Dear Payne

Welcome to the forum!

i have taken trileptal before, as a mood stabilizer. it was helpful for several months. then at a certain point, i developed upper body paresthesia and overwhelming fatigue/drowsiness after taking the morning dose. we never figured out why for certain as i had to d/c, but my suspicion is hyponatremia, because my previous labs had shown borderline sodium which is not typical for me.

Hyponatremia is a known possible side-effect of Trileptal but it does not happen to everyone. It is something which is easily monitored for (labs should be drawn every few months during the first year of treatment).

Since it can affect other functions, regular blood counts and liver panels, incl. GGT, should also be done throughout treatment, in persons of all ages. Your doctor will know how often they need to be done but i don't think it's more than twice a year. (it's about the same with carbamazepine, which i took for several years, but i don't remember how often the blood draws were ).

If you already find trileptal useful for pain management, it is definitely worth seeing if it will serve as a double-duty drug for you!

Good luck, and let us know if you would, how you fare...

~ waves ~