Hello,

I was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy back in 1999. For the last 10 years my complex-partial seizures were controlled with dilantin. The biggest issues i've still been facing are the simple partial (auras). I still get 3 or 4 auras a week, though sometimes they don't occur for 2 weeks straight. To fight my auras, my doctor prescribed a number of different options, topamax for a bit, then keppra, and currently on trileptal. None of it really made much of a difference.

I still get auras but overall I still live a normal life. I drive (cleared by dr/dmv), work, hang out with friends..travel etc...thanks to dilantin. I saw my doctor yesterday and he took a look at my gums and he said they were extremely inflamed...apparently my dilantin is ruining my teeth. He recommended I get off of dilantin and wants me on vinpat.

I have two concerns. 1 - dilantin controlled my complex-partials and allowed me a normal life...now I have to change because of my gums....2 - I started doing research and found out that vinpat was designed for simple partials in mind.

I'm calling my doctor on Monday for more information but it just doesn't make sense that the doc is putting in on vinpat...with vinpat and trileptal i won't have any drugs in my system to battle my black outs.

Does this make any sense to anybody out here? Again, i'm calling my doc to find out more information...i would have asked earlier but didn't know vinpat was a simple partial-only drug until I googled it when i got home.

Thanks