tegretol...how long before it works???

[butterflysky]

wondering if anyone who is taking Tegretol can let me know how long before the tegretol kicked in and you felt some relief?? They want me to go off of it already and try something new but I wanted to give it another week.
Ive been on it 10 days and they want me to wean off of it on day 14 if still no pain relief...and try a new drug.
thanks

[heytrud]

Tegretol is a very old drug used for seizure disorders. I used it and got lost in my own house! But, I am very sensitive to medicine. Tegretol will help you GAIN weight! Neurontin is just as bad and is used on too many patients for too many reasons most lately. I would try the newer one, Trileptal if given a choice. But, it is also more expensive, Try to start out on the lowest dosage and step it up to find the right dosage.  

[butterflysky]

yeah Im not getting any pain relief with the Tegretol, so far after about 10 days 7 at 100mg and another 7 at 200 mg, Im wondering what dose (mg) are people finding relief?
thanks

[nancy99n]

With all of the anti-seizure meds (gabapentin, Tegretol, Trileptal, etc) you have to increase the dose slowly according to your doctor's instructions to get pain relief.

That said, I did not do well on Tegretol -- it made me a zombie and did not help my pain.  But everyone is different.  

I ended up on Trileptal -- it has less side effects than Tegretol.  I took 3 doses of 600 mg per day to stop my pain.  It took me about 3 weeks of slowly increasing the drug dosage level before I had pain relief.

Everyone reacts differently, everyone's dosage is different.

Hope you find your pain solution!