I started taking some new medication about two weeks ago. It is called Trileptal. The neurot said that he would give it to me because I might have some chemical imbalance, but did not go into details. It went over a week without problems, but several days ago, I woke up feeling dizzy. And when I rolled over, I got a spinning spell which is very abnormal for me. Later that day, I started having lots of movement sensations and just started feeling bad. I went to see a movie a couple nights ago, and woah! What a horrible experience! I kept having those horrible sensations and could not find a comfortable position. When it was over, I got up, I was very off-balanced and uncoordinated. I even hit my forehead on the wall when I went to go throw my stuff away! My friends and I went to eat afterwards. I did not tell them I was feeling bad, but I couldn't even follow their conversations or think at all. The next day I told one of them and they said, "Yeah, you looked like you had a blank face." This dizziness has continued until now. I have also had some discomfort in my ear, kind of like something is swollen inside. I can only guess that it is the medication that is the problem.

I'm not exactly sure what to do. I don't think I will be able to contact the doctor's office until Tuesday, and the information I have about this medication says not to stop taking it without talking with the doctor because it can cause problems if you stop abruptly. Anybody have any suggestions? Should I just suffer through this problem until Tuesday? Anybody else had a similar experience with this or some other medication?

Cory

Hi Cory,

I just did a search on a database I can access at the University of Sydney to learn about this drug you were put on. I'm no doctor but I find this a strange choice for someone with an inner ear disturbance. It's in a class of drugs called "anticonvulsants". In other words, it's mainly used for people with epilepsy. However it does tune down neural excitement so I presume he gave it to you to calm down your nervous system and perhaps decrease the dizzies this way:


The mechanism of action of oxcarbazepine (Trileptal) is thought to be mainly based on blockade of voltage sensitive sodium channels, thus resulting in stabilisation of hyperexcited neural membranes, inhibition of repetitive neuronal firing and diminishment of propagation of synaptic impulses.

Oxcarbazepine and its active metabolite (MHD) are potent and efficacious anticonvulsants in animals.

This drug comes with dizziness/agitation side-effects which are very common. Two common side-effects are the following:


Central nervous system. Very common: dizziness, headache, somnolence.

Common: agitation, amnesia, apathy, ataxia, impaired concentration, confusion, depression, emotional lability (e.g. nervousness), nystagmus, tremor.

Maybe he should have just told you to take the odd dose of valium when things were really rough. If anxiety is a major issue with this for you then a low-dose antidepressant will do the trick and may help you recover more quickly.

Don't just stop taking this drug though. Speak to your doc first. One of the precautions is "abrupt withdrawal". You might have to go off of it more gradually. I haven't heard of anyone being put on this for inner ear stuff. It's bizarre that these effects really kicked in at week 2 and not within the first few days. But who knows?...drugs affect everyone slightly differently.

Hope this helps.

Cheers......Scott

I started taking some new medication about two weeks ago. It is called Trileptal.

Cory

Hi

Under---(on the Northwestern Univ web site(Prof Hain))-----

"Drug Treatment of Vertigo"

"Pharmacology"


......."Agents whose whose role is presently uncertain--sometimes successfully used in treatment of vertigo, although their use has not been studied extensively.".......

........."A sodium channel blocker, phenytoin (Dilantin), has also been recently reported to be protective against motion sickness (Knox et al, 1994). The author of this review has had no success in limited trials in patients with severe motion sickness unresponsive to the usual agents. Gabapentin (Neurontin), carbamazepine (Tegretol) and oxcarbazepine (Trileptal) are also sometimes successfully used in treatment of vertigo, although their use has not been studied extensively. Gabapentin has also been successfully used to suppress certain types of central nystagmus (Stahl et al, 1995). As these agents affect GABA, which is important in vertigo, an antivertigo effect is reasonable. Tegretol and Trileptal are particularly useful in paroxysmal disorders such as microvascular compression syndrome, and neuritis of the vestibular nerve. Recent agents have been developed for epilepsy which are glutamate antagonists, but at this writing, they have not been tried as treatments of vertigo. Anticonvulsants are promising agents for treatment of vertigo."........

In addition it is listed---under "migraine" treatment(on the Northwestern Univ site)

...."Carbamazepine (Tegretol) is not effective as a preventive (group 5). A related anticonvulsant, oxcarbazepine (Trileptal) has had some limited success in treating refractory migraine (only about 25% response, Krusz, 2000). "......

:cool:

I am currently seeing Dr. Hain, and he noted that his next step with me will be to try the Trileptal. He thinks I have MAV, and I've been on verapamil for four months with no improvement -- he said verapamil works for about 75% of MAV sufferers. Perhaps the trileptal works in the other 25% (he mentioned that his patients have had very few side effects with the trileptal). The anticonvulsant tag had already scared me; now, I'm a little more afraid to try this drug. Cory, Are you doing any better, and were you put on this drug for vertigo/spinning/dizziness or are you posting on these boards due to the side effects of the meds? Hope you're feeling better. Penny

Penny, Do you like Dr. Hain? I'm considering going to Chicago if I don't get a diagnosis from my docs down here in Ohio.

Ohio, I do like Dr. Hain. I've only seen him once so far -- have a follow-up later this week. Thus far, no improvement in my symptoms, but he really seems to know his stuff. But, as you know, this whole illness is trial and error for even very intelligent doctors. I'll let you know how my next visit goes. Penny

Thanks Penny, please keep me posted!

Best of luck....Tony