Carbamazepine Treatment Report : PatientsLikeMe

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Home > Community Treatment Reports and Side Effects > Carbamazepine Treatment Report

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What is Carbamazepine?

Carbamazepine is an anticonvulsant used to treat partial and mixed seizure patterns, generalized tonic-clonic seizures and trigeminal neuralgia. Off label it is used to treat resistant schizophrenia, alcohol withdrawal, restless leg syndrome and post traumatic stress disorders.

Reported Purpose & Efficacy

Reasons and Efficacy
Purpose	# of patients	# of patients with evaluations Efficacy
Epilepsy	364	134
Trigeminal neuralgia (trigeminal nerve pain)	56	14
Treat my mood condition(s)	55	16
Pain	42	8
Bipolar Disorder	42	15
Other	33	10

See all 87 reasons taken ▼

See all 637 patients currently taking Carbamazepine

Mouse over the table for more information

Reported Side Effects

Side effects as an overall problem

Severe	52
Moderate	83
Mild	81
None	60

Commonly reported side effects, conditions, and hospitalizations associated with Carbamazepine

See all 152 reported side effects ▼ See top 6 reported side effects ▲
Dizziness	23	23
Sleepiness	15	15
Increased fatigue	15	15
Fatigue	13	13
Excessive daytime sleepiness (somnolence)	11	11
Constipation	11	11
Tiredness	9	9
Double vision (diplopia)	8	8
Drowsiness	8	8
Weight gain	7	7
Migraine headaches	6	6
Headaches	5	5
Memory problems	5	5
Rashes (redness, swelling)	4	4
Mood swings	4	4
Increased Hunger	4	4
Hair loss (alopecia)	4	4
Nausea	4	4
Depressed mood	4	4
Blurry vision	4	4
Dry mouth (xerostomia)	3	3
Brain fog	3	3
Sensitivity to sun	3	3
Nausea and vomiting	3	3
Low white blood cell count (leukopenia)	3	3
Vomiting	3	3
Irritability	3	3
Balance problems	3	3
Lethargy	2	2
Loss of short term memory	2	2
Memory lapses (brain blinks)	2	2
Seizures (grand mal or tonic-clonic)	2	2
Tremor	2	2
Problems concentrating	2	2
Abdominal pressure	2	2
Dry skin	2	2
Ringing in ears (tinnitus)	2	2
Forgetfulness	2	2
Short term memory problems	2	2
Restless feeling in legs	2	2
Hospitalization	2	2
Sluggishness	2	2
tired, nonchalant attitude.	2	2
Dizziness/walking like I'm drunk	2	2
Dizziness with nausea	2	2
Hallucinations	2	2
Muscle jerks	1	1
Difficulty thinking	1	1
Visual aura	1	1
Slowed thinking	1	1
Loss of fine motor skills	1	1
Stiffness in neck	1	1
Dizziness (vertigo)	1	1
Intoxication	1	1
Loss of appetite	1	1
Memory Loss	1	1
Swelling in legs, feet and ankles	1	1
Erectile dysfunction	1	1
Too strong sense of smell (hypersensitivity to smells)	1	1
Drunk feeling	1	1
Iritis	1	1
Facial hair excessive	1	1
Water retention	1	1
Irregular menstrual periods	1	1
Unsteadiness	1	1
Fluid retention weight gain	1	1
Suicidal thoughts (free floating)	1	1
lowered INR rates	1	1
Word finding difficulty	1	1
Liver damage	1	1
Diarrhea chronic	1	1
If I don't take as directed, I get manic	1	1
Mentally dull	1	1
Swelling of throat and neck	1	1
Can't stay awake	1	1
Gingivitis (gum disease)	1	1
Body Twitches	1	1
feels like something on right side of throat	1	1
working became worse	1	1
Out of control	1	1
Drowsy in a.m.	1	1
Estrogen deficiency	1	1
Low Testosterone	1	1
weight gain,swelling in spinal area ,hands and feet	1	1
Loss of time	1	1
Muscle spasms in legs	1	1
Increased sleepiness	1	1
Stomach ache	1	1
Tiredness increased	1	1
Dizziness upon standing (ie too quickly)	1	1
Excessive dry mouth	1	1
Sweaty body	1	1
Cramping from hips to feet	1	1
Damage to teeth	1	1
Loss of thirst	1	1
Epilepsy	1	1
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome	1	1
Sleep Apnea Disorder	1	1
Food allergy	1	1
Liver Impairment	1	1
Uveitis	1	1
Idiopathic Anaphylaxis	1	1
Liver Toxicity	1	1
Lactose Intolerance	1	1
Non-Celiac Gluten Intolerance	1	1
Insomnia	1	1
Hospitalization	1	1
Anxious mood	1	1
Slurred speech	1	1
Weakness in legs	1	1
GI problems	1	1
Cramps in legs	1	1
Hiccups (hiccoughs)	1	1
Slowness	1	1
Neck movement dizziness (Cervicogenic dizziness)	1	1
Light sensitivity (photophobia)	1	1
Vision difficulty	1	1
Heat intolerance	1	1
Diarrhea	1	1
Cognitive Confusion	1	1
Facial pain	1	1
Rash or skin problems	1	1
Eye pain	1	1
Imbalance when walking	1	1
Speech of others sounds garbled	1	1
Anemia	1	1
Mouth sores (ulcers)	1	1
Vivid dreams	1	1
Stomach pain	1	1
Pins and needles entire body	1	1
Dental problems	1	1
Slow speech (bradyarthria)	1	1
Rage	1	1
Sweating excessive	1	1
Lack of motivation	1	1
Heart palpitations	1	1
Burning sensation in feet	1	1
Torso ataxia	1	1
None	1	1
Confusion	1	1
Suicidal thoughts or urges	1	1
Loss of energy	1	1
Exhaustion	1	1
Daytime sleepiness	1	1
Taste changed	1	1
Shakiness	1	1
Dizziness and feeling faint	1	1
Drug interactions	1	1
Difficulty breathing at night	1	1
Flu like symptoms	1	1
Loss of sex drive (libido)	1	1
Nausea sometimes	1	1

