hay im new here!

[balletmoma]

hay im new here!
so sorry if i do or type something wrong!
I just found out a month ago i have epilepsy and they found a growth on my temporal lobe. so keprra didnt work it was making me sleep too much and i was still having seizures. Now im on the carbatrol 200mg three times a day and the clonazepam 1mg twice a day. Jus wanted to know if anyone else was feeling dizzy,drain. sleepy and unstable like myself. its killing me i cant keep up with my daily tasks im a full time student , i work crazy hours to help my mom and a single parent of two little girls. can anyone help? I normally suffer from complex partial seizuires but at school i had a grand mal in class and they had me in the hospital for 2 days.

[epileric]

Good to have you here. There are a lot of members here on those medications.

I'm on Carbatrol (called carbamazapine CR where I am) and have been for a few decades. I've recently been put on Clobazam and am just getting used to it. I don't know how close it is to clonazepam but it is also a benzo-diazapene.

What you are describing sound like typical side-effects of your anti-epileptic drugs. I know it's hard because you're at school but I would highly suggest you stay on them for a while. It can take as long as a month for your body to get used to the side-effects and it would be a shame to stop if they were to control your seizures. I used to explain my seizures to my teachers & asked if I could record their lectures since my focus was so poor, especially for 2 or 3 hour lectures. When re-listenning to the lecture I would start in the middle or I'd just lose focus at about the same place again & not be any better off than I was initially.

I would check to see what your school has to help people with various disabilities. Personally I don't think of myself as disabled so I hate asking for anything but I've learned that in some cases it just makes more sense to do so.

Also, I gave your post its own thread so that you can get the official CWE welcome from everybody.

[Krista2882]

Hi, balletmoma. Welcome to the forum.

[Lillyrush]

Hi! I'm also new here and have just started taking carbamazapine (Tegretol) last week but I stopped taking it yesterday as it was making me feel so bad, i felt and was physically sick and it was like i was drunk or something and I am also a full time student so I couldnt do any college work because i couldnt focus or anything...im hoping there will be another medication i will be able to use as i didnt see the point in taking something that made me feel worse than when i was having partial seizures! I called and left a message with my doctor today to say I have stopped taking the pills but he hasnt got back to me yet...Maybe your doctor can try you on something else? x

[epileric]

Please, if stopping your medications don't do it cold turkey. I wouldn't do it without telling my doctor first but to stop suddenly can provoke worse seizures than you've been having before.

If you do stop please ween yourself off slowly.

[Krista2882]

Hi! I'm also new here and have just started taking carbamazapine (Tegretol) last week but I stopped taking it yesterday as it was making me feel so bad, i felt and was physically sick and it was like i was drunk or something and I am also a full time student so I couldnt do any college work because i couldnt focus or anything..

Hello and welcome. If you've only been taking Tegretol for a week, give it some more time. When I first started Tegretol, I was sooooooooooo tired all the time. I slept a lot. But after the first month, I felt back to normal again. Is there a way you can have your doctor write a note to your school? Maybe they can accommodate you somehow for the first month or so that you're on the med until the side effects wear off.

[jyearta]

Hi balletmoma and welcome to CWE.

I too have temporal Lobe Epilepsy and I'm also taking clonazepam (0.5mg) every 4 hours except at 10:00PM I take a whole tablet. I also take dilantin 100MG 2 tablets in the AM & PM.

I tried taking the 1/2 clonazepam every 6 hours, then I tried every 5 hours, then finally every 4 hours worked.