Epilepsy and the flu

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bka1212

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Hi everyone
I am new here. I hope I am posting this in the right place.
Last week I came down with a really bad cold virus and my partial seizures (usually about 5-10 /week at night) grew to about 20-50/during the day. This has happened before when I have been sick but never this bad. Typically I live a very "normal" life but since I came down with this virus I have been bedridden. My doc said to wait it out bc the seizures will last about 5-8 days after the virus is gone but I am just exhausted. Has this this happened to anyone before?
TIA!
 
Hi, bka1212 and welcome to CWE,

It is fairly common for seizures to increase when the body is in a weakened state. I'm assuming an illness acts like a stress to the body and as for many with epilepsy stress causes an increase in seizures. The title to your post asks about the 'flu, and if this is what you had (or have had) you may want to consider asking your neurologist if getting the 'flu shot might be appropriate.

Feel better soon!
 
I am a nurse and have never had a problem with the flu in the past. I agree its due to my body's weakened state and the stress on my body but I have never had partials last 10 days before during a flu-like virus.
 
Hi bka1212,
masterjen gave you some good advice about getting a flu shot especially since you may be around a few sick people.
Every time I got sick with a cold or virus it would trigger seizures for me and when I asked my neuro he told me it was do to the cold med I was taking. I used to take alka seltzer cold plus but after I stopped using that and started taking aleve cold and sinus med it never triggered a seizure again when I had a cold. I also found out that the cold med I was taking slowed up the seizure meds in my blood stream and in the long run it triggered seizures for me. I wish you the best of luck and May God Bless You!

Sue
 
I was told a long time ago not to take decongestants. As a nurse I make sure to triple check all meds given for interactions.

I am just wondering of these side effect seizures are normal for anyone else. I feel like mine have gone on for so much longer than normal.
 
The first seizure I ever had was whilst I was suffering with a cold.
If I do have a cold, I almost always prepare myself for seizures.
 
bka1212 said:
I am just wondering of these side effect seizures are normal for anyone else. I feel like mine have gone on for so much longer than normal.
Click to expand...

If I have anything worse than the congested sinuses or runny nose kind of illness, then yes, I will be prone to worsening of seizures.
 
Well you have trump or HC soon far more suffering to do.keep that virus your side Adlantic
 
I'm not sure if you said you are taking meds or not but everyone can act differently to different meds even if they 'don't cause seizures'.

I was taking steroids for about two months for severe back problems I was having. I didn't find anything about them causing seizures. While I was on them I was having seizures like crazy. I didn't think that the steroids were causing the seizures I just thought it was all the stress I was having with the pain in my back. The steroids weren't helping a bit so I stopped taking them. When I did the back pain was still there just like it was before but the number of seizures I usually have a month went back to normal. That's when we realized that it was the steroids causing them.

A few years ago I had very bad poison ivy, I was literally scratching blisters into my skin making it bleed. When I went to the dr he told me that I could take pills with steroids in them for about a week and the poison ivy would be gone right away. He said that I could use a cream instead with no steroids in it for a month but it would take about that long for the poison ivy to go away. I decided to take the pills, I could live with the seizures for a few days which I did have, in order to make it go away sooner.
 
How interesting Val. I had back issues a couple of months ago and the dr. put me on prednisone. I started feeling like I would have a seizure, so I stopped. Thanks for confirming what I surmised was true!
Now the dr. wants to give me an epidural shot for my pain. Did you ever get one of those? and what did it do for you? I'm just afraid it may trigger me and I Can't have a seizure cause I live alone and would be SOL big time if I lost my drivers license.
M
 
marika853 -

I believe it was epidural shots in my lower back I was getting, about twice a week. I'm not saying not to get them because it caused seizures for me doesn't mean it could cause you to have seizures too.

Do you know what's wrong that's causing the pain? I had very bad problems with my back for years. The drs I went to, even specialists, couldn't find out what was wrong. I had x-rays, CAT scans and MRIs but everyone said my back was fine. They were all giving me pain meds but for some reason prescription pain meds, of any type, don't work for any kind of pain that I've ever had. My dr suggested getting the shots to see if they worked but they didn't help either, they were causing seizures and as I said I didn't put two and two together until after I stopped getting them. I went to another dr who did an x-ray in his office and told me I had 2 severe herniated discs, almost bone on bone. He said for them to be that bad I'd had herniated discs for years that got worse over the time and he didn't know why no other dr saw it. He said that since anything that I tried wasn't working he suggested surgery and having screws in my back. I decided to have the surgery and I walked out of the hospital the next day without any pain.
 
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The drs. I've seen so far have all said that I have a pinched nerve and that the epidural will help with the pain. I am just afraid the it Will cause me to have a seizure. Of course, they can't tell you for sure, cause they don't know! This is my dilemma.
Thanks for your input.
M
 
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