Ok, i just looked up Trileptal, so get an idea of what im to be taking... here's some excerpts from an article titled "Trileptal in Bipolar Disorder", taken from
www.psycheducation.org:
"Trileptal is not really a "new" medication. It's just an old one, carbamazepine (Tegretol) with an oxygen stuck on it. But fortunately this oxygen solves the biggest problem that kept carbamazepine a very distant third choice compared to lithium and Depakote -- the tendency to decrease white blood cells, which are your infection-fighting cells. Since people don't "feel" their white blood cells, these could get dangerously low and leave a person vulnerable to infection. Tegretol is still a reasonable choice. It's still around as a choice because as generic carbamazepine it's quite a bit cheaper than Trileptal."
"But does it work?! Yes; it seems to be very similar to Tegretol in that respect. It does not work for everyone, which is of course the same story as for any of these mood stabilizers -- for any given person, sometimes one will work and another not at all. Tegretol has not been as well studied as Depakote, and particularly lithium, for which we have the best research. But most studies show Tegretol in the same general league as Depakote in terms of effectiveness, which has certainly been my experience with it as well. And so far, Trileptal has been about as good as Tegretol, perhaps just a bit less so. I don't have many patients who've done well on Trileptal alone, compared to a few folks who have, on Tegretol alone. "
So, hang on a tick... Tegretol DOESNT work for me. And Trileptal is "a bit less" effective than Tegretol. And i told the doctor that the main thing was i wanted OFF Tegretol because not only does it not work, it makes me have these crazy, aggressive mixed episides, depression and all that. So he gave me what is basically Tegretol, just without the blood cell damage? Granted, my white blood cells are grateful and all that, but im NOT happy. Im struggling to see the logic here, im struggling to understand why im still taking Tegretol, albeit with another name. Manure is still shit, no matter what you chose to call it. It still smells like shit, looks like shit and (if you were stupid enough to try) tastes like shit. If you bond an oxygen molecule to manure, IT IS STILL SHIT. Just, well, oxygenated shit.
Im going to give it a week, take the drugs like i was told to and talk to Dr S. next week. But, i so badly want off Tegretol i want to cry. I feel like i've been deceived here, and its not a feeling i like...
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