Reported Dosages

Frequently reported dosages based on patients currently taking Carbamazepine. See all 47 dosages ►

100 mg daily	200 mg daily	300 mg daily	400 mg daily	600 mg daily	800 mg daily	900 mg daily	1,000 mg daily	1,200 mg daily	1,600 mg daily
36	79	35	125	105	103	12	33	67	13

Reported Stop Reasons

Why Patients Stopped Taking Carbamazepine (multiple reasons could be selected)
Reason	# Patients	Percentage of patients
Did not seem to work	108
Side effects too severe	103
Doctor's advice	98
Other	55
Course of treatment ended	15
Expense	11
Personal research	10
Not indicated	8
Change in health plan coverage	7

See all 278 patients who’ve stopped taking Carbamazepine

Reported Duration See details about how long patients take this treatment ▼ Reported Duration Hide details ▲

Currently Taking Carbamazepine

A bar graph

0-1 month	1-3 months	3-6 months	6 months-1year	1-2 years	2 years or more
1	4	7	23	46	215

Stopped Taking Carbamazepine

A bar graph

0-1 month	1-3 months	3-6 months	6 months-1year	1-2 years	2 years or more
38	34	25	37	32	106

Reported Adherence, Burden & Cost See details from patient evaluations ▼

Adherence

Taking treatment as prescribed

Adherence of Carbamazepine

Always	218	79%
Usually	46	17%
Sometimes	7	3%
Never	5	2%

Burden

Difficulty being on treatment

Burden of Carbamazepine

Very	18	7%
Somewhat	32	12%
A little	58	21%
Not at all	168	61%

Cost

Paid out of pocket

Cost of Carbamazepine

$200+	4	2%
$100-199	8	4%
$50-99	17	9%
$25-49	32	17%
< $25	122	66%

See more information, including instructions, precautions, side effects, and interactions.

Patient Evaluations

See all 276 patient evaluations

et3nick

Sex: M

Sensation: None

Overall: None

Cognition: moderate

Vision: none

Speech: none

Swallowing: none

Upper limb: none

Walking: none
et3nick

200 mg daily

since May 12, 2010
Efficacy Major for Pain
Side Effects None
See full evaluation

Hushpuppy

Sex: F

Depression: 1

Mania: 0

Emotional: 0

Anxiety: 1

Compulsion: 0

External Stress: Low

31 F

Function: High

Distress: Low
Hushpuppy

800 mg daily

since Dec 01, 2008
Efficacy Moderate for Nerve pain (neuralgia)
Side Effects Moderate
Advice/Tips The higher my dose gets, the more tired I get. All the other side effects seem to go away within a week or so of a new dose, but the tiredness sticks around... See full evaluation