Medication Changes

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zombelina

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I am in the process stopping one of my medications (under my doctor's guidance) due to psychiatric side effects. To those of you who have changed or stopped meds because of intolerable side effects, how long after making the change did it take for the side effects improve? Doc said I should notice an immediate improvement, but I've been on this med for 1.5-2 years now and feel it may take longer. Thanks :).
 
I have been on several different AEDs in the past including three medications that I was taking together for just over 2 years, and two of these three medications I had been on for 3 years. The side effects did disappear quite quickly (speed of side effect relief is somewhat dependent on the half-life of the medication, which you can google. Longer half life means the drug takes longer to reach half its strength in your body). I was in the hospital at the time for a VEEG and I was taken off the medication extremely quickly. Side effects were gone within a couple of days.
 
Like masterjen I have been on a few as well, you should notice the side effects going but because we are all different and react different to drugs it is hard to say exactly how quick you will notice the difference, but your doctor may be right or it may take a little longer.
 
I have started about my 24th or 25th different AED , and the side effects usually last about2- 3 weeks with, I've been on Tegretol since 1975, and I'll seize like crazy. I would like be able to come down to just one drug,I've never done that in my life.
 
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Thanks so much for sharing your experiences. I am actually coming down from 3 drugs to 2, not 2 to 1, but I am certainly grateful to be going back to 2. Unfortunately, I think the stress this med has caused me is negating whatever impact it has had on my seizure frequency.
I'm just worried because I've been at a very low dose for 4 days now and am not sure whether or not I can see a difference in side effects. It's making me fear that maybe things won't get better. But maybe I'm just being impatient.
 
I think you should give it some more time. You may be sensitive to even the low dose of the med, and may be more likely to feel better when it's entirely out of your system for a few days.

In addition, some of the meds that can affect moods tend to do so by affecting dopamine or serotonin levels in the brain. Since you've been on the med for nearly 2 years, it may take a bit longer for your brain to adjust the levels of those neurotransmitters as the dose lowers.
 
Ok, I took the last dose a couple of days ago. I am noticing some small changes in certain areas. The first is that I'm not as hard on myself about mistakes-in other words, I feel slightly more proud of who I am and what I have accomplished instead of ashamed of all I haven't done and all the things I've "done wrong". If I have a negative thought, I can also let it go just a little bit faster. My thoughts don't control me for hours as they used to-the time seems shorter. My husband says I seem a little more motivated and get up and start the day sooner (I had a 4-day weekend), whereas normally I would be in bed later and then sit around for awhile completely unable to plan and organize all my tasks for the day. I'm also ravenous for food, I think I had lost a little bit of appetite, so I hope I don't gain too much weight but its not a big deal. There are still many things I need to overcome mentally, but I can see a little glimmer of hope. Let's hope things continue to improve. Thanks again, everyone. :)
 
Excellent! That all sounds great.
 
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