• Effectiveness

  Major (for Treat my mood condition(s))
• Effectiveness

  Major (for mood)
• Side effects

  Mild (for Overall) (weight gain)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Somewhat hard to take

Dosage: 400 mg Daily

Side effects: weight gain

• Effectiveness

  Can't tell (for epilepsy)
• Side effects

  Severe (for Overall) (difficulty thinking)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  A little hard to take

Dosage: 1200 mg Daily

Advice & Tips: 1) If you request a surgical evaluation and the doctor (in my case, Robert Gumnit, M.D.) refuses to let you out of the hospital forcing you to take more medication, get off of it if you can still think. If you cannot think another person will have to get you off of it and file a lawsuit in less than two years for you to have a chance to have a regular life again. 2) Over twenty percent of mothers I have talked with believe that "doctors know everything" and will not help their children survive. (And about 7000 deaths each year in the 1990s were due to a doctor killing a patient.) Make sure the person watching over you when you try a new medication will take action and not leave you a "zombie" (a nurse who told me I was within two days of death and my Dilantin count was up to 36.6 while getting off of Tegretol following the doctor's orders. 3) When I used over 500 mg/day of Tegretol, I could not think at all. When I got under 200 mg/day, then I regained control of my life. It was three years after my right hip shattered that I learned the Tegretol did that.

Side effects: difficulty thinking

• Effectiveness

  Slight (for epilepsy)
• Side effects

  Severe (for Overall)
• Adherence

  Usually
• Burden

  A little hard to take

Dosage: 1200 mg Daily

Advice & Tips: must eat with them as some stomach discomfort follows,then uncomfortable dizzy,out of it & very tired. sleep at least 1 hour after med. enter system.spend balance of DAY looking for what I set down, no short term memory.very moody & a great deal of depression. restlessness

Cost: $100-199 monthly

• Effectiveness

  Major (for epilepsy)
• Side effects

  Moderate (for Overall) (stomach pain)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  A little hard to take

Dosage: 700 mg Daily

Advice & Tips: When I first started taking Tegretol I got very sick, had horrible headaches and dizziness, after taking it for a few months my body got use to it and it was very affective towards treating my seizures.

Cost: < $25 monthly

Side effects: stomach pain

• Effectiveness

  None (for trigeminal neuralgia)
• Side effects

  Mild (for Overall)
• Adherence

  Sometimes
• Burden

  A little hard to take

Dosage: 100 mg Weekly

Cost: < $25 monthly

• Effectiveness

  Slight (for bipolar disorder)
• Side effects

  None (for Overall)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Not at all hard to take

Dosage: 400 mg Daily

Cost: $100-199 monthly

• Effectiveness

  Major (for epilepsy)
• Side effects

  Moderate (for Overall) (dizziness, sleepiness)
• Adherence

  Usually
• Burden

  A little hard to take

Dosage: 600 mg Daily

Advice & Tips: i make sure to drink lots of water and get lots of sleep

Cost: < $25 monthly

Side effects: sleepiness, dizziness

• Effectiveness

  Major (for epilepsy)
• Side effects

  Moderate (for Overall) (dizziness)
• Adherence

  Usually
• Burden

  Somewhat hard to take

Dosage: 600 mg Daily

Advice & Tips: its an older generation of therapy but it still works and is cheap. takes a good 3 weeks to get used to medication.

Cost: < $25 monthly

Side effects: sleepiness, dizziness

• Effectiveness

  Major (for epilepsy)
• Side effects

  Moderate (for Overall) (facial hair excessive)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Not at all hard to take

Dosage: 900 mg Daily

Advice & Tips: it works great for me ..

Cost: < $25 monthly

Side effects: facial hair excessive

• Effectiveness

  Slight (for epilepsy)
• Side effects

  Moderate (for Overall)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  A little hard to take

Dosage: 800 mg Daily

Advice & Tips: For many years Tegratol seemed to help my mood and concentration level, a lot..

Cost: $25-49 monthly

• Effectiveness

  Moderate (for seizures (grand mal or tonic-clonic))
• Side effects

  Mild (for Overall) (problems concentrating, forgetfulness, short term memory problems)
• Adherence

  Usually
• Burden

  A little hard to take

Dosage: 1000 mg Daily

Side effects: short term memory problems, forgetfulness, problems concentrating, problems concentrating