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jemsister

jemsister

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Saw the neuro today. Nothing major to report. When I called about my reaction to the increased dose, he told me to stay where I was at (I had only increased by 50 mgs at night on the Vimpat) until I see him again. So I saw him again today.

He is only increasing me to 300 mgs of Vimpat/day, and decreasing Trileptal by 150 mgs/day, but he is totally shifting my entire pill schedule around. Things are gonna be weird for a couple days I think. My old schedule goes like this (excluding non-epileptic treatments):

AM: 150 mgs Trileptal, 200 mgs Lamictal, 200 mgs Dilantin, 100 mgs Vimpat

Noon: 300 mgs Trileptal

Bed: 300 mgs Trileptal, 200 mgs Lamictal, 100 mgs Dilantin, 150 mgs Vimpat

The new schedule will be:

AM: 150 mgs Trileptal, 200 mgs Lamictal, 100 mgs Dilantin, 100 mgs Vimpat

Noon: 150 mgs Trileptal, 100 mgs Dilantin, 100 mgs Vimpat

Bed: 300 mgs Trileptal, 200 mgs Lamictal, 100 mgs Dilantin, 100 mgs Vimpat

I hope this makes the side effects a non-issue! He thinks I might be able to go back to a 2x/day schedule once I'm off the Tri and Di.

Other than all that, I have been feeling pretty okay. I had a simple partial last week, but otherwise have felt okay. The drugs make me feel a bit swimmy, but not debilitatingly so. Mostly I just feel odd, and a little delayed overall. Like my brain is slow to react. I'll be happy to be back down to two.
 
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How the hell do you remember that med schedule? especially while feeling "swimmy"

I can barely remember one med twice a day. anyway, good luck with the new pill schedule
 
Jemsister - Good luck with the med change.

Jerrad said:
How the hell do you remember that med schedule? especially while feeling "swimmy"

I can barely remember one med twice a day. anyway, good luck with the new pill schedule
Click to expand...
Jerrad,
I don't know if you use pillboxes but they are great way to remember your meds. You can get different type eg - AM/PM, Morning, noon, night.

I know when I have had med change I would write on calendar the day the med changed & what dose it was. I have a 7 day AM/PM pillbox which I put my meds in. I am currently on Keppra & Tegretol but in 2009 - 2010 I was also on Neurontin. With most of my meds I have usually just taken them in the morning & afternoon (easiest way to remember was take them at breakfast & tea time) but with the Neurontin I had take it 3 times a day (AM, Noon, PM) so I used to take the noon one at lunch time. I had a separate pillbox which was for each day (not divided into AM/PM) that I put the afternoon dose of Neurontin in. I'm out most days so always kept the pillbox with my afternoon dose of Neurontin in my bag.
 
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Jerrad--LOL, yup--I have to talk myself through it every time I open my pill box. But the doc wrote it all down for me, so I have a reference. Also, I was telling myself the new schedule all day long to try to help me remember, LOL!

I want to get a pill box that has the am/noon/pm feature now that I am on so many things. The regular pill box was fine when I was just taking Trileptal, Prilosec, and Sodium. But now they barely even fit inside the cubbies!

CQ, I agree, mealtimes help as a reminder. But today, I can feel that noon will be too soon for my next dose! So I think I will take it closer to 2 pm instead.

I hope I won't find myself needing an alarm. I used to have to wear one when I was first taking meds, because I would forget!
 
That's a lot of meds! When will you be down to just two?
 
Soon, I hope! I've been going back every three weeks for a few times now, but I wish he would actually give me a timeline on reducing. Basically he wants me up to 400 mgs a day of Vimpat. But this time he didn't give me a schedule on anything! He basically wants me to stay where I'm at and come back in three weeks. I don't get it. After Christmas, I'm going to call the office and get his blessing on upping the Vimpat to 400 like he wants, so that when I go back in next time, I will be ready to decrease like I am supposed to. Sucks, because I know my old neuro would have had a timeline laid out for me, and she works over the phone with me when doing this stuff, so I don't have to be in all the time. The new guy wants me in every three weeks, and he's moving like molasses in snow. Really not thrilled overall. I mean he's a nice guy, but the way I see it is if I am getting the side effects, then lower the dose on something. And since I'm not off Tri, and not up to max on Vim, why not work those together? Meh.

Hmm, wow, that was a bit ranty. =P
 
He did lower the Tri a little bit, but I think it would have worked fine to schedule me to lower the Tri a little bit every week, and raise the Vim a little every week, and then we would be where I am supposed to be when I go back in three weeks.
 
Boy, that is a lot. I hope when you get meds. reduced you will feel better.
 
Good luck on the change, I know I always feel like a zombie when i'm changing dosages, or meds.
 
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