My mom was taking 600 mg if tegretol a day. She recently had a flare and had to up it to 800 mg. Has anyone had a blah feeling or lightheaded foggy adjustment period after increasing their tegretol dose? Thanks for helping!
Tegretol is really bad for me. Left me completely lethargic, so much so my oldest daughter called and thought I'd had a stroke. Medication will effect everyone differently. blessings~~
This is such a familiar worry and question. It’s good to see a member ask again as I am sure it will be of help to TN newbies.
As soon as I up to 800 mg of Teg, I start to feel just the way you describe. It takes a week or two or three then I start to normalize. Hope that helps.
Thank y’all for the responses…it really helps my mom know she’s not the only one out there with this! One more thing, does anyone on tegretol or balofen have weird muscle movements, like in there hands or anything?
Jackie is so right! I took Teg 400mg for 4 months; NEVER felt normal (brain fog, loss of words, IQ going down by the minute!). I was put on Trileptol 600mg twice a day - took a little while to adjust; MUCH BETTER! Now I take Teg 100mg at a time in between the Trilep if I have breakthrough pain; it has a little side effect, but NOTHING like it did before. I can acutally talk intelligently with complete sentences! Horray! ...been on this regime for 4 months...please give your self time to adjust and ALWAYS keep up with your pain levels to report to your neuro so he/she can help you. Best wishes kiddo!
Cris
It makes me blah and goofy if I take my full dose. I know it makes driving kind of iffy. It is not like being high or drunk but it is definitely weird. I can't really describe it but I can relate to what you are saying. When I can cut back on my dose I don't notice it though.
Thanks guys! You have no idea how much talking about this helps both my mom and I!
You’re not the only one. I too feel really dopey on Tegratol. I’m in an " active" phase right now and am taking Lyrica three times a day. I had Gamma Knife in 2007 and was pain free for almost six years, so I’m grateful and blessed for that , but bummed, that it’s back. I only take the Tegratol when absolutely needed or at night.
Mimi
at the higher doses it makes me retreat further inside myself to the point where I can barely function. I tried to describe it to a friend, and the best I could come up with is that it was like that moment when you first wake up in the morning and you're in between dreaming and being fully awake, and so you're not sure what is going on; but it's all. the. time.
I wander around like a drunk lady all day. Im only on my 4th day of it and my husband has to wake up with our newborn because I am knocked out!