Has anyone's doctors ever taken away all their medication?

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I have constant headaches, and it gives me double vision sometimes.
I also take them after I have seizures because otherwise I can't really move out of the dark because it hurts so much.

I never took loads of them.
I will have to get a second opinion.

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I use natural antihistamines (spices) to help treat my seizures. I can see the logic of the doctor in wanting to get you off antihistamines. They would help to prevent olfactory related seizures, which I do get from smelling coffee, caustic/toxic materials, etc. Perhaps the doctor is wanting to start with a clean slate and see for himself what is causing what.

Antihistamines may not show "interactions" with AEDs in books, but since they are inhibitory (blocking the histamines response), they can interact with medications. There are countless nerve endings for our sense of smell. Instead of being channel blockers, they are histamine blockers. The same principle is at work. Blocking the histamine is the equivalent of blocking the ion channel (stopping the chemical reaction which promotes electrical signals in the brain).

The same logic applies to painkillers. The more pain I have (from MMD2), the more I am likely to have seizures sometimes. Painkillers keep certain pain nerves from "firing."
 
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What is the natural anti hist you use.
Maybe that is the reason for Zara clean slate but I think she deserve reason in plain English..
I myself can't take paracetamol I know tramadol can cause seizures,that why I thought something stronger but less often plain codine at minimum strength of course down to her doc..anti hist got some rough side effects and not good with e meds you right about vision
 
I use cloves, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper as natural antihistamines/antioxidants. I sometimes use diphenhydramine if I have contact dermatitis.

Yes, the doctor should have explained things to Zara-Newman.
 
I use loradadine, I haven't been using it very long - I have been on various different ones all my life.
But after a bout of trying without them (because we thought it was more sinus related) I settled with Loradadine - my seizures have never changed with or without it.

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It is not just antihistamines though - if it was one group of medication then I could understand the reasoning.
Since it is ALL the tablets, I don't really understand why.
Taking them away one at a time to see if they make a difference maybe.

All this will accomplish is me being in pain all the time, and not being able to sleep. Which, will give me seizures.

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If it's not too personal, do you mind telling me about your pain? Is it only headaches? (I don't mean "only" as in that's not a big deal I just mean is your head the only place that hurts? Believe me, I know what debilitating headaches are like.)

Even if there is not an official "interaction" in the book, you can still have your own personal re-action to any medication. And as Michael said, painkillers dull all your senses and keep you from being able to tell the doctor what is going on, e.g. are you having pains other places like your feet. Where are your headaches located, around your eyes? Back of the skull? These could all be diagnostic clues for the neuro.

He may also suspect that you could be addicted to the painkillers (some allergy meds are also addictive) and that there might be a better way to manage your other ailments without causing blood level ups and downs of addictive substances (which can then cause seizures).

My suggestion would be to call him up (the one who told you not too take the other meds) and ask exactly what it is that he is hoping to find out. Instead of just getting mad at him for taking away your pills, find out WHY first.

Have you ever tried any non pharmaceutical methods of managing your pain? Massage, acupuncture, whatever works for you? I don't get headaches anymore since I started taking magnesium. That's what worked for me.

In addition to the spice remedies for allergies Michael mentioned above, I have found that cutting out all dairy products helped me to reach clear sinuses even while lying down for the first time in years. I had just lived with a certain level of being "stuffed up" for so long, I stopped noticing it.
 
It has always been mainly head and stomach pain - it has pretty much been decided that I should have an operation on my sinuses, which would relieve my headaches a little (so they tell me)
But I can't have that until my seizures are controlled, because it is too much of a risk because I get so many myoclonic jerks.

I am not addicted to them, my GP has taken me off them for a brief period to check this, and said that he was happy that I wasn't addicted to them.

The specialist said he thought the pills could be CAUSING the seizures.

You may be able to call up your doctor, but it doesn't work that way for mine - they are far too busy.

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I know how that can be. It takes months to get an appointment. But perhaps you could at least get a nurse on the phone who could tell you what it is that they are after.

