Advice?

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy Forums

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy forums - a peer support community for folks dealing (directly or indirectly) with seizure disorders. You can visit the forum page to see the list of forum nodes (categories/rooms) for topics.

Please have a look around and if you like what you see, please consider registering an account and joining the discussions. When you register an account and log in, you may enjoy additional benefits including no ads, access to members only (ie. private) forum nodes and more. Registering an account is free - you have nothing to lose!

Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Points
0
I am 22 years old have been having spells since I was 6. They sound like partial complex seizures to my regular doctor obgyn and high risk pregnancy specialist. I am currently 6 months pregnant. These spells have been thought to be everything from ADHD to Schizoaffective disorder but SSRIs haven't helped and even caused problems with recurrent REM sleep behaviour disorder while on them. I was first medicated with 200mg of Ritalin at age 6 for ADHD. That lasted until I was 17. My mental health diagnosis has kept changing because my symptoms don't fit in a nice box. (They match Gershwind syndrome pretty well) My other mental symptoms started after they added Zoloft to the Ritalin because I was still forgetful in my teens which caused a suicide attempted which got a ball of meds cause symptoms let's add more meds and cause more symptoms rolling. I will zone out for a minute or two not responding to people or outside stimuli and have my eyes open often my pupils get big and I may rock back and forth or chew nothing. Afterwards for an hour or two normally I have hallucinations which involve hearing music and seeing lights but I know these are hallucinations. I am almost always tired after the spells. I constantly see visual snow and I am prone to migraines. I have no delusions or lack of self care. Sometimes after the spells have memory or speech problems as well as temporary emotional changes. I have no psychotic behaviors or suicidal/homicidal thoughts or feelings. I have been off medication for three years and worked two jobs until my pregnancy where my job riding thoroughbred race horses would not have been safe. I was referred to a vascular neurologist who has done one 20 min eeg. He said the eeg was normal and now wants me to go to inpatient mental health to start me on new meds because he thinks I have pregnancy induced depression which is causing conversion disorder which is manifesting as fake seizures which I he said I am giving myself I think he called them psychoginic seizures. I have never had a conversion or anxiety disorder diagnosis before in my life. Is one 20 min eeg enough to rule out me having seizures? Me, my family, my husband, and his family disagree with the diagnosis of depression and feel I do not need anti-depressants. Can anyone else relate or offer advice?
 
Jockeyygirl

All of this comes as a shock to your system and yes it could have something to do with the pregnancy, however an EEG does not say you have seizures or not. It is quite normal for an EEG to come back normal, an EEG is only one tool used to help a neurologist determine if you might have epilepsy. Depression can be part of the side effects of the medication for epilepsy.

If you are not happy with the doctor or neurologist its time to find a new one.
 
Back
Top Bottom