Posted by Storm Rider on March 23, 2006, at 8:36:49
In reply to Re: TOPAMAX and Hypothermia » Storm Rider, posted by SandyWeb on March 22, 2006, at 14:41:13
Life is never dull...
Yesterday morning I saw one of the eye specialists... I have two, the surgeon who did the work on my tear ducts and eye lids so that I could have proper vision and the one who diagnosed the early cataracts and the retinal problems.
A couple of weeks ago I spent the afternoon at the eye institute having tests on my retinas because of the increasing colour vision problems and the sepia times, those times when I see everything in sepia or shades of bronze - most disconcerting. What was to have been a short couple of tests turned into a marathon when tegretol was mentioned.
Results are back now, and the eye guy gave me the information. From something the technician said when she was printing the results before I left one of the test areas, I thought things were pretty good... turns out I was right. My black and white vision is perfect.
However, the rods and cones are not as they ought to be and while I have always had a colour vision problem, it is much worse than it began and some of that is because of the build-up of tegretol - a build-up that does not and will not go away. It and its damage is there and there to stay.
The other damage is not quite as easily attributed.
I am to see a retinologist to find out what he can decide about it all and to see if there is anything he can do to stem the tide or to correct it.
Apparently Dr. DelPero has had many patients with damage from Tegretol and does not like the stuff at all...
very glad I quit taking it...
so why not suggest it sooner??? why not suggest it period???
I do not understand why we are not warned of such risks.
He told me that there is always the risk of glaucoma with topomax but that he can monitor for that and if it starts to present then we can deal with it and look for a different medication...
and that it is not a common side effect...
so he is aware and watching...
also told me that he had not been aware that I was epileptic and on tegretol until I quit taking it when he asked about medications because of my retinas...
I had been referred by an optometrist... not my doctor and he had not thought to ask about medications...
so from now on I give any new doctors a list of medications...
new lesson learned...and the same question comes up, why when there are other safer meds out there, are they still prescribing tegritol with all its devastating side effects...
kat
poster:Storm Rider
thread:5053
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060322/msgs/623593.html