If your doctor feels that the pain and/or allergy meds could be the cause of the problem, don't you think that is a valid concern?

Please do not let them cut open your sinuses until you have tried getting rid of the problems by natural means. Once your sinuses have been cut up, your immune system will never be the same again.
Have you had the full allergy panel done?

There is a guy on CWE named Dr. John Symes and he has a website (dogtorj.com) that is very interesting about both sinus allergies and stomach pains and seizures. It may not be a coincidence that you have all three. You can find info on his recommendations by doing a thread search here on the GARD protocol.

I wish you healing.
 
I am not saying that I am not doing it.
I am doing everything he has asked me to, I have have had one full seizure and 3 bouts of myoclonic jerks since yesterday's appointment, that usually is distributed throughout an entire week.

I am doing what he is saying, it isn't like I am going against his "rules"

The sinus trouble is a family thing, and I had that years before I started having seizures.

The fact that I don't like the man has nothing to do with it, I don't trust his judgement because he doesn't listen to me, so he doesnt knows the full story of anything.

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Zara, I'm usually the first one around here being accused of telling doctors to stuff it so far be it from me to think you should do everything he says just because he has a white coat Or because you have to follow "the rules".

I was just saying that getting angry at him, and it seemed like all the comments were jumping in on the angry side too, was a bit pre-mature until you understood why he was doing it. Also being pissed off doesn't do good things for your cortisol levels.

I read what your GP said that you weren't addicted to the pills but there are a lot of different levels of addiction. It's not black/white. Something that might not be severe enough to show up on whatever test the GP ran, could still be a causing enough of a reaction to cause seizures. It is also possible to developed an intolerance to any medication over time. With so many meds in the mix it's hard to tell what is causing what.

It does sounds like your doc is a bit of a putz in that he didn't do much to explain the situation to you. You have the right to know what's going on in your body. If you aren't comfortable, make him explain it again until you are. (or at least a nurse).

Sinus troubles "run in families" because the same dietary patterns run in families. They are not genetic. There is no bad sinuses gene. My father had his operated on and I cured mine with diet. This is something that you may or may not feel like looking into someday.

As I said, I wish you well. If I can help, let me know. Bye!
 
For my sinuses, I take Advair and or allergy pills from WalMart. Advair is a prescription, you could ask your doctor if you can take that.

Have you thought of buying an electronic air cleaner. You can also buy Ionic air cleaners that are cheaper.

Neurontin (gabapentin) is an anti seizure medication. I take it for my seizures. It is also for headaches and some pain.

When I get a bad headache, I lie down in a dark room and put a cold compress on my head.
 
I know paracetamol can cause head aches.i on a lot stronger than yours and they not conta indicated..
Garlic surpposed be good for sinus and cider vinegar I take garlic neat it do take some doing line your stomach with milk.
It may be what been said doc may want see you with clean slate and go from there but when you desperate need pain relief it easy to say don't take them
 
I'd also add that Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy is in the family of generalized epilepsy syndromes (as is Idiopathic Generalized Epilepsy). He wasn't wrong in classifying it that way. He could be cleaning your slate of all things that might be causing seizures to see if it causes an improvement--and if it doesn't, will let you slowly re-introduce them. Who knows--but I agree with Aloha, you need him to give you more information.
 
I know that, I mentioned to him that I had myoclonic epilepsy and he said didn't have any information to say that - and that I may be mistaken.

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I use cloves, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper as natural antihistamines/antioxidants. I sometimes use diphenhydramine if I have contact dermatitis.

Yes, the doctor should have explained things to Zara-Newman.

This where went wrong used tumeric on full teaspoon in yoghurt then spent hour throwing up
 
I would recommend anyone trying spices to ease into them to see how your body reacts. Sorry for you reaction, Seagull. Too much of the spices can be toxic as well. It takes time for the body to become accustomed to anything new introduced into it. Do what you are comfortable with. Just like we all have our own unique thresholds for seizures, we have our thresholds for other things as well.
 
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