Help - Any relationship between Metabolic Acidosis and seizures?

[Endless]

My head and eyes hurt too much to do much research right now, so I'm hoping you can help me out.

I have Metabolic Acidosis from the Diamox, despite taking a potassium prescription. Now I'm on a double dose of the potassium. Yep, the doc is putting me back on the diamox. Diamox is evil. I hate the stuff. But it's the only game in town for me.

Does metabolic acidosis have any relationship to seizures? My seizure frequency hasn't changed. But wanted to ask anyway, because the nature of my seizures seem to be changing. I feel like I'm having brain shudders after the ones that wake me up at night, if that makes any sense.

Ironically in the little amount of sleep I've been getting I've been dreaming about seizures a lot. Vividly. Ugh.

[mlbandura]

From what I read as far as symptoms and risks no. However I did come across some articles/reports that had patients showing they have Metabolic Acidosis when they have had a seizure. That could be due to the medications they are on for seizures causing Metabolic Acidosis.

[Bernard]

Zoe has posted a bit about it:

can seizures cause strange mental thoughts in your mind after having even a small one

You might send her a PM and ask.

[Endless]

Zoe has posted a bit about it:

can seizures cause strange mental thoughts in your mind after having even a small one

My mind is a little scrambled right now. I don't understand the link between that thread and acidosis? I missed it. Or is it related to the seizure dreams?

I feel so icky. Acidosis is what sent me to the ER a couple of weekends ago because I thought I was having a heart attack. They said I had a panic attack, or maybe a bad case of reflux. Idiots. Acidosis is the kind of thing that can cause a heart attack and kill a person if it gets beyond a certain point. When my neurologist saw the blood test results he found the acidosis and got me on a remedy ASAP. Oh, how I love that guy right now.

The way I feel from the acidosis is extreme exhaustion, tachycardia (pulse rate has constantly been over 110 for a few weeks now, sometimes much higher, when i'm just sitting there), chest pain, difficulty breathing, extreme stomach pain and throwing up, shooting pain through my bones, inability to walk more than about 50 feet without sitting down and resting. I do feel a feeling like I'm dying or that something is horribly wrong. It feels like that's coming from the tightness, pressure, and pain in my chest. Ugh. I didn't know ph imbalance in my blood could make me so sick.

I'm grateful, though, to find out what was causing the shooting pain in my bones. I was starting to get scared that I have cancer. hurray for no cancer.

Hey - brain vibrating. Do you think I'm having seizures at night, and not know it? Maybe dreams are reality, but i'm not awake yet?

Eyes hurting. gotta go.

[Cint]

Acidosis is also the kind of thing diabetics can experience when ketones build up in our body if we don't keep our diabetes under control. And about the seizures at night, sometimes I thought I was dreaming about them and turns out they actually were seizures. I could tell because my magnet (I have the VNS) was lying in my bed.

Anyway, here is an article from PubMed about Metabolic Acidosis:

Metabolic acidosis

Last reviewed: November 15, 2009.

Metabolic acidosis is a condition in which there is too much acid in the body fluids.

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

Metabolic acidosis occurs when the body produces too much acid, or when the kidneys are not removing enough acid from the body. There are several types of metablic acidosis:

1) Diabetic acidosis (also called diabetic ketoacidosis and DKA) develops when substances known as ketone bodies, which are acidic, build up during uncontrolled diabetes

2) Hyperchloremic acidosis results from excessive loss of sodium bicarbonate from the body, as can happen with severe diarrhea


3) Lactic acidosis is a buildup of lactic acid. It can be caused by:
Alcohol
Cancer
Exercising for a very long time
Liver failure
Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia)
Medications such as salicylate
Prolonged lack of oxygen from shock, heart failure, or severe anemia
Seizures

Other causes of metabolic acidosis include:

Kidney disease (distal tubular acidosis and proximal renal tubular acidosis)

Poisoning by aspirin, ethylene glycol (found in antifreeze), or methanol

Severe dehydration

Symptoms

Most symptoms are caused by the underlying disease or condition that is causing the metabolic acidosis. Metabolic acidosis itself usually causes rapid breathing. Confusion or lethargy may also occur. Severe metabolic acidosis can lead to shock or death. In some situations, metabolic acidosis can be a mild, chronic (ongoing) condition.

Signs and tests


* Arterial blood gas
*Serum electrolyte
*Urine pH

Arterial blood gas analysis or a serum electrolytes test (such as a basic metabolic panel) will confirm acidosis is present and determine whether it is respiratory acidosis or metabolic acidosis.

Other test may be needed to determine the cause of the acidosis.

Treatment

Treatment is aimed at the underlying condition. In certain circumstances, sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) may be given to improve the acidity of the blood.
Expectations (prognosis)

What can be expected will depend on the underlying disease causing the metabolic acidosis.

Complications

When very severe, metabolic acidosis can lead to shock or death.
Calling your health care provider

Seek medical treatment if you develop symptoms of any disease that can cause metabolic acidosis.

Prevention

Keeping type 1 diabetes under control may help prevent diabetic ketoacidosis, one type of metabolic acidosis.

[Nakamova]

Hi Endless --

I think I had metabolic acidosis while I was on Zonegran. There's now a warning to watch out for it on Zonegran, but there wasn't at the time I was on it. I definitely had an incredibly acid stomach, and on my own ad decided to cut all acid-producing foods out of my diet -- which was tiny, because I had no appetite. I don't know whether they were from the low blood sugar, or from the acidosis, or both, but I had some very strange "breakthrough" seizures while I was on it. They were strange because I don't usually get any warnings or auras of any sort. I had these very odd sensations in the weeks leading up to what ended up being a massive tonic-clonic.

[Endless]

The doc put me on a special diet - though I eat like that anyway, so not much of a change except for not eating legumes. Darn, cause that's how I get a lot of my protein. Odd which foods increase alkalinity in the blood. Many of them are foods we think of as acid, like oranges and lemons, tomatoes, etc. That, and the double-dose of prescription-strength potassium is supposed to fix it.

I don't get why diamox did this - I wasn't eliminating fluids at any higher rate than usual. But I guess it has a reputation for doing this.

[Zoofemme]

Here's something to cheer you up a little endless and put a different spin on it

Not only can you get to much lactic acid built up in your system (one cause of metabolic acidosis) but you can have a difficiency of it as well. My brother had an odd unexplainable habit and my parents finally took him to the doctor to find out why. It was a lactic acid deficiency and they had to adjust his diet to make sure he got enough of it. Eventually the habit faded away as his diet gave him what he needed.

What was the habit you ask...HE ATE ANTS!!!!

[Endless]

OMG!!!!!! ANTS?!

It just shows that when the body is missing something, it craves it, and you eat it!



No ants for me. One of my drugs is causing the acidosis. High prescription-strength potassium doses isn't even fixing it. Don't know what to do about that. There's no alternative drug. Diamox is it.

[Zoofemme]

Yep, ants...you'd go outside and he would be sitting by an anthill stuffing the little buggers in his mouth like they were potato chips or something...ewwww.

It sucks that they are keeping you on the diamox...have they said what the next step is if the potassium doesn't work? Obviously you are having some serious issues with the diamox and there comes a time where they are going to have to stop it if it is threatening your health that much...darn doctors anyway, grrrrrrr!

[Endless]

The alternative to diamox is neurosurgery. They'd implant a shunt in my brain, with a tube inside my spine draining down into my abdomen. From what I've heard, most patients require 4-5 surgeries after that to fix problems, then it stops working altogether. Once it is put in, it can't be removed. Once it's put in, they can't put in another.

No thank you.