Best Med for Left Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

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pccoder

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I'm looking for advice. I had been taking Keppra for about 8 years. The last couple years, I started to have strange feelings, which last year became often and even more strange. Towards the end of the year I found that they were "Partial Seizures" even though at the time I hadn't even known what those were as all my seizures before (at least all that I knew I'd had) were grand mal seizures...in my sleep.

Now, my neurologist has me taking Depakote and Keppra. I think his plan is to get me off the Keppra, but only after I've built up an appropriate amount of Depakote. So far, the Depakote (and we're on week 2) isn't cutting down on the # of partial seizures I'm having.

Thanks,
Chris
 
Tegretol completely handled my temporal lobe partial seizures for about 20 years. It's not handling them any more though . . but that was a pretty good long run.
 
I would say there probably is not a "best" med. Everyone reacts differently to the various meds and combinations of meds. Something that controls seizures for one person, and with very few side-effects, might be completely ineffective and/or have intolerable side-effects for someone else. Also what has worked for someone for a while may quit working, too. It's pretty much individual trial-and-error between you and your doc.
 
arnie said:
I would say there probably is not a "best" med. Everyone reacts differently to the various meds and combinations of meds. Something that controls seizures for one person, and with very few side-effects, might be completely ineffective and/or have intolerable side-effects for someone else. Also what has worked for someone for a while may quit working, too. It's pretty much individual trial-and-error between you and your doc.
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Very helpful, but that sucks. I just don't get it. I did Dilantin for a couple years and never had a problem. Then I did Keppra for 8 years and never had a problem until about 7 1/2 years in.

I wonder if it's really just related to how badly the Epilepsy (or whatever causes Epilepsy) is for each one of us, instead of being about the individual drug itself.
 
Hi Chris,

I also have left temporal lobe epilepsy, I was 1st diagnosed with epilepsy as a baby & took tonic clonics until i was about 3. I went 21 years seizure free until they returned in 2002.

After my seizures returned I mainly took cimple/complex partial seizures, my neurologist tried me on 5 different meds - Tegretol, Lamictal, Topamax, Keppra & Neurontin. None of the meds helped control the partial seizures so in 2009 my neuro suggested I look into having surgery. I had surgery on 10th March 2011 where they removed scarring on my left temporal lobe.

At the moment I am on just Keppra, I've never had any issues with Keppra & my seizures have been under control since surgery.

It really is hard to suggest a medication because we are all different & what works for one doesn't work for another.
Give the Depakote time for the med to get into your system, whenever I've had a med change I usually allowed the 1st 2 weeks for any side effects to happen.

Good luck with the med change, hope it helps
 
Best meds for me for temporal lobe epilepsy is Tegretol and Topamax
 
pccoder said:
CQ, how did you know you had scarring? Which test did that show up on?
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When my seizures returned I was taken to hospital & had a tonic clonic while in hospital. My Mum had mentioned my history of epilepsy so I was referred to a neurologist straight away & saw the neurolgoist the following day.

When I 1st met the neurologist he did an EEG & then the following month I had an MRI.
Before my surgery I had 4 MRIs & a fMRI, 2 of the MRIs were ordered by my local neurologist, the other 2 MRIs & fMRI were part of my pre surgery tests. All the MRIs I've had pre surgery have showed the scarring on my left temporal lobe, the epiologists I saw pre surgery & the surgeon all believe the scarring was from the tonic clonics I had as a baby but why I went so long seizure free if the scarring was always there is a mystery.
 
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I've had TLE and experienced CPs and TC's for over 30 years. I've tried 12 different meds, had an unsuccessful left temporal lobectomy. Now I have the VNS. I also have scarring on the hippocampus, where my seizures start. They couldn't get to all scarring because I would have ended up like an Alzheimer's patient. And that is why I still have some seizures.

This website lists the best meds for different types of seizures: http://www.epilepsy.com/epilepsy/medicine_summary
 
It does seem like we're all playing our own private Wack-A-Mole game lol

I've been on 600mg x2 Tegretol for about 17 years, and it seems to reduce the number of t-cs with my left TLE. Keppra and increased Lamacital stop me always carrying on through to a t-c as well. The side effects haven't been brilliant, but they could have been a lot worse, reading this :s

There's no visible scarring on my left lobe, but that's where they seem to start apparently..
 
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