Trileptal (oxcarbazepine) - can it decrease HRT’s efficacy?

[marysssia]

Hello dear people

 

I'm 24 years old trans girl (I hormonally transition from male to female, by taking estrogen) and I've been recently prescribed Trileptal for my condition related to brainwaves overactivity (not epilepsy) that impedes my cognitive functions. I took that medication for 10 days and it brought me a huge relief from my symptoms. However, I read on the leaflet that Trileptal may decrease effectiveness of 'hormonal birth control' which is very confusing to me as I'm worried that it may negatively affect my transition (by interacting with estrogen and decreasing its levels).

 

Do you have any advice on that? Should I taper Trileptal off? Do you have any experience with that medication? Transition is incredibly important for me

Thank you for your input and have a great day

[MaryEllen]

Unfortunately, none of us here are medically trained so we're not qualified to answer your question. Your doctor should be able to give you an answer.

 

MaryEllen 

[VickySGV]

Call your pharmacist is the best bet here, they are trained to recognize unfavorable drug interactions for the whole you.  You do not really need much estrogen to do one very good job.  When your doctor prescribed the drug he felt that any negative effects of your whole drug regimen on itself were outweighed by the positive effects the total of them would give you.