Changing Meds..

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy Forums

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy forums - a peer support community for folks dealing (directly or indirectly) with seizure disorders. You can visit the forum page to see the list of forum nodes (categories/rooms) for topics.

Please have a look around and if you like what you see, please consider registering an account and joining the discussions. When you register an account and log in, you may enjoy additional benefits including no ads, access to members only (ie. private) forum nodes and more. Registering an account is free - you have nothing to lose!

U

United4Ever

New
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
0
I'm a newbie to this forum, and welcome any advice or comments.

I have a 25-30 history of GM seizures and have discussed switching "old" (Dilantin and Phenobarb) meds to newer control meds with my neuro.
My question is...to anyone that may have made the switch, is there a new single med out there available in Canada that would take the place of the two combined?
 
Hi, United4ever,

Welcome to the forum!

Most doctors try to get patients on monotherapy - one drug. There are lots of new drugs out there that may take the place of your Dilantin and Phenobarbital. Different drugs are meant to treat different types of seizures. Also, everybody responds differently to each drug, and may have different goals. An example is me - I had problems with many of the drugs, I need my mind as clear as possible, and I was willing to tolerate seizures while I ramped up very slowly on the drug, so Lamictal was the choice for me.

Everybody is an individual. So your doc will work with you to find just the right drug to stop your seizures, and that has side effects that you can tolerate.

Here's a list of seizure meds. You'll want to look at the info for each and look for those that are for generalized seizures. Click on each medication. Then on the med's page, on the RH side in a box is a detailed info sheet that you can download. Here in CWE, the most used meds for TC's seem to be Keppra, Lamictal, Topamax, Tegretol, and Vimpat.
http://www.epilepsy.com/EPILEPSY/seizure_medicines

We have lots of people in here with Tonic Clonic seizures. I'm sure they will chime in, here.

Again, Welcome! I'm so glad you found us. :)
 
Wow...this is a great place to be. I'm just surprised at myself for not having looked into these forums earlier.
As I stated..it is me that wants to make the switch, the availablity of the phenobarb is getting scarce. It's the transition period that bothers me a bit.
Again, thanks for the response and links so quickly!
 
The transition can be tricky. But most docs keep you on your old drugs while you ramp up on the new ones, then when you are on the full dose of your new one they start weaning you off the old ones. It'll be okay. :)

Oh - are you keeping a seizure journal? It will be important to do so when switching meds, so you can track side effects and seizures. Here'a a thread with different kinds of seizure journals:
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/seizure-journals-10776/
 
Last edited:
Many thanks Endless...wow..I've just been looking at alternatives..haha..and "pot" is listed..wonder how my neuro would take that suggestion!..hahaha
 
There have been a few huge discussions on that topic. Some people seem to feel very strongly one way or another. Use the search function at the top to find the strings on marijuana. (Did I even spell that right?)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom