From my experience and from reading the others here, tegretol is usually the first med they put you on. If your dosage is high enough there seems to be some nasty sude effects.

I am lucky so far and have just recently started taking the drug on a daily basis. My episodes were very sporadic at first, now about twice a week. I would suggest that anyone who is on the tegretol (Carbamazepine) to ask for the extended release formula - I take Carbatrol - the side effects do not seem to be as bad for me as the regular chewable tabs I used to take.

I currently only take 200 mg per day (prescribed 400 daily) but if I have an episode I usually end up taking about 600. I do not want to get to the point where the meds prevent me from working, or they quit working!

Good luck!
Rhonda