>From:    "Nice, Frank" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Tegretol/Carbamazepine
>>It would be helpful to know what dose of carbamazepine that the mother is taking
>and what SPECIFIC side-effects she is experiencing.
>Hopefully the side-effects do not include blood dyscrasia, tachycardia, and
>respiratory depression. They , of course, would be very serious.
>That leaves sedation which should end after about a week of therapy.
>That also leaves nausea, vomitting, and diarrhea.  If these are side-effects,
>the mother should be put on another anticonvulsant if these side-effects persist
>for a few days.
>Frank J. Nice, DPA, CPHP
>I can only address this as a parent of a child who at 7 had a 6hr. status that ended in a coma and with her
on life support for 3 days.   She is now 13 and taking Neurontin having gone through phenobarb, tegretol,
clonopin and depakote to get to this wonder drug.  Katey displayed practically all the known side effects of
the drugs, so I sympathize with this mom.  The ped neuro told us that once the tegretol reached its goal
dosage, it would take her about 2 weeks beyond that for her to be completely adjusted to it.   She
then changed to depakote because the tegretol was not covering the seizures, the side effects were more than
annoying,  and besides she became toxic when we switched from the chewable to non-chewable form.
Much to our surprise, she spoke her first complete thought sentence shortly after dropping the tegretol.  We
had no idea that she was in such a cloud on the tegretol.   It was like she was fogged over.  She was so much
more alert off of it.   Her motor and cognitive skills were better.   We thought that the lack of concentration
and response were a result mainly of the seizure and the ones that followed, and brain in recovery...ended up
a lot of it was because of the  drugs, first phenobarb then the tegretol.  Neurontin is used to cover the same
types of seizures and does not metabolize in the system.  It excretes at the same amount as it goes in.  There
are no behavior probs other than the normal that come with being 13.  There are fewer seizures and their
intensity and postical stages are so minimal, they barely exist.  It does mask most of the aura as it is part of
the seizure.   Breakthroughs are a bit weird as they are not all there.  Parke Davis makes Neurontin their toll
free is 1-800-223-0432.  They should be able to tell you if Neurontin is safe for nursing moms to use.     The
Epilepsy Foundation of America is a wonderful source of info.   They can be reached, toll free 1-800-EFA-
1000.   They also have a web site   www.efa.org
~ Mary
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