Hi!

For the phenytoin/dilantin part of your question, I recently switched
from a different AED to dilantin.  The dosage was built up to 400/mg/day
(200mg AM, 200mg PM). At that level, I was stumbling and walking into
walls etc & had blurred/double vision and other nasties. The doc cut it
back to 300mg/day (what I've read is the normal dose) and those problems
have gone away.

Bob

I was on Topamax (topiramate) for 18 months. At first it worked great, then
after about a year I had to start upping the dose. By the time I got to 400
mg, I was having intolerable side effects including: facial tics,
depression, aggressive behavior, and worst of all, memory and speech
problems. I went up to 500 for a few days, and felt like I was going insane.
The most frightening part was when English started to sound like a foreign
language - it took concentrated effort to understand what anyone was saying
and I could barely read or talk. I switched to Tegretol and most of those
problems, except the poor memory, went away - even though the MD never
admitted that the Topamax was the cause.

g'day,
i found that topiramate was great for controlling seizures and also for
losing weight. unfortunately after several months i started to go round the
bend. of course anything that happened to me wouldn't necessarily happen to
anyone else taking it.
pablo

I was prescribed phenytoin 100mg after my craniotomy. I hated it. I was
walking around like a zombie. When I saw the little pill in my hand I didn't
want to take it but because the neurosurgeon had prescribed it I took it.
For three months.

When I had an appointment with him he asked if I had any questions, I asked
when I could stop taking Phenytoin. He looked at my records and said I could
reduce the dose over two months until I was off it, with consultations to
report any adverse effects. There weren't any and I was overjoyed not to
have to take this detested medication. It's the only medication I've ever
had such antagonism to.

Oddly, Spouse was prescribed it to try to control some neurological pain. It
did, but at the expense of the same walking dead symptoms I had, so he
volunteered to stop it. the pain was more bearable. He now manages the pain
with morphine derivitives with no side effects at all.

I'm sure that phenytoin must be effective for some people with some
conditions, because it wasn't acceptable to either of us doesn't devalue its
potential for good.

Mary

I am taking 400 milligrams of dilantin. for 20 years or so I think it is
pretty good. It has taken care of me. I take 300 at night and 100 in the
morning.