Vivid dreams

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My daughter, Marina, has recently started having really vivid dreams, usually followed by partial seizures in the morning. She is taking Tegetol, Clonazapam and Keppra. She has been taking Omega 3 fish oil capsules, various B vitamins and calcium for about a month now to see if this reduces the seizures.

We're trying to reduce her AEDs as the side-effects are turning her into a zombie. She's tired all the time, can't concentrate or think straight, and is becoming depressed. We have managed to reduce her Keppra to 750mgs a day, instead of 1500 with little change in the frequency of her seizures, although these vivid dreams have started to happen.

Can somebody out there please let us know if our present regime can cause vivid dreams, and does anybody have any opinions about what we are doing?

Thanks - Dee
 
My wife had super vivid dreams when she was taking 5-HTP.

I personally tend to have really vivid dreams if I eat spicy peppers/food at dinner.

If you are doing things by trial and error, I'd recommend you keep a diary/journal/record of what you are doing and how it affects her. Sometimes, you can only notice patterns over time when you can see it laid out on paper.

Has she ever had her calcium/potassium/magnesium levels checked? Taking too much calcium can interfere with some AEDs IIRC.
 
Too much calcium can interfere with some anti-epileptic drugs IIRC -- more info?

Bernard et al. -- Can you provide citations to more about calcium and AEDs? I've just done a search through some of the standard scholarly medical journal literature and found a number of citations to very complex chemistry articles about calcium, including one with the title Calcium and Autosomal Dominant Nocturnal Frontal Lobe Epilepsy (Rodrigues-Pinguet et al., J Physiol 2003, 550(Pt1):11-26 and others like that.

I'm not a chemist, but it seems as if calcium is interacting with glutamate release. This interests me because I'm taking a glutamate antagonist for an experimental AED (via Mayo Clinic) and am wondering whether I should continue with my daily calcium intake.

Can you help interpret if I provide the citations or literature?
 
IMHO you should contact the clinic & ask them. They'd be most familiar with the effects of the AED's they're experimenting with
 
In the brain, excess glutamate around a nerve cell can allow calcium to enter the cell and kill it. But this is a complex process, not the direct result of taking a supplement. I agree with Eric -- the clinic should be able to provide with some answers.
 
... I'm taking a glutamate antagonist for an experimental AED ...

If you are in a clinical trial, they should be answering questions like that for you. It's in their interest to ensure that the study results are not skewed.
 
I take 1500 mg of Keppra and B Vitamins Calcium and Magensium. I also take the Clonazapam from time to time bI do notice when I take the Clonazapam I tend to have really weird dreams. When I take it I almost always take it at night.
 
I just posted on this... Or very similar, anyways. I've also been getting really vivid/weird dreams lately, though my seizures seem to be better controlled. I'm taking Keppra XR (2250 mg) and Lamictal XR (currently at 150 mg, but still moving up til I reach 300 mg). I also take vitamins B6, B12, calcium, magnesium, vitamins B6 and B12, vitamin D3 and fish oil. I have been taking some of these since before I was ever diagnosed with anything (the magnesium, fish oil, and a multivitamin), I added on the others when I started on the pills.

When I was first started on Keppra I had really vivid dreams, then they kind of waned a bit, and then when I started on Lamictal they got a lot worse.
 
:e::e:I am on Keppra 1500 mg a day. I find that the later I sleep the more vivid dreams I have. Once a neuro told me sometimes that can be because the seizure drug is getting ready to time out...in other words its close to your next dosage time. I take mine every 12 hours so if it close to 12 hours since I last took the drug and it is wearing off I am more likely to have vivid dreams. Which means I need to wake up and take my Keppra first thing in the morning. So I try not to sleep too late on the weekends.:e::e:
 
I just posted on this... Or very similar, anyways. I've also been getting really vivid/weird dreams lately, though my seizures seem to be better controlled. I'm taking Keppra XR (2250 mg) and Lamictal XR (currently at 150 mg, but still moving up til I reach 300 mg). I also take vitamins B6, B12, calcium, magnesium, vitamins B6 and B12, vitamin D3 and fish oil. I have been taking some of these since before I was ever diagnosed with anything (the magnesium, fish oil, and a multivitamin), I added on the others when I started on the pills.

