another seizure

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
827
Reaction score
0
Points
0
I haven't been here in a while, so I'm probably posting in the wrong forum.

Anyway, I had my first seizures in January, grand maul. I went on Tegratol and I hated it, too many side effects. So my doctor and I decided to take me off of it. I was med free for about 3 months and I had another seizure one morning in June.

My doctor wanted me back on Tegratol, but I wanted Lamictal. I've been on it before when someone thought I had bipolar disorder and it's always been ok to me. It took some convincing and I had to do a little work myself but he came around. So, I've been on Lamictal since July. I take 100 mgs a day, splitting it 50/50 in the morning and evening.

Well.....this morning before I even got out of bed, I had a seizure.

My doctor was all about telling me that they're 'pseudo seizures" or that it's just from stress. I can believe that THIS TIME, but not the last two.

THe first one - my daughter had a stomach virus. I try to avoid that...well.....like the plague. But the rest of my day/week/month had been pretty normal.

In June, things were going nicely, I was excited to be teaching my first class. The kids were being great, etc.

This month, well I am in charge of "the games" for our fall festival which is on Friday. But before that even matters, my uncle had brain surgery on 10-4, and then passed away on 10-14. And that has sucked big time.



ALLLL of this babbling to ask if anyone else has this kind of seizure. I didn't believe it was stress, but maybe now I do. I don't have insurance so talking to a therapist is out. And the three epilepsy providers that I called refused to even see me because my EEG in January had been normal.

Ugh..well, if you made it this far, thanks for listenign :)
 
chargingbird

I am very sorry to hear about your uncle. I am not sure what you mean about this type of seizure or maybe that is just my brain at the moment.
 
Pseudoseizures are also called psychogenic non-epileptic seizures. Some folks suffer from both the non-epileptic and epileptic variety. Some folks get diagnosed with the non-epileptic variety by default if they have a negative EEG -- it isn't necessarily an accurate diagnosis, and many neurologists can be too quick to decide that's what's going on.

It's possible that your seizure is non-epileptic, but given your past seizures that seems unlikely. Your Lamictal dose is on the low side for epilepsy -- one possibility is that you may need to go a bit higher to have seizure control.
 
Pseudoseizures are also called psychogenic non-epileptic seizures. Some folks suffer from both the non-epileptic and epileptic variety. Some folks get diagnosed with the non-epileptic variety by default if they have a negative EEG -- it isn't necessarily an accurate diagnosis, and many neurologists can be too quick to decide that's what's going on.

It's possible that your seizure is non-epileptic, but given your past seizures that seems unlikely. Your Lamictal dose is on the low side for epilepsy -- one possibility is that you may need to go a bit higher to have seizure control.

Yes, my EEG in January '12 was normal/negative. I don't have insurance, so I haven't been able to get in to another doctor. The one that was recommended by another local doctor, discouraged me from going there because of the cost. And because it "has to be a sleep study which can last 3-5 days". But then she said in the same breath that "you have to stay until you ahve a seizure" Well, they're pretty damn far apart!!

And I'm sure my GP will up my dose once I get a hold of him. I have taken it before for Bipolar type 2 disorder, and I know that a dose higher than 150 will give me some wicked back pain. But it is probably possible for me to go to a higher dose, as long as we split the dose AM/PM like we've been doing. I might be able to go up to 200 that way.
 
I'm on 150mg/day, and that controls my seizures, so maybe that dosage will work for you too.
 
I haven't been here in a while, so I'm probably posting in the wrong forum.

Anyway, I had my first seizures in January, grand maul. I went on Tegratol and I hated it, too many side effects. So my doctor and I decided to take me off of it. I was med free for about 3 months and I had another seizure one morning in June.

My doctor wanted me back on Tegratol, but I wanted Lamictal. I've been on it before when someone thought I had bipolar disorder and it's always been ok to me. It took some convincing and I had to do a little work myself but he came around. So, I've been on Lamictal since July. I take 100 mgs a day, splitting it 50/50 in the morning and evening.

Well.....this morning before I even got out of bed, I had a seizure.

My doctor was all about telling me that they're 'pseudo seizures" or that it's just from stress. I can believe that THIS TIME, but not the last two.

THe first one - my daughter had a stomach virus. I try to avoid that...well.....like the plague. But the rest of my day/week/month had been pretty normal.

In June, things were going nicely, I was excited to be teaching my first class. The kids were being great, etc.

This month, well I am in charge of "the games" for our fall festival which is on Friday. But before that even matters, my uncle had brain surgery on 10-4, and then passed away on 10-14. And that has sucked big time.



ALLLL of this babbling to ask if anyone else has this kind of seizure. I didn't believe it was stress, but maybe now I do. I don't have insurance so talking to a therapist is out. And the three epilepsy providers that I called refused to even see me because my EEG in January had been normal.

Ugh..well, if you made it this far, thanks for listenign :)

My heart goes out to you, about your uncle.
 
Back
Top Bottom