Posted by SLS on July 30, 2009, at 6:28:46
In reply to Re: Tapering with kindling Scott?, posted by qbsbrown on July 29, 2009, at 19:03:59
Tegretol autoinduces its own metabolism through CYP450 3A4 enzyme, so it might be necessary to continue to increase the dosage. I would still raise it slowly so that your your brain can get used to it. The other thing is that this enzyme actually helps metabolize diazepam. So it is quite possible that Tegretol is reducing your blood levels of BZD. You might feel a worsening of withdrawal because of this. I wouldn't be in such a rush to accomplish your goal. I would not further decrease your dosage of diazepam until the withdrawal symptoms are reduced. You don't want to defeat the purpose of the Tegretol. If a symptom-free taper takes two months, so what?
You can actually develop a tolerance to Tegretol if you allow yourself to become kindled any further. I would wait until you are at your target Tegretol dosage before tapering diazepam any further. Try not to allow withdrawal symptoms to persist by tapering too fast.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1539058
Also, try not to play with dosages. Set your sights on a target and stay there. Most importantly, do not come off of Tegretol until you are sure that you no longer need it. Otherwise, were you to go on and off it, you could develop tolerance. It may be that this repeated exposure is why you no longer find Depakote or Trileptal useful.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:906673
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20081229/msgs/909252.html