Hiya.

So I'll try to keep this as brief as possible...but I really hope someone here can help me out, or maybe even point me to the best forum to post this (there are so many sub-forums here.)

I have had chronic hand pain for years and years now. I play guitar, and it's extremely difficult. It's even hard to write, or sometimes carry an umbrella, or a bag.

After going to hand doctors and doing physical therapy with no results, I was finally referred to a neurologist. He found "pinched nerves" in my neck that was leading to hand pain.

He put me on Trileptal and it worked its way up to the big dosage of 7 pills a day (150 mg each), and I've been on it for about 5 years. It did help. A bit. Not a lot. But it helped.


But because of how far away this doctor is, and because of his demeanor which I found rude and stressful, I have been wanting to change doctors. I finally did.

Now this new doctor tested me, has seen me a few times, and she COMPLETELY disagrees with my old doctor. She says she "would not in good conscience" put me on trileptal, so she wants me to wean off of it. She also says she has no idea why I am feeling hand pain because she sees nothing wrong with me in the tests.


I have started to wean off Trileptal and already my hand pain has come back in full force. They are hurting right now as I type this. Which doctor is right, or wrong? I have no idea what to do here. Should I try getting off trileptal? Or should I go back to the doctor I don't like, because that huge dose of trileptal seems to work?


thanks everybody,

J