Posted by Ritch on June 1, 2002, at 22:42:38
In reply to What is Trileptal? » Ritch, posted by Leighwit on June 1, 2002, at 19:32:17
> Mitch,
>
> What is Trileptal, and can you tell us more about your own experience with it? Is it a mood stabilizer?
>
> LaurieHi Laurie,
The anticonvulsant Trileptal (oxcarbazepine) is similar to Tegretol (carbamazepine), which has demonstrated antimanic efficacy. It is a little shorter acting than Tegretol, but it is eliminated mostly by the kidneys and doesn't have the potential toxicity that Tegretol has. It tended to be a little too nauseating for me and it definitely made me feel "wired up". I quit it because of intense nausea. My pdoc had switched some bipolars who were taking Tegretol to Trileptal and some of them became manic, so it may be that Trileptal doesn't possess much effective antimanic activity (that Tegretol has). I read your post above about concerns over weight gain with either Depakote, Lithium, or Lamictal associated with diabetes. You might try lowering your Lamictal dose for a while to relieve the water retention, and adding on some Neurontin. I never noticed any remarkable weight gain or loss on it. Neurontin doesn't work very effectively as an antimanic agent by itself, however I have found it the best thing to relieve agitation associated with bipolar depression or possible mixed states without impairing my cognition (that is if I keep the dose low)
Mitch
>
> > > [Posted by SoS on May 26, 2002, at 2:15:01]
> > >
> > > > I was just reading through some older posts about klonopin, and now I'm scared to take it. I went off of Depakote because I gained 45 lbs. on Paxil, and after going off of it, I could NOT lose it. I thought maybe the depakote (ER) was making me hold on to the weight I gained, so my Pdoc prescribed klonopin and trileptal (sp?) instead of Depakote. Is it likely klonopin will make me gain weight, or make it impossible to lose the weight I've already gained? I'm also pretty sure he will keep me on this long term. Is that dangerous? Thanks in advance for any responses.
> > > > MM
> >
> > The Depakote is the heavy hitter with respect to weight gain (most generally). When I was taking 500mg/day I gained about 20 lbs slowly over several months. When it got discontinued I very slowly lost 20 lbs over several months. I am back on 250mg/day, but carefully watching my appetite. I have taken Klonopin with and without Depakote (or other meds) and it didn't appear to effect my weight. BTW, Trileptal made me a little wired and curbed my appetite-it is possible it could make you lose weight.
> >
> > Mitch
poster:Ritch
thread:107882
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020525/msgs/108374.html