question about surgery

[suebear]

been on tegretol for 25 years and my doctor took me off 2 days, having bad withdrawl symptems. any help wiuld be great, how long does this last a? can any type of med help??

Wow.. I believe that's far too long so it is a good thing you were taken off of it. I was on the drug for 15 years myself and even though the odd signs didn't appear at first, I started to see them show little by little and it was far from being kind.

All I can say regarding the side effects is what I am aware of and that is, every person has a different effect regarding medication because we each have our own body chemistry make up. What I can highly suggest is now that you are off of it, to begin a log of what different effects. If there is something odd that appears, make a note of it and show the log to your doctor on the next visit.

I speak with my pharmacist quite a bit as he provided me with documentation on Tegretol back then. Obviously things have changed now with how documentation is provided and I am sure a lot of that documentation is updated which is good. You could always have a discussion with your pharmacist the next time you see him or her and ask if there is something you need to be aware of. Your neurologist would know this information as well because they do keep up on the medication list. I wish you the best with your recovery as the medication leaves your system.

[suebear]

After finaly waking from a year long coma, within 10 days I experienced what could only be described as a COMPLETE MENTAL BREAKDOWN.for 24 hours preceeding this event i began having FLASHBACKS of traumatic events which i had experienced from early childhood right through to adulthood. Some of these events where of a very personal { sexual interference } type, while others where of accidents and mishaps which had occured at different times in my life.
It was like watching a home movie of every bad memory of my life , played back at high speed .I had to undergo months of psychotherapy because of this event and have regained control over these haunting memories.
I have learned that your brain { as a protection mechanism } has the ability to file away traumatic events so well that, your concious being is no longer aware of them.
For me perhaps the combination of the surgery and the coma was enough to unlock those files which had been buried deep in my sub-concious.
Along with my anti seizure medication I am now on a lifetime regimen of anti-psychotic medication as well.
What I would like to know is . Is this result unique to me? Or has anyone else experienced a similar side effect after under-going brain surgery?

I was actually told your brain will shut out traumatic issues it undergoes and not allow you to recall them. For example, when I underwent the surgery for my temporal resection, I was needed to be woken up for part of it. I asked the surgeon about remembering it, he said it is a rare case however in a high percentage no one will because the brain shuts down those memories because they are far too traumatic.

Does that help?

[bruce]

those events which i mentioned in my post still linger on the edge of my conciousness . they are cloudy now but still linger .I would be afraid to stop taking the anti psychotic meds im on now, because I dont think i could recover from another episode like the one i experienced back then .
The side effects of the meds i take have been severe , partly because of the high dosage i was on . I was recently diagnosed with " tardive dyskenesia "a permanent and difficult to treat brain disorder , caused as a direct result of long term treatment with anti- psychotic meds { 700 mg daily of loxapine }.
the symptoms include muscular ticks { most of mine are facial },severe muscular cramping { most of mine affects my hands and neck }
I have now been changed to a different med { seroquel }and a much lower dosage.
during transition from one drug to another I experienced muscular cramping so severe that I dis-located several different joints in my body . my right shoulder muscles contracted so severly that it tore ligaments loose , I also suffered compression fractures to my neck and back because of the cramping.

[bruce]

Can you provide a URL as I'd like to see what other statistics they have or was this an actual black and white sheet you were given from your pharmacy? I get those types of sheets every once in awhile. Appreciate your feedback.

suebear , the questionaire that was used to collect the info on med . useage and regularity waa a sheet provided by my pharmacist at SHOPPERS DRUG MART here in ontario. it was pretty basic, anonymous and made up of questions concerning
age
sex
type of and frequency of seizures
type of meds and dosage , time of day taken , with or without food
frequency of use of alchohol , marijuana
missed doses
as well as any other prescription and over the counter medication
Because these sheets where only provided to people on anti-epileptic meds and that they could remain anonymous ,I am fairly confident in the resulting figures.

[MissSkittles]

I got offered it due to having seizures that were progressing as I was growing....
different medications...doing nothing....
It was the only other option that I had left to have a normal life
finally after 8 years I got offered Front Right Lesionectomy and went through with it on the 18th of January.
My side effects arent exactly lovely right now, but it is early days...
emotions fly up and down...I cant spend that much time around people due to it just tiring me out and making me grumpy as hell..and I have small spot of depression....but it comes and goes...
some days are really good...some days are REALLY bad....
Not being able to do much obviously just annoys you to HIGH heaven and makes you more frustrated and I have about 3 pages of RULES of what not to do and what to do..
I miss the gym and I miss even being allowed to go to a shopping centre...but right now...I am not well enough to do it without stressing myself out too much....
My scar is healing up nicely...and I have nice punk hair doo! :P
I was lucky my surgery was on the right side as it my "balloon cell dysplasia" was so deep that on the left they would of refused to operate!

Surgery was the best thing that has happened to me for my future and life...
but right now..wild emotions, stress, anxiety...it feels like the worst