OKay, I am not trying to play doctor, but.... hear me out!?!
Question: When I was five years old I had a grand-maul seizure. I was hospitalized and went through a bunch of tests in which they diagnosed me with epilepsy. I was prescribed Tegretol 500 mg twice a day. A pretty high dosage. When I was 12 I suffered another grand-maul seizure. My parents then took me to a specialist and more tests followed. She believed the doctors who prescribed me Tegretol put me on too high of a dosage also, and questioned it. So, I was then prescribed Depakote and when I turned 18 I was off all medicine for epilepsy because I was considered bordline epileptic. From that point on, I became VERY depressed, having all the highs and lows many suffer from with biploar, which is what I now have. Talking with other people with bipolar, some take Tegretol for bipolar. So, I was wondering. Is it possible since I was prescribed such a high dosage at a young age (without needing it), could that be why I am bipolar. My mother and I have comtemplating it for sometime now.
Answers: When I was five years old I had a grand-maul seizure. I was hospitalized and went through a bunch of tests in which they diagnosed me with epilepsy. I was prescribed Tegretol 500 mg twice a day. A pretty high dosage. When I was 12 I suffered another grand-maul seizure. My parents then took me to a specialist and more tests followed. She believed the doctors who prescribed me Tegretol put me on too high of a dosage also, and questioned it. So, I was then prescribed Depakote and when I turned 18 I was off all medicine for epilepsy because I was considered bordline epileptic. From that point on, I became VERY depressed, having all the highs and lows many suffer from with biploar, which is what I now have. Talking with other people with bipolar, some take Tegretol for bipolar. So, I was wondering. Is it possible since I was prescribed such a high dosage at a young age (without needing it), could that be why I am bipolar. My mother and I have comtemplating it for sometime now.
1000mg of tegretol a day for a 5 year old...what the hell were they thinking..it is possible this has caused some damage. there is no single cause for bipolar and that in itself can lead to being mis-diagnosed. does anyone else in you family suffer from mental disorders as genetics can play a part..in some cases. i wish you well
OK I'm no expert but i find it interesting that you were diagnosed as epileptic and prescribed meds for this and now no meds so in effect you do not have epilepsy?
2x500mg tegretol does not seem excessive for someone who experienced grand mal.
tegretol is used for various maladies can be used for pain relief and other uses including bipolar
i think it's important to you to clear up your questions with a consultation with a neurologist
One can place blame on the first medication given but the severity of your first Grand Mal has to be taken into account for the dosage. It appears that you became dependent with the medications and going "cold turkey" had you develop psychologically those mood swings often associated with being bi-polar. You may have to see a doctor for an evaluation on this theory because like you, I'm not a doctor neither.
I'm not a doctor either, but your theory seems plausible enough to me.
I know they use all sorts of anticonvulsants in treating bipolar disorder. At different points I was on trileptal and depakote, and I know people who have taken tegretol for bipolar as well.
A friend of mine who is a psychiatric nurse gave me a book: The Use of Anticonvulsants in Psychiatry by Susan L McElroy. It's a bit old (1988), and I haven't gotten around to reading it yet, so I can't tell you what it's all about. But if you want to look into it a bit further you have the name, or maybe I can post about it when/if I ever manage to find time to decipher it.
I think there are two possibilities here -
1) the symptoms you are experiencing now are a reaction to having come off medication after so many years and will resolve in time
2) your bipolar illness didn't show up before because it was already being controlled by the medication you were taking
I think it would be almost impossible to prove/disprove that these symptoms were caused by any medication that you took in childhood.
1. Son sufferd grand-maul when 11/2 year old. Put on tegretol 100, twice a day. Five years later he suffered another 3 seizures in a row. We made the mistake of not taking him to a child neurologist, he had edema. Dried his brain, half full of water. Prescribed tegretol 200 once a day, at night. Quit after he was12. He had a good doc.
Get a second or a third opinion always. And always see a neurologist not a neuro surgon. I almost ended up paralized on left. I was suffering from black outs, which lasted only a second or so, fell at least 5 times. Hubby took me to a surgon by someone elses clever suggestion. He did a MRI and pumped me full of epileptic med, which left me almost crippled, whearas I was just suffering from cervical nerve being badly damaged. I couldn't even get up for 2 months, without assistance. Still have problem with balance. and get angry real fast. I am normaly the most calms and quietest person you will meet. I have thrown away all my med, except for what is urgent, and have started on mild exercising and breathing techniques thaugh in my yoga classes. Drug Essay, 4 week ago was at 24, today it is 2. Just exercises, and good food. Not fried, or full of spice. Natural. Try a new doc, and Yoga. Yoga does wonders in these cases. call me if you need info,
Perhaps the anti-convulsants masked the depression and when you went off them, it appeared.
No, it's much more likely that you just didn't notice any symptoms of bipolar disorder before, because the medication was acting as a mood stabiliser (which is why it is prescribed in bipolar disorder). The recommended dose of Tegretol for a 5 year old child currently is up to 600mg daily in divided doses. But if your seizure was particularly severe, they may have taken that into account when prescribing you a higher than normal dose. The fact that you had no other seizures until the age of 12 does not indicate that they were wrong to start you on medication - it's impossible to say how many seizures you may have had if you were not on any anticonvulsants.