guineapig

Hello all fellow epileptics! After that last 'fall' that I lived through, the doctor 'pushed' me from three 200mg XR tabs of Tegretol each night to two 400mg extended release twice daily. My concern here is the passing mention about HOW I was taking the three 200mg XR tabs... he prescribed them all at one time (the night time), and after one petit mal I decided to divide them up EXACTLY EVENLY throughout the day- one every eight hours. What I have of a brain would suggest that such an even division of ANY medication would make the daily 'level flow' (the ups and downs that the Dr. always talks about, his original intent for going from standard Tegretol to XR) as EVEN AS POSSIBLE. Think about it: they claim that standard Tegretol goes through something like a 7-9 hour up-and-down level 'spikes', while XR is supposed to last more like 16+ hours. Take three a day spread out evenly, I don't think that a level could get more even (and best of all, OCCASIONALLY ACCIDENTALLY missing one SHOULD create less of a 'dip' than missing the standard stuff, right?)
Now I religiously take two horsepills a day, watch that so-called 'coating' exit with my waste, and keep going. The increase doesn't seem to be slowing me yet, but I HAVE noticed occasional muscle twitches (while urinating, too), albeit VERY brief and manageable (nothing NEAR the quick (Jeffersonian?) seizures that an old friend of mine used to have).

I love having a computer at home now. I researched 'epileptologists' in my home state, wrote down the university addresses, and E-mailed the HMO for a reference. They gave me someone 'claimed' to be an epileptologist right here in my home city... now pray that he's honest, THOROUGH, and NOT someone to tell me what I 'want' to here a la medication (a soothesayer). I would much rather get the truth, even if it be, "Hey, epilepsy is still being studied. We really have NO clue as to what does what, we just load people up with what appears to work and cross our fingers." At least that MIGHT be a more honest analysis of the 'overall' picture! Unless someone reading this knows more than I appear to!

As an update to this message board, I would like to report to the administrator and all involved that it appears that I have been 'spanked' out of the message board,very possibly for posting something that went counter to one of this message board's commercial interests. Please explain to me, administrator, why I have been 'spanked', then tell me why it seems that some of those that are considered 'vetran' members also repeatedly ask everyone questions that the answers to which could CONVENIENTLY be used toward some gross statistical analysis for those SAME commercial sponsors? Why do I get the feeling that some of the 'vetrans' are really administrators who conveniently use the 'switch identity' function (so to speak), actually being the same individuals? If no conflict exists along these lines, then give proof: please 'unspank' me!

[This message has been edited by guineapig (edited 09-30-2003).]

[This message has been edited by guineapig (edited 09-30-2003).]