Innsomnia and epilepsy... Bad combo

[Luckylukas]

Hey guys, was wondering if any one knows of or experienced sleep problems after swapping meds (decision massively regret). Iv been fine since eventualy finding right med for me but sleeping dramas remain.I haven't slept properly without sleeping tabs for the last eight months, when I do get to sleep without them which is very rarely it dosnt last long and is very light and dreamy.which is bad for me as sleep deprivation is my main trigger. * * * * *Thanks for reading any help would be awesome.

[Endless]

Hi, LuckyLucas,

Welcome to the forum!

Insomnia is a side effect of several anti-epileptic drugs. What was the drug you used to be on, and what are you taking now?

Lamictal is one of the more infamous ones for causing insomnia.

[Luckylukas]

Hi, Was taking valpro for eight years up untill around feb this year, I swapped to tegritol which gave me severe myoclonic jerks which iv only ever experienced a couple of times before. This was around the time the sleeping issues started. After weening off tegretol I did start 25mg of lamictal as well as getting back on valpro for awhile untill my specialist suggested upping the lamictal to 100mg a day as well as 3000mg keppra. These two have worked really well(no seizures or jerks) since. I did think lamictal was the culprit after doing some research but after only taking it in the morning for while as well as remembering I couldn't sleep for about a month before the swap, i thought maybe could be something else?

[Endless]

You are right - it could be almost anything causing the insomnia.

If someone is on Lamictal I tend to look there first because it's such a common side effect. Some people have the insomnia dissappear (along with other side effects) over time, some don't. But it sounds like Lamictal isn't your issue.

Have you thought about seeing a sleep doctor? They can evaluate you for the over 80 types of sleep disorders. Please forgive the formatting in the below link. Just keep scrolling down until the list is finished.

http://www.end-your-sleep-deprivatio...disorders.html


I have severe insomnia, too, and it's miserable. Sleeping pills can help, but in my opinion it's better to identify the reason there's no sleep and fix that.

[Luckylukas]

Yeah I agree It definatley sucks, I hate having to rely on sleeping pills especially for so long.Iv seen a sleeping doctor and had the overnight sleep test,he said may be apnea or restless leg syndrome which is prob more likely since the gf says don't snore and never had any real breathing diffilculties. He recommended gabapentin which i tried for fews days, i guess slept a little better but the neurologist disagreed with the gab because similar to tegretol which I had bad experiences with. Guess just gotta try ween of sleeping pills and try not to let it do my head in too much lol.. Thanks

[Endless]

If you had an overnight sleep study, your doctor would know for SURE if it is sleep apnea or restless leg. They have you all wired up to measure breathing and/or apnea, snoring, heart rate, leg movement, brain waves, and oxygenation levels, plus a camera that records you while you sleep.

Your girlfriend not noticing anything may not be a sign that you don't have anything going on - it may be a sign that she sleeps through it. And not all apnea sufferers snore.

If you have apnea and your doc gave you gabapentin and no cpap machine, then you'd be leaving a serious problem untreated. Though, gabapentin is a drug that's used a lot to help sleep. Nerve pain, too.

[Luckylukas]

I might have to do another sleep test, he mentioned because I only got around half an hour sleep as well as having blocked and runny nose was harder for him to tell. He said there was a lot muscle movement in legs and also picked up seizure activity toward early morn due to lack of sleep. I do believe restless leg is involved but wasn't too sure because just couldn't get to sleep even when really tired when getting in bed. This could be how restless leg syndrome works though so just gotta do bit more research. I'm 26 and never had this restless problem before med change and break through seizures so could even be nerve damage related.

[Endless]

For the next study what does your doctor think about a sleeping pill? I had one and I wondered if it changed my sleep in ways other than just making sure I went to sleep.

[Luckylukas]

The guy who monitored me while I stayed there said not to have one, but that was before I didn't get any sleep. Next time I speak to my sleep doc i'l mention it see what he thinks, hopefully won't effect results too much.

[tinathesingergirl]

Have not had any sleep tests done yet but def have problems sleeping and whenever i have problems sleeping or i have a lack of sleep is when the seizures come for me that combined with my period and blamo! Instant tonic clonic! So the last time I had an issue I could not sleep for about a month after that that was when I was hospitalized in May (5 grand mal in one day). neurologist told me to start taking 2 melotonins (I had been taking 1 before bedtime 5 mgs) now 1 more about 2 hours before. I have recently upped it to about 1 10 mgs dose right before bedtime that and 2 tylonol pms do the trick for me. I dont like it much every night, I wish I had a more permanant solution to this problem but for now it seems to be working. I've only had 1 breakthough since then in august and it was merely a blip compared to what i normally have so i consider that a major trimumph for me at least very fast recovery compared to a full day of recovery of sleep I only needed like maybe an hour of sleep. I don't know if the problems I was having sleeping was due to the fact of the new medication they added after i was hospitalized or not they put me on topamax in addition to my keppra medication regiman. currently on 1500mgs keppra 2x, 100mgs topamax 1x, 150mgs topamax 1x, lisinopril 10mgs 1x