Starting Medication

[CBernieBlack]

Well, after a 3 hour meeting with my new neuro on Friday, it became crystal clear that I need to start a medication schedule. So tomorrow, I'm starting at 100mg Vimpat for two weeks, then ramping up to 200mg by the end of the moth. Kinda of nervous about it since I had such a bad reaction to the Keppra and Lamictal.

Hope everyone is well.

Chris.

 

[Intothatendlessblue]

My thoughts are with you.

 

[Nakamova]

Good luck Chris, let us know how it goes.

 

[qtowngirl]

Bernie, i've been ramping up the vimpat for a few months now, doesn't seem so bad. at first i felt quite agitated and not like myself but that was for 10 days and that's it. are you going mono or staying on whatever you're on as well?

 

[CBernieBlack]

So far I feel a bit light headed and dizzy. I hope that goes away after a while. I am doing this as a solo med.

Thank you all so much. Love this forum.

 

[jyearta]

I know how scared you can get when changing meds., and rightfully so.

I hope this meds. works for you.

 

[CBernieBlack]

Talking things over with the soon to be wife, she and I think a very slow titration might be in our favor. The doc agrees and says, start really slowly so you can build up some strength with it. So far, just 50mg this morning sent me down and out for about 3 hours. I'm still having a little trouble connecting thoughts in my head. Normally I can follow things with picture connections in my head. Kinda neat. Now I can't see that. <<shrug>> I'll get this figured out. Really appreciate all the support. =) You guys are great.

 

[valeriedl]

I've had epilepsy for about 10 years now and I've been on so many different meds through the years that I've lost track. I've been on this mixture of meds for a good while now and it seems to be working pretty good. But my neuro wants to start playing around with them again. I told him if he takes me off of any of the meds and puts me on a different one I'd like it to be the Keppra.

You have to give them a little time to see if they work and what the side effects might be and if they are too bad to deal with.

Messing around with your meds can be scary, I know.

Good luck!

 

[CBernieBlack]

Thanks....I'm on day 4 of Vimpat. I'm only doing 50mg and I feel horrible. If it's not mood swings, it's the nightmares. Really vivid nightmares. I also feel post-ictaly...is that even a word? I feel Post-Ictal all day. I think I "space out" more often on this medication which makes me think I'm having small seizures.

Yeah when you start messing with medication the plastic brain needs to adapt. I'm trying to stick with it, but at the end of the week my doc wants me up to 100mg. Which is a week ahead of schedule. She said I'm already behind schedule because most patients start at 100mg and go up to 200mg after a week.
Yeah most people, but I'm me. I need a slower titration cycle. If I'm having a hard time functioning at my job on 50mg...what is the 100mg or even 200mg going to do?

I'm seriously thinking that my doc wants me out of a job.

Thanks for the support peeps. =) You all rock!

Chris.

 

[Nakamova]

Don't let the doc pressure you to go any faster Chris -- it doesn't hurt to go slow and can definitely help. I now insist on extra-slow ramping up or tapering down, and I also ended up stopping at a much lower dose than my doc wanted (and then tapering back down). I've learned to be stubborn in this regard. At this point, I feel like I know as much as the neurologists do about many aspects of epilepsy, and I certainly know more than they do about how the meds affect me personally.

I had poor sleep and nasty nightmares on Lamictal for the first two months, but then things got better and I sleep pretty solidly now. Hope that's the case for you and Vimpat. Hang in there.

 

[jyearta]

I agree with Nak.- go slowly. We all react diff.

One of my many Neur. had me to cut back on Dilantin 3 100mg a day. I thought that was to fast, but I didn't want to be a problem.

WELL I got into a mess, no one knows your body better than you.