Hi All, I thought I'd give everyone a quick rundown of my situation and see if anyone had any thoughts on treatments (especially of alternative treatments might be worth looking into).
I had my first 2 seizures when I was 17 (I am now 38 years old). I have been pretty lucky in that I've never had a really bad problem, just a seizure here or there and I've always had auras as a warning. In the 20 years I've dealt with this, I think I've had 7 total seizures (auras that actually generalized).
My most recent seizure was Feb. 7th. Prior to that, my last aura was 3 1/2 years ago and my last fully generalized seizure was over 7 years ago. I took Dilantin for 17 years and discovered that I had some bone loss, so we decided to get off that drug. I was also taking Neurontin as well. My Dr. wanted to put me on Lamictal to replace the Dilantin, but since it had been so long since I had any problem I balked at that (because I hate the drugs) and we just tapered off the Dilantin.
After that ended, I went a year taking only 600mg's of Neurontin per day, and I had no epileptic events during that year, until Feb. 7th. From my perspective, I feel like I have shown that I don't have a horrible problem (I dont have seizures every day, or even every week or month) and while I recognize that I have had a seizure and that I need to do something I don't want to let my Dr. overreact and drug me to death over a problem that doesn't affect me every day.
My Dr. responded to this latest episode by putting me on Keppra. I am on 250mg twice a day, and he wants to bump it up to 500mg twice a day. I am still taking the Neurontin too. The Dr said that if all goes well, perhaps we can get rid of the Neurontin (which I would like because I hate drugs and I feel like I've had some sexual side effects from it).
My question is this: If I go up to 1000mgs a day of Keppra, does that sound like overkill based on my situation? Or does that sound doable? I feel like my Dr. wont consider any alternatives except prescription meds. Given how few times I actually have a seizure, does anyone have any alternatives that they think I should try? Or maybe the name of a Dr. in the Dallas/Ft Worth area that is open to other ways of doing things?
I just dont want to ruin the quality of my life and feel doped up everyday, especially when my seizure problem isn't something that affects me everyday.
Any advice is appreciated and please forgive the length of this post.
-D
I had my first 2 seizures when I was 17 (I am now 38 years old). I have been pretty lucky in that I've never had a really bad problem, just a seizure here or there and I've always had auras as a warning. In the 20 years I've dealt with this, I think I've had 7 total seizures (auras that actually generalized).
My most recent seizure was Feb. 7th. Prior to that, my last aura was 3 1/2 years ago and my last fully generalized seizure was over 7 years ago. I took Dilantin for 17 years and discovered that I had some bone loss, so we decided to get off that drug. I was also taking Neurontin as well. My Dr. wanted to put me on Lamictal to replace the Dilantin, but since it had been so long since I had any problem I balked at that (because I hate the drugs) and we just tapered off the Dilantin.
After that ended, I went a year taking only 600mg's of Neurontin per day, and I had no epileptic events during that year, until Feb. 7th. From my perspective, I feel like I have shown that I don't have a horrible problem (I dont have seizures every day, or even every week or month) and while I recognize that I have had a seizure and that I need to do something I don't want to let my Dr. overreact and drug me to death over a problem that doesn't affect me every day.
My Dr. responded to this latest episode by putting me on Keppra. I am on 250mg twice a day, and he wants to bump it up to 500mg twice a day. I am still taking the Neurontin too. The Dr said that if all goes well, perhaps we can get rid of the Neurontin (which I would like because I hate drugs and I feel like I've had some sexual side effects from it).
My question is this: If I go up to 1000mgs a day of Keppra, does that sound like overkill based on my situation? Or does that sound doable? I feel like my Dr. wont consider any alternatives except prescription meds. Given how few times I actually have a seizure, does anyone have any alternatives that they think I should try? Or maybe the name of a Dr. in the Dallas/Ft Worth area that is open to other ways of doing things?
I just dont want to ruin the quality of my life and feel doped up everyday, especially when my seizure problem isn't something that affects me everyday.
Any advice is appreciated and please forgive the length of this post.
-D
