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is there a medicine that is going to work
Wed, 07/14/2004 - 09:32Topic: Medication Issues
i have been taking tegretol for about 3 months but it has no affect on the sezures i have i have also tried topomax and dilantin and lactimal and none of them seem to be working i sometimes think it is pointless taking the meds in the first place could anyone recomend a medicine that they think has worked for them thankyou
Comments
RE: is there a medicine that is going to work
Submitted by 2chance on Wed, 2004-07-14 - 09:32
Hi Leanne,Please, Please do not give up!!! I have been an epileptic for over 30 yrs. I developed this very young. I was taking phenobarbital for ten yrs with no problems. At that time I was 13 with a big complex of being on medicine. My doctors tried to wein me off the medicine completely but I was developing petite mal seizures. I could not accept being placed back on the medication. I was foolish, I stopped taking my medicine with no one knowing, and just kept telling my parents to renew the prescription. Well, due to drug withdrawal, I went through 6 straight hours of grand mal seizures, caused a lot of damage to me. As a result, we needed to find better medicine to controll the seizures. I was taking tegretol, depakote, neurontin, and mogaden all together. Luckily, I was able to have surgery to resolve this problem. You may need something else to help the tegretol. You should ask your doctor. Everyone is different, some drugs work for an individual, and some do not. I was a guinnea pig for a while, but my doctor found what worked best to controll me. I wish you luck! DO NOT GIVE UP !
RE: is there a medicine that is going to work
Submitted by eghawk on Tue, 2004-07-13 - 19:18
I am in the same situation as you. There are basically 2 main sub-groups of medications: those that work on GABA and those that work on Na channels in the nervous system. I have had grand mal seizures for 6 years now and have tried 3 from each group. Dilantin is the only one that ever worked for me and now, according to my Dr., I am beginning to metabolize it more quickly and I can't take more then I already am. I am going to have some telemetry work done to see if there are other options. Unfortunetly since these medications don't really function in different ways the chance of finding one that works decreases dramatically every time you have to try a new one. They may function in specific parts of the brain and it is possible that you just need to find the medication that works in that particular spot. Of course this is dependent on to many factors to get into right now. I am sorry and I know this is of no help but just make sure that you are taking medications that work in different areas and maybe in different ways to try and cover the spectrum of medications that are now available. A lot of the current medications also break down into the older medications and therefore work in the same manner. Epilepsy.com is a good website to use to track the medications and how they work. Sorry I couldn't be of more help, but you also may want to clarify what kind of seizures you have so others with similar types can give you their input.