Go Depakote!

So I am pretty pleased that after about 3 weeks, I am tolerating the Depakote extremely well (knock on wood, fingers crossed!) - by and large my morning dizzy spells are virtually non-existant... a couple of VERY small instances of disorientation/dizziness, but overall I am very happy!
The main issue I DO have is that I am starting to notice what the doctor was talking about when he said that some people gain weight on Depakote. I need to use the old "mind power" to stop myself from gorging, as I do tend to feel much hungrier, and while I have gained a few pounds, I don't want to jump to the conclusion that it is the meds, as Christmas was certainly a food-fest!
But again, Yay Depakote! :-)

Seizure clusters

On Sunday I had another cluster of seizures, my third in as many months. Clearly the Vimpat is not controlling my seizures as well as we would hope. On Monday, my doctor raised the dosage from 300mg to 350mg, and WOW what a difference. I left work yesterday and went home, unable to cope with the enhanced side effects. I was in a stupor for most of the day, completely unable to focus. I tried to do anything that I considered basic and elementary for helping me focus on something, including counting to 100. I got to 72, I think. Very frustrating.
I went to my doctor this morning. Mary came with me. After talking about all the options, we are going to take me off of the Vimpat and try Depakote with the Trileptal instead. After that it looks like we have a few other drug cocktails we could try before we would consider surgery, although the possibility of that seems to be looming out there and it scares the crap out of me.

Drug Interactions

So this morning I am looking up interactions for my Trileptal and Vimpat - I'm on the maximum dosage for Trileptal and about 75% of Vimpat. I've been trying to figure out why my side-effects happen only in the morning - interaction with caffeine from my coffee? Medication still left in my system from my taking it the night before? (I usually take my night meds around 10pm and my morning around 7:30 - do I need to be taking exactly 12 hours apart?)
It's frustrating to deal with side-effects.
But if the drugs prevent the seizures and seizelets (little seizures), is it worth it?
Topamax messed with my memory something fierce, so that one had to go - but is 20-30 minutes of dizzy spells, blurred vision, wacked-out equilibrium, and the occassional inability to come up with the word I want (granted, that could be age, but I feel like I didn't have that problem this often before my medication increases and poly-therapy) worth it?
I'll figure it out, I guess.