epileric
Veteran
- Messages
- 4,499
- Reaction score
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- Points
- 163
I posted recently how I was put on an antibiotic that interacts with my tegretol by raising the levels of it in my blood & hence increasing the side-effects.
Something that happened during that time was I got a panic attack. I rarely get them but when under stressful situations I might get one, usually when I'm not distracted & focus on the situation. It was over something pretty silly too. I'd been talking to someone online & they never sent a message back (really wasn't much else to say). I started to get very upset that I might have offended the individual & having the side-effect of not thinking clearly made me feel very helpless to communicate properly (still not sure if that feeling is true or imagined). Cognitively I was very aware that there is no reason to be upset I didn't hear back from my friend but my emotions refused to acknowledge that & I was pretty stressed until the day after my dosage was lowered.
Yesterday I talked to a Registered Nurse who told me to cut my dose of tegretol in half & that worked. I feel closer to normal again but it's now that I realized that the panic attacks & how my emotions going wild are a side-effect. I've been on Tegretol for decades so I've always thought of this behaviour to be just part of who I am. There is something nice about knowing this "quirk" of mine is just a side-effect (despite still having to live with it) however the closest thing I could find when looking up tegretols side-effects is "changes in personality". Only 1 out of all the places I looked (online & off) said "agitation". Something to be aware of for those who have recently started carbamazapine.
Something that happened during that time was I got a panic attack. I rarely get them but when under stressful situations I might get one, usually when I'm not distracted & focus on the situation. It was over something pretty silly too. I'd been talking to someone online & they never sent a message back (really wasn't much else to say). I started to get very upset that I might have offended the individual & having the side-effect of not thinking clearly made me feel very helpless to communicate properly (still not sure if that feeling is true or imagined). Cognitively I was very aware that there is no reason to be upset I didn't hear back from my friend but my emotions refused to acknowledge that & I was pretty stressed until the day after my dosage was lowered.
Yesterday I talked to a Registered Nurse who told me to cut my dose of tegretol in half & that worked. I feel closer to normal again but it's now that I realized that the panic attacks & how my emotions going wild are a side-effect. I've been on Tegretol for decades so I've always thought of this behaviour to be just part of who I am. There is something nice about knowing this "quirk" of mine is just a side-effect (despite still having to live with it) however the closest thing I could find when looking up tegretols side-effects is "changes in personality". Only 1 out of all the places I looked (online & off) said "agitation". Something to be aware of for those who have recently started carbamazapine.