Mom of 2 and 4 Seizures

[MeleahNTrinity]

Hello!

As that title states, I have two young (under the age of 5) year old children. I've been married for 8 1/2 years and I'm 31 years old. I'm currently a stay at home mom

I have a very long family history of seizures in my family going back several generation. My mom was one of 13 children that was adopted out of rural Kentucky. I didn't meet any of my aunt, uncles or cousins until 1996 and they all live in Kentucky.So getting information from them is almost impossible and very frustrating to say the least.

My first seizure was when I was 6-7 years old and I had taken some Asthma medicine that years later was connected to multiple seizures and deaths of small children.

My second seizure was 24, yes TWENTY FOUR years later. I was taking a mixture of Tramadol (pain med) and Zoloft (anti-depressant) while in physical therapist's office I had a seizure. It was at that timie we just thought I had a low seizure threshold as those two meds cominge lower seizure thresholds. The sadest part of this one was I was pregnant and didn't know it. I lost the baby shortly after having this seizure.

My fourth seizure was at home and in my bed. Hubby was talking to me and he said I got real quiet in the middle of our conversation and started shaking. I bit almost through my tongue, so much fun as many of you know!! This one was caused from lack of sleep. I suffer from insomnia and had gone 72 hours without sleep at the point I had my seizure.

I was placed on Keepra after the 2nd seizure. I did not do well on this medication due to my history of depression. It maade me almost Suicidal. I''m currently on Lamictal XR 200mg once daily. I'm having a really hard time with it because I shake a lot and it keeps me awake. The medication also makes me feel slow mentally and give me double vision. I'm not sure what medication I shall try next. My husband thnks I should go back to Keppra because I have switched from Zoloft to a different Anti-depressant med.

I feel like I wrote a book but that's my story. I hope to "meet" everyone soon.

-Carrie

[dfwtexas]

Welcome
I am in DFW area too (Also have father's large family in Kentucky!). This is a good place to come to for support and advice.
My seizures started at age 47. I am on Keppra and doing pretty well, except still having seizures out of the blue every 4-6 months
jenn

[epileric]

This is a great site, the people here are very supportive.

I've been on keppra & I got similar side-effects to you. I had the blurry vision, depression, anger & awful memory. Vit. B6 does help some of those side-effects with some people.

You might want to check out alternative epilepsy treatments http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/...ive-treatments. Maybe you'll find something that helps.

[dfwtexas]

Also, lack of sleep is a HUGE trigger...beware of that.
I would suggest a journal to help identify your triggers

[Nakamova]

Hi Carrie, welcome to CWE!

It sounds like you need to find a different med. There are others out there besides Lamictal and Keppra. Keppra is well-known to adversely affect mood, so it's not a good idea to go back to that, especially if you had problems on it before. Is there a way you could try a slightly lower dose of the Lamictal -- you may be extra sensitive to meds, and a lower dose might give you the esizure control without the side effects. Definitely let your neurologist know that the Lamictal XR isn't optimal.

Best,
Nakamova

[Blondie47]

Hi Carrie,

This is the place to be if you have E!!!!

I would suggest that you call the doctor and talk about the side effects that you're are experiencing.

The goal is to be seizure free and side effect free -- so I am told by my 13 year old's doctor.