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Trileptal side effects

Thu, 09/21/2017 - 13:33
My 4 year old son was recent diagnosed with benign occipital epilepsy. We have him on trileptal now for about 6 weeks. I noticed him to be more emotional now and angry. I want to note that he's been kinda angry before even getting diagnosed, it has just gotten worse with the medication. He also complains of a constant belly ache. My question is does anyone experience these side effects? If so does this go away? I'm wondering if we should switch medication but am scared since I hear trileptal has the least side effects (wonder if that is even true). Any information with this medication would be very helpful! Thank you.

Comments

I'm not sure about the anger,

Submitted by Amy Jo on Thu, 2017-09-21 - 14:33
I'm not sure about the anger, it might be a red flag but sounds like it could be a progression that started before the medication. The abdominal pain is very possibly a side effect. Constant pain really stresses one's resilience so that could also explain the mood worsening.  See more side effects off this page:http://reference.medscape.com/drug/trileptal-oxtellar-xr-oxcarbazepine-343014#4While trileptal has a better side effect profile than many other drugs, that doesn't make it great for your kiddo. My child did exceptionally well on trileptal, except that it didn't control seizures completely, still really reduced the simple partials and might have helped with complex partials. As for how long it took for side effects to abate, that's completely individual. Our child was tired for a few days after every dose increase, that was the most common impact (we increased the medication many times until it was higher than the max recommended dose for her weight, and then seemed to have negative impact on her appetite). For others, side effects may not stop.Call your neurologist's office, they should be able to take your concerns and potentially switch drugs without an appt if that's what they recommend after getting your concerns/questions.

i was diagnosed with seizures

Submitted by Attilathemom on Sun, 2017-09-24 - 07:14
i was diagnosed with seizures at age 45 and was prescribed Lamotrigine. I went from someone who never had a temper to a raging lunatic who could flip in a second. It took 6 years and 2 other medications to finally find one that doesn't do that to me (I know take Keppra)One thing I have learned is all medications effect everyone differently and what might be best for the majority of people may be the worst thing for your child. 

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