Add and epilepsy?

[Sweetroisindubh28]

I need to know some other peoples opinions on a few things. I have had epilepsy since i was 10 years old and im fine with that but i need to know if anyone else feels like they have a different mind set than people who are not epileptic?I don't know if its just me but i feel like i think alot different from other people i tend to over think things i think about everything that affects me down to the very last detail and sometimes i feel like i over think way to much and sometimes i think so much that i create a problem that wasn't even there in the first place, i know i have other mental things wrong with me but i think with the amount of times that i have hit my head throughout the years it has done something different to my brain. I am at a really low point in my life right now but at the same time i really happy now because i am trying to change and better myself but i also want to understand more things about myself but anyways i want to know if anyone with epilepsy has add because i have a feeling that i do my mind never stops racing , its hard for me to focus on one thing , esp school and i have had alot of learning disabilitys from my epilepsy and idk im just starting to think i have add and i will talk to my neurologist about it but i want to know if anyone else has it or what they think.. thanks

 

[Chaz1]

Warm welcome to CWE.

My Son has epilepsy, he is 28 (in college, holds a job and is doing work expereince so a busy dude) and the amount of times he has said exactly what you just said to me, and well I cannot count them.

He is in neurotherapy/bio- feedback (brain training), His QEEG shows areas of his brain that are different to the norm (whatever norm is) they lock in hyper mode and stay there and this leads to his over thinking/analysis of everything, not all the time but if he is not careful his mind runs away with his thoughts....the brain training is slowly helping to train these areas down to get better control of his racing thoughts, he feels it working and we see it working….brain training takes many sessions but well worth looking into.


I am sure the rest of the CWE team will be chirping in to give you some input... There are lots of relaxation techniques you could apply that may help.

 

[Nakamova]

Hi Sweetroisindubh28, welcome to CWE!

Epilepsy is a wide-ranging disorder, so there isn't one particular "epilepsy brain" or "epileptic personality". However, there are definitely a lot of stresses that epilepsy can bring, and it can affect us in many ways -- whether through the seizures, the side effects, or the social isolation than can sometimes be part of the picture as well.

Since both the meds and the seizures can potentially affect our ability to focus, it's important to have a skilled practitioner make the call on whether ADD is present as a separate co-occurring disorder. Just to make things comlicated, depression (which is known to correlate with epilepsy) can also mess with our ability to focus.

The neurotherapy/neurofeedback that Chaz mentions can be an excellent treatment to consider in this case. Neurofeedback can potentially help with both attention issues and seizures, and there is promising research about its ability to treat depression as well. The upside is that there aren't the side effects that medication brings. The downside is that it's new enough that experienced practitioners can be hard to find, and the commitment in time and money can be prohibitive.

It's great that you are trying to change and make things better -- being proactive is very important when it come to epilepsy. I hope your neurologist can provide you with some answers and help you to make the right kinds of changes. There's some good general info here about being proactive: http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f22/proactive-prescription-epilepsy-1254/ and about neurofeedback: http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f22/eeg-neurofeedback-501/ and you might be interested in this thread from the CWE archives: http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f22/add-adhd-related-epilepsy-922/

Best,
Nakamova