ladyvonkulp |
Last Activity: 01-12-2008 04:40 PM
About Me
- About ladyvonkulp
- Seizure Background
- I'm 32, happily married with kids age 2 and 5. I have infrequent seizures, and I can usually feel them coming on, but they're doozies. I've been on Tegretol for a long time, and before that I was on Dilantin and Diamox.
My parents suspect my epilepsy was triggered by a car accident I was in at a year old, and my seizures have usually been infrequent. I was seizure-free most of my teen years, had a relapse when I was 16, and began having more regular (a few times a year) episodes when I got into grad school at 22. Once out of that, they eased up again until I got into the stress of parenting at 27, and, well, that's not going to ease up for a while.
I've been on Tegretol on and off for a long time, and I've noticed a worsening of memory since my dosage was increased to 1200 mg last year. On New Year's Eve/morning this year I had a combination of 5 seizures over 15 hours, unheard of for me. I was put on Lorezepam for 3 days in addition to the Tegretol, and it totally doped me out. I was an ineffective parent and had memory loss during the 3 days and it took 48 hours after stopping it to get back to normal. I seem to have gotten over the worst of it, knock on wood.
My 5 year-old son has seen a few of my t/c seizures, to the point of covering me up and tucking a pillow under my head after the actual episode. Usually I feel them early enough to isolate myself in time. I've explained very simply what is going on, and his understanding is amazing, given how young he is. Mine happen primarily within an hour of getting up in the morning, I suppose before my morning meds have taken effect. My husband is usually at work when they happen. Due to insurance I have to use generic carbamezapine, and I wonder whether the extended-release version of Tegretol would have a better therapeutic effect. - Treatments
- 400 mg generic Tegretol, 3x day
- Location
- Ohio
