Q. I would like to know if Dilantin could be used in place of Tegretol in treating the dysphoria associated with BPD?
A. No, it doesn’t seem to work on those areas of the brain affected by the BPD. Most people consider seizures to be shaking. That totally depends upon the area of the brain that has cells firing inappropriately and out of control.
The seizures experienced by borderlines appear to be in the limbic system and temporal lobes, and for some reason dilantin doesn’t work well in those areas. Tegretol, Neurontin, depakote and Lamictil seem much better.
Different areas of the brain have different functions. While extraordinarily simplistic, basically the frontal lobes are for thinking, the parietal lobes for muscle action, the temporal lobes for memory and interaction with the world, the limbic system for moods and survival, and the occipital lobes for vision.