose and consult with their surgeon before any procedure. I am speaking from experience. The doctor I had was a neurosurgeon and he was wonderful!
Sue
Hi Peaches,
That's good that you're on the brand, it's a heck of a lot better than the generic because of the mix. My neurologist felt the brand name worked better than the generic even though others say different. I found out after talking to a pharmacy, there is differences between generic and brand in how they are made. Unfortunately, my insurance wouldn't pay for the brand name. After a year of being on the generic, it was time to make a change.
Anyway, as for the VNS I'm doing okay with it. With the VNS, it took about six months for us to get everything working just right but I started to really see a difference even before then. My moods improved and I felt better in general. With my surgery, the device was turned on the first day then we waited for two weeks and I went back to the doctor's office for my first tweak of the device. The two week wait was to give my vocal chords a break but the device actually was working in default mode.
I actually used it that night because I had an aura, swiped the magnet, and it was amazing how fast it picked up. When we did the first tweak I noticed a little bit of horseness to my voice but that only lasted about 30 minutes if that and then it went away. Your neurologist will help explain a lot of this to you but if you'd like to speak via phone or on the Internet, let me know and I would be happy to be in touch.
Something I can also suggest is to be sure whomever does the surgery is a neurosurgeon as they should be familiar with the procedure. In my personal opinion, patients need to consider carefully who they choose and consult with their surgeon before any procedure. I am speaking from experience. The doctor I had was a neurosurgeon and he was wonderful!
Sue
Re: starting zonegran
Submitted by suebear on Mon, 2008-05-26 - 19:13
I used to take it but I'll be honest with you, it wasn't zonegran, it was the generic version. Are you taking the brand or are you taking the generic version? If you're taking the brand name that's great if you're taking the generic it opens up a whole new door.
There was only one small issue I had with zonegran that I didn't like and that was what it did to my memory. Something I always argued was being in college taking my MBA I needed to be on my A-game and if I didn't have it I was sunk and so was my GPA. I didn't notice any changes at first with the medication but there were a few times when my memory did slip up and it wasn't just me having a bad hair day so I knew something had to be done.
It was difficult to determine what to do because, a) I had been on this medication for a year, b) we needed to find something that was just as good if not better, and c) I had the VNS but we still needed something else.
For right now we've settled with Felbatol as I wean off of the generic Zonegran. I'm not sure how well that's going to work though as I'm starting to have issues with it (side effects).
The best I can suggest is start taking what the doctor prescribes for the dose and keep a log of everything that happens while you are taking it.
I will keep you in my thoughts Peaches.
Sue
I used to take it but I'll be honest with you, it wasn't zonegran, it was the generic version. Are you taking the brand or are you taking the generic version? If you're taking the brand name that's great if you're taking the generic it opens up a whole new door.
There was only one small issue I had with zonegran that I didn't like and that was what it did to my memory. Something I always argued was being in college taking my MBA I needed to be on my A-game and if I didn't have it I was sunk and so was my GPA. I didn't notice any changes at first with the medication but there were a few times when my memory did slip up and it wasn't just me having a bad hair day so I knew something had to be done.
It was difficult to determine what to do because, a) I had been on this medication for a year, b) we needed to find something that was just as good if not better, and c) I had the VNS but we still needed something else.
For right now we've settled with Felbatol as I wean off of the generic Zonegran. I'm not sure how well that's going to work though as I'm starting to have issues with it (side effects).
The best I can suggest is start taking what the doctor prescribes for the dose and keep a log of everything that happens while you are taking it.
I will keep you in my thoughts Peaches.
Sue