Bipolar - I took this med for one year with no blood testing. I started experiencing mixed symptoms and asked my doctor if my dosage might need to be adjusted. She then decided that my oxcarbazepine level should be checked along with my sodium. I was not even in the therapeutic range, so my dosage was increased. My sodium was only slightly low. A few weeks later my levels were checked again. I was at a low therapeutic level, but my sodium was also getting lower, so I remained on that dosage. 6 months later I had some routine blood work at my family physician's, because I had not been feeling well, flu-like symptoms that would not go away for about a month. Anyway, those labs showed my sodium level to be dangerously low (128) I let my psychiatrist know and she took me off the trileptal. I lost 7 pounds in the first 24 hours after stopping it. I had been retaining fluids causing my headaches, fatique, soreness and all the flu-like symptoms that I had. Now I am cycling between mania and depression, sometimes in the same day. I am starting Lamictal, but may not reach a therapeutic level for 6-8 weeks. If you take Trileptal make sure your doctor orders frequent labs, checking your oxcarbazepine level and sodium level. The sodium level is very important, if it drops to low, it can cause seizures, swelling of the brain, coma and even death. Published: April 01, 2008 ::

Trileptal was presribed to my 9 year old son for a mood disoder and raging. It has made a significant improvement in his mood and raging. Published: September 23, 2007 ::

I have bipolar, and this is seriously the only med I've been on that hasn't had horrible side effects, and was also effective. I get very irritable/angry when manic, and very depressed during my lows, and without this drug I'm a mess. Plus I love that they have it in generic form. Only noticed minor fatigue when I first started it, and some acne when increasing the dose. Not a big deal though. Published: August 20, 2008 ::

This is the only drug that I have used to treat bipolar disorder. I had been misdiagnosed as having severe depression prior to that. I have been taking it for at least 10 years with great success. My 14 year old son now also takes it with amazing results. Same drugs work well in same families. ALWAYS try that first. Published: January 03, 2008 ::

Well, i was prescribed this medication 3 months ago for anger and irritability. It significantly decreased my anger and irritability and even helped with my depression. However, 3 months later i'm starting to notice some undesirable side effects. I have some hair loss. However, when i took the generic form it caused hair loss, but when I took the actual trileptal, the hair loss decreased. I haven't had any sexual side effects and i have actually lost 10 lbs since starting medication. It seems to take away my appetite. I take 1200 mg at night, which seems to cause lightheadedness. When i first began the medication i would actually feel drunk after taking it. With all this, I feel that i am somewhat satisfied. Published: December 13, 2007 ::

I have been on Trileptal for over a year, now, after having a bad experience with Depakote. I take Trileptal for mood stabilization. I tend to be somewhat bipolar and have anxiety with panic disorder. Although I suffer mostly from Major Recurrent Depression, I sometimes get swing into Manic Disorder. After taking the Trileptal, my mood leveled out dramatically. I have had little to no adverse reactions on Trileptal. Depakote caused constant nausea, and food and drink tasted very bad. After my doctor switched me to Trileptal, I regained my appetite, and food and liquids returned to their rightful taste. I love the effects I find in taking Trileptal. Published: November 04, 2007 ::

I started Trileptal for irritability from chronic depression. I really like it but it does make me sleepy during the day sometimes. It does help me sleep, but I am always waking up in the middle of the night. Great for the appetite as it doesnt make you hungry! I really like this medicine and I am only on 150MG once a day so far. I aslo has Bi-polare Disorder II and it does help with the mania! Published: January 17, 2008 ::