Marine with seizures

[marine20]

I'm a 20 year old Marine who just was diagnosed with a seizure disorder. I've not once ever had a history of seizures in my life and then all of a sudden I've had 5 within the past 3 weeks. 3 of them were in the same day. I was on Wellbutrin the time that I had my first one and I know that's been caused to lower the seizure threshold; however, I stopped taking the Wellbutrin and started on Keppra 1000 mg twice a day. I stopped taking the Keppra for about a week and I had my 5th seizure. Whenever I had EEG's and EKG's they came back completely normal and showing no seizure activity..but I have over 20 people who were watching when all of them happened. So they know I'm definitely having seizures. They put me on limited duty and I'm really scared they're going to seperate me. Does anyone know the likelyhood of me leaving the Marine Corps or has this ever happened to anybody

[huskymom]

Hi Marine!

First, thank you for your service to our country! You sacrifice a lot, and I hope you know how much you are appreciated. Is there a reason why you went off of the Keppra? Like you, I had never had any seizures my whole life until I hit 45. A lot older than you! I know there are a few service people on this site, so hopefully they can help you out. Best wishes!

[Bernard]

Hi marine20, welcome to the forum.

You are not alone: http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/.../military.html

[marine20]

Hi Marine!

First, thank you for your service to our country! You sacrifice a lot, and I hope you know how much you are appreciated. Is there a reason why you went off of the Keppra? Like you, I had never had any seizures my whole life until I hit 45. A lot older than you! I know there are a few service people on this site, so hopefully they can help you out. Best wishes!

Thank you. I came off Keppra because my doctor advised me to to see if I would have another episode (because Wellbutrin was known to cause seizures), within the next week I had a seizure at work again. So I'm back on Keppra to and have an appointment with him this coming Friday.

[Nakamova]

Hi Marine, welcome to CWE!

Sometimes going off of anti-seizure meds too fast causes seizures, so I'm not sure your doctor's advice was sound, or the interpretation clear-cut. Do you have any guesses at all at what might have caused the initial seizures other than the Wellbutrin? Sometimes it's a combination of short- and long-term factors, like previous head trauma plus fatigue. It can be related to nutrition, or low-blood sugar, or dehydration. If you can, try keeping a journal to see if there are any patterns.

Best,
Nakamova

[p59]

Semper Fi Devil Dog,

Your EEG's can come back normal and you can still have seizures. I asked my neurologist about this since my last one was normal. He told me that an EEG will pick up the activity but unless if there is abnormal activity at the time of the EEG it will not pick up the activity. I know when I was in the Corps any sort of seizure would dq you from being in but times have changed. Your best bet is to talk to a Doc about what your options are. You may also want to look into an ambulatory EEG and see if something shows up then.

Thanks for your service and I hope everything works out.
Fair Winds and Following Seas.