Long post about Med dose and seizure while driving.

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Has anyone ever temporarily increased their medication does? I am especially talking about if you had taken that dose before anyhow. I was feeling like I was having auras for a couple of days so I increased my Tegretol XR dose from 600mg in the mourning to 800mg and kept the regular 600mg at night. I am also taking 200mg/200mg of Lamictal a day.

I took the 1400mg/day for three days and tried to get more extra 100mg pills but my RX ran out last month. The next day I took the 600mg of Tegretol XR and 200mg of Lamictal in the morning and ended up having a seizure while driving. I ended up taking a right turn instead of a left turn. I didn't get hurt nor did anyone else. I was lucky that I scraped a metal fence and didn't hit anyone or a car. I actually kept driving the car another mile and parked in a parking stall.

I went to the Dr that mourning and he thought the seizure was because of a flu I had recently gotten over (it lasted 10 days) and having taken a antihistamine (Doxlamine Succinate) the night before because I hadn't slept well the last two nights. The sleep part was frustrating because last fall I was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea and had been using the CPAP machine ever since. The Dr increased my Tegretol XR back to 800mg in the mourning and 600mg at night. It is only a day after the seizure but I think the dose increase will help but it will take a couple of days to tell. I won't be going back to work until Tuesday.

Also, how slowly are you supposed to reduce your medication level? I am wondering if the seizure partially happened because I went from 1400mg a day to 1200mg a day.

My friend's Mom is a registered nurse and her son had Tourette's Syndrome and Epilepsy. He also took Tegretol. I am going to see if she has any ideas also.
 
I'm glad you're okay! Seizures while driving are pretty scary, especially thinking about them afterwards.

The tapering schedule for a med depends on the particular half-life for the med -- some of them leave the body faster than others. But in my experience, you can't go too slow! If you follow the recommended tapering off rate, that can be too fast for some people, especially if they are sensitive to small variations in dosage.

Also, sometimes meds in combination can affect each other's blood serum level. I don't know if this is the case for the Tegretol and the Lamictal. What your doc said also seems plausible -- that the flu and flu meds and lack of sleep may have played a role, perhaps in combination with the suddenly lowered dose of Tegretol.
 
I just typed "flu" and "seizure" under Google and there were pages and pages of info about the flu lowering the seizure threshold of people with Epilepsy. There were many stories of people who have gone years without a seizure who had H1N1 flu having seizures again. Not that I necessarily think I have/had the H1N1 flu. I did have diarrhea (a symptom of the flu) the night before my seizure and I think I am getting a fever again today.
 
I wonder what the exact mechanism is that allows the fever or infection to provoke a seizure. Anyway, I hope you feel better!
 
I just found out today that instead of just hitting a fence and continuing to drive I rear ended another vehicle and kept driving. The other driver didn't get hurt and I don't think his vehicle was damaged much because he followed me and took down my license plate #. I am glad nobody got hurt. I got a call at work from a Police investigator who investigates hit and runs telling my I hit the other vehicle. The investigator literally came to my work and handed me paperwork saying I have to call the DMV to decide whether or not to suspend my license. I am pretty sure I will have my license suspended. My Dr. had even decided that my situation didn't need to be reported to the DMV because he felt the seizure was triggered from having the flu for almost two weeks including having diarrhea and an electrolyte imbalance. The night before the seizure I didn't get any quality sleep. I will find out more tomorrow from the Dr.
 
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