Side Effect Bingo!

Carbamazepine, week 6:

After the rough week I had last week, this one started out much better. I was starting to feel myself again, emotionally, and thinking that I can tolerate this med. "Maybe I'm finally adapting," I thought.

My neuro follow-up was today at 11:45am.

Around 10am, as I was getting into the shower, I noticed that my stomach was covered in tiny red bumps. Weird. Of course my mind went instantly to Death Rash but this didn't look like that, more like a heat rash of some sort. One of the side effects that I don't think I've mentioned here is the heat sensitivity. There are days when my cheeks feel incredibly hot, and often after a run I have had a bit of a heat rash on my cheeks/temples. So I thought maybe this rash on my belly was that. It wasn't painful or itchy at the time.

I went to my appointment and told the neuro all of the side effects I've had, including the heat rash/bumps. He asked a couple of questions to make sure it wasn't the Death Rash. He also asked if the meds are helping at all. I said if anything, they are making the episodes slightly milder, but the episodes are still happening. He said since I'm tolerating it we would try giving it more time and then if the med isn't working in a few more months we'll try a different one.

Finished my work day, went home, and the bumps on my belly seemed more red and intense. I debated going to a walk-in clinic, but opted to call the nurse's line instead. I spoke with both a nurse and a pharmacist; both were really helpful and talked through lots of options. Both said to me that as long as the rash doesn't get worse, spread, start to hurt/itch, I'm ok to just monitor it for now. So I didn't go to the walk-in.

9pm, I felt an itch on my neck. I went to scratch my neck and felt bumps. Checked it out in the bathroom and sure enough, the rash had spread up to my chest, neck, shoulders, and arms, and was starting to get itchy.

I considered that "getting worse" and decided to get it checked. Walk-ins closed at 9, so I went to Emerg (second time there in one month! yay!). Sat in Emerg for over an hour while they looked at people with breaks and sprains (don't they know I'm a P1?!?!).

Finally I saw a doctor, told him what was happening, showed him the rash. I also told him about how/why I thought it was a heat rash at first, some of the other side effects, and also that I'm still having episodes. He said, "this is not the med for you."

He told me to stop taking it right away, and gave me a prescription for a different med (Keppra). He also said he will send a note to the neuro to let him know, and I will also call the neuro's office in the morning.

A part of me is greatly relieved that I don't have to take Carbamazepine anymore. I asked whether it's ok to go cold turkey since I've read about withdrawal issues, and he said it should be fine.

Haven't researched the Keppra yet... hopefully it's not as bad!