When I was first started on Keppra I had really vivid dreams, then they kind of waned a bit, and then when I started on Lamictal they got a lot worse.
Lamictal is doing it to me too! Panic attacks/anxiety and vivid horrible dreams !!! Im on150 as well... he increased it but since the panic/anxiety and dreams being so bad... i stopped taking the increases until i talk to the Dr.
 
I hope my dreams don't get worse! I am increasing again tonight. I haven't had any panic attacks, but last night I had a straight up nightmare that woke me up at two in the morning. I wasn't having nightmares before... just weird/scary/emotionally charged, but I wasn't freaking out when I woke up. I wonder if taking it in the morning instead of evening would help...
 
I will

admit, I have quite frequent, vivid and strange dreams. Probably from the clonazepam that I take twice a day, and have for years now. I am on Lamictal as well, but have been on that longer than clonazepam, so I don't think it's making it worse.

They do seem to get better for me when I remember to take me vitamins :)
 
I take Tegretal and was having terribly vivid dreams in which it seemed I was taking part in and worrying about all night. Last night, I took half of usual amount of Tegregal and had a restful night. It was wonderful!! I took the other half this morning.
 
I get anxiety attacks in the middle of the night often at 4 am and I cant get back to sleep and sometimes I get them during the day too...they are more like panic attacks that start up for no apparent reason. Is it the Keppra? I take Zoloft and vitamins. Last night at 2 am I had a panic attack and had to take a clonazepam so I could sleep. Are there vitamins I could take to help me sleep ??:e:
 
Vitamin B6

"At least one preliminary study has found this vitamin may increase dream vividness or the ability to recall dreams.[26] This effect is possibly due to the role this vitamin plays in the conversion of tryptophan to serotonin.[26] Anecdotal evidence suggests supplemental vitamin B6 may be associated with lucid dreaming."

The above quote was taken from the following URL:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_B6


I've experienced many vivid and lucid dreams in my life time. I dream in colour and have often recalled my dreams.

I have been prescribed vitamin B6 to control my extremely rare type of Pyridoxine Dependent Epilepsy for over 41 years.

My seizure medication now consists of all eight B vitamins only (mainly vitamin B6).

**DO NOT ALTER ANY MEDICATION WITHOUT YOUR DOCTOR'S CONSENT**

A high dose of vitamin B6 may cause Peripheral Neuropathy.

Some vitamins may interfere with certain anti-epileptic drugs: http://www.epilepsy.org.uk/about/positionstatements/folicacid
 
That is why I take only 50 mg of B6 and in the morning. I really hate having those crazy dreams. That is probably part of the reason I have insomnia I am afraid to go to sleep. I do have simple partial nocturnal seizures that occur in my sleep but for the most part the Keppra keeps it under control.
 
I hope my dreams don't get worse! I am increasing again tonight. I haven't had any panic attacks, but last night I had a straight up nightmare that woke me up at two in the morning. I wasn't having nightmares before... just weird/scary/emotionally charged, but I wasn't freaking out when I woke up. I wonder if taking it in the morning instead of evening would help...

My neuro suggested me taking them earlier.. it didn't work for me.... but hey what harm could it do for you? You should ask him!! Please let me know if you do and how it works out
 
admit, I have quite frequent, vivid and strange dreams. Probably from the clonazepam that I take twice a day, and have for years now. I am on Lamictal as well, but have been on that longer than clonazepam, so I don't think it's making it worse.

They do seem to get better for me when I remember to take me vitamins :)

What vitamins are you taking?
 
I get anxiety attacks in the middle of the night often at 4 am and I cant get back to sleep and sometimes I get them during the day too...they are more like panic attacks that start up for no apparent reason. Is it the Keppra? I take Zoloft and vitamins. Last night at 2 am I had a panic attack and had to take a clonazepam so I could sleep. Are there vitamins I could take to help me sleep ??:e:

You know what? I think when I took Keppra I had anxiety and nightmares as well
 
Well my neuro suggested taking the Keppra earlier but keeping Lamictal at night. Or he said it could go the other way too. He seems to think that Keppra more than Lamictal is causing disturbed sleep so we shall see. I did increase both and moved my keppra to XR and from 1000 mg twice a day to 2250 mg all right before bed (the Lamictal was always at night), so we will see what happens.

I guess I should also look at my vitamin b6 intake....

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