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Suggest Treatment For Petit Mal Seizures
Question: A very good friend of mine who is now 71 years old has had Petit Mal episodes from about the age of 13 years of age. She has momentary blackouts which last for seconds and for which she has no memory. She has landed in hospital recently with fluid on the lung resulting in pneumonia and after tests apart from her condition they said that she was slowly being poisoned by the drug Carbamazepine 600mg am and 600mg pm. They took her off this drug for a few days but she is now back on it, same dosage. A few months she had had been at the Templar Day Clinic and they said that she was on too high a dosage of this drug but nothing was done about it. Can you shed any light on this for me? She is on her own, and has a lot of difficulty asking the doctors or nurses questions she has been so ill and I am her only contact, and I am only dependent on what she has told me or is telling me. I really worry about her and have absolutely no right to question the medical people but it all seems so contradictory.
Brief Answer:
Changing Carbamazepine into Valproic Acid
Detailed Answer:
Hello. I have gone through your question and understand your concern.
Since your friend is affected by Abscence Seizure (Petit Mal) she should be under an antiepileptic drug for sure. Carbamazepine in this case is prescribed within normal dosage range, and it is responsible that your friend is free of seizures.
Pneumonia in a very few cases is an adverse effect in patients using Carbamazepine for a long time. Still, this eventuality is difficult to ascertain. This may just be one of the causes.
Still, in such eventuality, you can't rule out that Carbamazepine is not responsible for the pneumonia. Following this reasoning, I would switch Carbamazepine to another drug, such as Valproic Acid, which is the first choice in Abscence Seizures. It has more adverse effect than Carbamazepine, but pneumonia is not included.
Hope this answers your questions, please feel free for further questions.
Wishing your friend good health.
Changing Carbamazepine into Valproic Acid
Detailed Answer:
Hello. I have gone through your question and understand your concern.
Since your friend is affected by Abscence Seizure (Petit Mal) she should be under an antiepileptic drug for sure. Carbamazepine in this case is prescribed within normal dosage range, and it is responsible that your friend is free of seizures.
Pneumonia in a very few cases is an adverse effect in patients using Carbamazepine for a long time. Still, this eventuality is difficult to ascertain. This may just be one of the causes.
Still, in such eventuality, you can't rule out that Carbamazepine is not responsible for the pneumonia. Following this reasoning, I would switch Carbamazepine to another drug, such as Valproic Acid, which is the first choice in Abscence Seizures. It has more adverse effect than Carbamazepine, but pneumonia is not included.
Hope this answers your questions, please feel free for further questions.
Wishing your friend good health.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Raju A.T
Answered by
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