Trileptal making me sick

I am new to this...perfectly healthy for 46 years when I began to have serial grand mal seizures in the middle of the night. I was taken by ambulance to the hospital, admitted to the ICU and scanned. There was a mass in my brain, frontal lobe and partial left lobe. It looked like a butterfly on the scan and doctors thought it was a glioblastoma before they sent me to another hospital about an hour away. I had my surgery the next week. It turned out to be an abscess, thank God. The surgeon removed as much as he could and I was put on heavy broad spectrum antibotics by IV . (Just to add to the fun, the abscess was hiding a blood clot in the central sinus of my brain, which the surgeon could do nothing about. So I was put on blood thinner (Heparin) and stayed at risk of a brain hemorrage for at least a week, until the thinner reduced the clot). After my surgery, I was taking Dilantin and I did fine. Felt surprizingly good. Thought my problems were over, though they were just beginning.

Two and a half months after my surgery, I had another grand mal seizure. They increased my Dilantin. About a month later, I had another grand mal. Two weeks later another. From May to October, I had eight grand mal seizures. I could go into where I had all of them, but that would be a long story and I'm sure many of you have been there anyway.

In the middle of all of this, I was diagnozed with melanoma and had to have surgery. (One of my seizures took place on the table prior to that surgery). I was also battling severe anemia and had to have a partial hysterectomy at the end of the year to correct that.

When the Dilantin didn't work for me (I was taking 400 mg per day), my neuro put me on Zonegran. I started taking 100 mg per day, but worked to 400 mg. per day. It made me drunk and took away my appetite. I lost 20 pounds so easy. It also didn't stop seizures. I kept having them and auras, too.

I changed neuros because the first one wouldn't call me back. He put me on Keppra, 3000 mg. per day, took me off Zonegran and kept me on Dilantin. My last visit last month, he decided to take me off Dilantin because it is affecting my gums. I am now working up to 800 mgs. of trileptal. I am taking 600 mgs. this week and over the next two weeks will reach my full dosage. Then, over eight weeks, I will wean off of the Dilantin.

As I was getting on the trileptal, I began to feel some tingling and dizziness, come and go. Yesterday and now, I am really feeling it pretty consistently. And I have queasiness, too. I wondered what any of you have experienced with this drug.

As for the impact on my life, I stayed in denial all last year as I was having seizures, confident that this could be managed and put aside. During the last six months, I have begun to accept that I am epileptic and will probably be for life.

I am a writer/editor and cannot emphasize what this has done to me. I can't spell and I also have memory problems. I can recognize when words are misspelled, but often I cannot fix them. My job is discriminating against me. I think they want to get rid of me. I have used all of the sick leave I have.  I am talking to a lawyer about filing a complaint.

Of course, I do not drive, which is depressing. We had to sell my vehicle. My husband is not supportive and that makes it even more difficult. He drives me places, but that is about all of the support I get. I cry a lot.

It is depressing to go from such an active, vibrant involved person to what I have become and am becoming.

Thanks for being an ear for me. It helps me to read your experiences and I welcome any advice any of you have for my situation.