jinian | off-label drug use (Reply)

So, after ditching topiramate with extreme prejudice, I had to return to the neurologist to get a new prescription (as the nortriptyline dose is still resulting in both dizziness and, once the topiramate was thoroughly gone, headaches). I feel like this neurologist visit has unlocked a life achievement for me: he had never heard of my side effect of extreme gut misery with this drug, and he literally turned to Google to look it up, while I was sitting right there. He did then screen the results by which site he thought was reputable, but I just thought doctors had special doctor sites that they would go to directly or something. Or a print book, you know? Unfortunately I didn't see what the reputable site was. Anyway, we confirmed that other people do sometimes get digestive problems with topiramate, though he was still kind of stompy and saying "I'll ask my colleagues about this!" as I was leaving.

In any case, now I have levetiracetam. The only side effect the neurologist thinks is notable with this one is "bitchiness." I was not best pleased with the gendered nature of this description, but didn't bug him about it. So let me know if I get mean. One can also get sleepy and stoned, as usual. I've felt both, but I started my period (finally; thanks topiramate!) the morning after I started the drug, so while I'm definitely more tired and grumpy than baseline it's hard to say what's to blame.

The Wikipedia pages for this drug family are sketchy and rather alarming, and it's not actually approved for migraine treatment. Doc is one of a number of physicians who prescribes it for that regularly, though, and certainly other anticonvulsants are anti-migraine too. No interesting side effects so far. I'm not sure how I'd know if my brain hemispheres were really communicating less well.