what if medication is unable to control them?

[girlwithadog]

I don't know why but I have this resistance to medication of all types. At first the medication will qwork wonderfully but soon after and it stops.
For instance pain mrdication only ever works if I haven't taken any in a really long time. I've had two babies and with each baby I had to get two epidurals because the first dose wore out very guickly and with my youngest the second dose wore off before I had her and it was a short time frame.
I started AEDs about a tear ago. I started on 500mg Keppra. It worked for about six weeks before my dose was increased to 750mg 2x daily. Not even a month later and it needed to be increased. I was pregnant so my neuro would only go up to 1000mg 2x daily but for the last two months of the pregnancy it didn't help much and I was in and out the hospital.
He wanted to wait 3 months after the baby was born so my body could regulate and I would have my meds decreased. First I had to have another EEG. My first was when I was completely unmedicated, this last one was while I was on 1000mg 2zlx. He said there were still frequent spikes (I had about 4 C/P during the EEG.
Basically my seizure activity is completely unchanged with the keppra now. It did help briefly.
So I'm scheduled for an MRI and he is keeping me on the same keppra but also starting me on Lamictal. I start 25mg 2x daily and after a week I will be increased. I lost my driving privileges again.
So I have "complex partial epilepsy with secondary generalization" but that's all I know. Is it common for the medication to stop working so abruptly and if none of the medications will work long term are there any other options for control?
I go 12 years being told I was just having extreme panic attacks and fainting spells to uncontrolled epilepsy???
I have simple and complex seizures 20+ times a week. For the second through the fifth week of being on medication I only had two but its gotten worse and worse despite the increase

 

[Cint]

Girlwithadog,

Often times, hormones play a role for women with epilepsy, so that is probably why your neuro waited 3 months after your child was born to adjust your meds. For me, after my 2nd child was born, my seizures increased dramatically. I have complex partial seizures with secondary generalized, also. We tried med after med, to no avail. Now I have the VNS (Vagus Nerve Stimulator) after a failed temporal lobectomy. Plus I take Keppra and Topomax. But it seems like you still have plenty of meds to choose from before you need to go down that path.

And check out this website for info on hormones & E:
http://www.epilepsy.com/information/women/all-women/hormones-and-epilepsy

 

[C0urt]

if the meds don't do anything like mine,
You end up with a closet that has collection of empty bottles and a bunch of never used free samples (and wonder if that day is coming you decide to start making meth).

You have your twicthy days, and your happy days. And you realize that every day alive is a great day and a reason to smile alone.

 

[Belinda5000]

girlwithwith a dog,
I've had seizures 50 years been on like 23 different meds.Been on anything for my seizures.I'm med resistantant to drugs everything inthe Tegretol family except the original tegretol.I'm also allergic to 5 meds .I take Tegretol,Topamax,phenabarab.I've had brain surgery in 1982 at Montreat ,Canada.I 've had VNS.I was 2 years old whenI was diagnosed with epilepsy.I also have simple , and complex partial seizures.I have generalizedalso.I don't have auras. Most of the time I usually don't remeber my seizures unless somethings in paticular happens.If I have one in public so be it.

 

[seizuregirl]

I have been on MANY drugs and haven't found 1, or a combo that will work .

I even had surgery to remove the part of my brain that the dr's thought the seizure's were coming from, and I'm still having seizure's. I don't have any forewarning, aura's etc. I'm never aware of having a seizure, unless i'm standing, sitting, or laying down in a puddle. I've had at least 4 or 5 dr's and none of them have been able to figure out what type of epilepsy I have.

 

[Tez_20]

I've been on a number of meds over the years and still nothing as been able to control them...really it's down to the activity of the brain and what's causing them, that's why patients go for operations if possible to help them.

 

[masterjen]

I would suggest asking for cerebral spinal fluid analysis (for example to look at neurotransmitter levels) and genetic testing. In my case, these have been of immense assistance in obtaining improved seizure control. Turned out that not only has neurotransmitter replacement been necessary, but that one of the medications I had been on to try to control seizures was further lowering one of the already reduced neurotransmitter levels.

 

[Flustered]

I have been switched from a few meds myself. We have concluded that my seizures have a lot to do with my hormone levels. I take Diamox a week before and a week after my period; along with 250mg in the AM and 250mg in the PM of Lamictal. I am now a graduate of college but my seizures started about when my period started in middle school.
I have been on a ton of meds; Depakote was the drug they just took me off of 3yrs ago when I got married. Depakote is REAL bad for birth defects; I didn't even want to chance it.
I myself am beginning to wonder if my sugar levels (I don't have diabetes) have anything to do with my seizures or being dehydrated.