Closing the Gap: The First Two Weeks on Carbamazepine
We are now at the end of the second week on Andy’s new medicine, Carbamazepine (Tegratol), and so far, we have had no adverse side effects. We started him on a small dose of 2.5 ml (50 mg) twice per day for the first week and then increased it up to 5 ml (100 mg) twice per day for the second week. We will continue to increase up to 10 ml (200 mg) twice per day and then get some blood work done to see how he is doing.
No Adverse Side Effects
Our doctor prepared us for the worst by telling us all of the bad reactions to look for; bad rash, grand mal seizures, and discolored urine, etc. We even received a prescription for ??? to have on hand in case of a seizure lasting longer than 5 minutes. That was the one side effect, out of all of them, that scared me the worst. Just thinking about what I would have to do if that happened, insert a medicine in a place I DO NOT want to see on my 12 year old son, sent me into near panic attacks the days leading up to Day 1.
Not only did I have a prescription in case of emergency, I armed myself with support too. As the kids were off school on that Friday and Monday (Easter Holiday), Dan and I both opted to take a day off work and asked one of our babysitters to come as backup. That Friday, as nervous as I was, we tried to make the day as normal as possible for the kids. We played with the kids, building Lego houses and watching videos. Then because Andy wanted stars, we took a trip to the store. We went to Walmart for his favorite foam stars, then Good Will for some much needed shorts, and an Easter dress for Katie. All the while, I was watching him like a hawk and looking for any sign of a new twitch or an unexpected behavior. Thankfully, it never happened.
Improvements Already?
The rest of the weekend and into the next week, Dan and I watched and waited. We were rewarded, not only with no negative events, but, dare I say, improved behaviors? I know it is way to early to tell, but we almost immediately saw Andy be more calm and less aggressive. He even started talking more and his words were more understandable. At least, that’s what we think we have seen.
The hardest part of hope as a parent, is to have an unbiased opinion. In order to make sure we were getting the most accurate data, Andy underwent some baseline testing on the Thursday morning prior to starting the medicine. We will do some follow up testing in 3-6 months. In addition, only his school director knows he is on the medicine, but we are not telling his teachers yet. That way, we can get some unbiased data from them, similar to a “blind study” in the research arena.
Some of the other areas of improvement I’ve personally seen is cooperation with nighttime routines (taking medicine, brushing teeth, going to bed), cooperation with checking blood sugars, calmer behavior in the afternoons, and even less aggression toward me like pinching and hitting. I did see a little increase in the aggression a couple of days this week, but I was also down with the flu. Sometimes, when mom is down, the kids will try to get away with what they can. But isn’t that just a typical childhood behavior in general? LOL
Affect on Blood Sugar
One side effect we did experience, but were really expecting, was a decrease in blood sugars. The question of, if this medicine is closing the potassium channels in the brain, will it, by default, also close potassium channels in the pancreas, was answered pretty quickly. We checked his blood sugars before every meal, when he got home from school, and any other time he seemed to be acting low just in case. The lowest we have seen so far was a 54. That one happened on the first weekend on Sunday night. We were at the end of a long day, from church in the morning, to lunch and and Easter Egg hunt with the neighbors, to playing outside most of the afternoon. It was after 8:00 when I finally started preparing dinner and Andy started rummaging in the kitchen and trying to grab food from the cabinets, the fridge and even right out from my hands. He kept saying he was hungry and needed to eat dinner. Finally I stopped and realized what must be happening and checked him. He was at 54 so I quickly threw together a sandwich and some grapes so he could eat.
Since then, we have seen a couple of 60’s and 70’s, so we lowered his dose of glyburide by a pill in the morning and in the evening. He has stabilized for now, but we will continue to keep a close eye on that until we are sure he is in a better range. I guess the advantage to him being so stable for the last several years is that he is fully hypo-aware and can tell us he needs to eat when he starts to feel it. That was something we never experienced when he was a baby and on insulin.
Going Forward
We still have two more weeks of increasing and waiting to see if there are any issues. There is still a small possibility that seizures can occur, so we are not out of the woods yet. But with each passing day, I get more convinced this was the right move. We still have a long road ahead of us, but with time, hopefully, Andy can start to learn more skills and have a better future. Isn’t that what any parent wants for their child?
