Can seizures cause a change in mood?

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moongal

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I have noticed a definite change in my mood in the recent as my seizures have gotten worse. It's difficult to describe over the last couple of weeks I have been very sick trying to adjust to a new medication and I guess worrying about seizures doesn't help but I have a feeling that I am having absense seizures or partial seizures that are actually changing my mood and making me feel depressed. Definitely causing a lot of stress and anxiety in my life. Is this possible or is this just paranoia? I also have been recently been moved onto a new medication phenytoin and zarontin syrup which is very strong and I don't think is helping.

Any knowledge on the subject would be greatly appreciated :)
 
for me the depression is having these happen and having your life change and how frustrating things can be. the anxiousness from always wondering about one is going to hit.

there's also just different side effects from any medication, maybe causing the depression.
hopefully telling your dr about the meds and give you something else to help.

they say not to stress and worry, well they're not going through this :/
 
Thanks Lizzy for your response.
I do understand what you mean by even the uncertainty of when one might hit can be depressing and that lack of control or losing driving privileges even can be depressing, but I feel that after my 6 TCs last week it has definitely left me feeling very down and not in a I've decided to give up way" more in a "I could start crying in the middle of the street kind of way". I am also on prozac for depression but I think maybe cos my brain got the crap shook out of it that it doesn't help. And my memory and concentration has only started to restore itself today. I am on Keppra also, I've been so for years and I know that is a depressant. It could be just a combination of everything that has happened recently I'm not the strong woman I used to be, I hate admitting to that. :( I hope you are keeping well.
 
I have noticed a definite change in my mood in the recent as my seizures have gotten worse. It's difficult to describe over the last couple of weeks I have been very sick trying to adjust to a new medication and I guess worrying about seizures doesn't help but I have a feeling that I am having absense seizures or partial seizures that are actually changing my mood and making me feel depressed. Definitely causing a lot of stress and anxiety in my life. Is this possible or is this just paranoia? I also have been recently been moved onto a new medication phenytoin and zarontin syrup which is very strong and I don't think is helping.

Any knowledge on the subject would be greatly appreciated :)

Epilepsy and mood swings/depression do go hand in hand, especially if it is temporal lobe epilepsy. I have TLE and also suffer from depression. I take Keppra and Topomax for seizures and Zoloft for the depression. Some of the AED's are also used as mood stabilzers, Topomax is one of them.

This website provides more info on the subject:
http://www.epilepsy.com/epilepsy/neurobehav_inter_prob
 
Hi guys thank you so much for your replies. I think you could be very right about this and it is horrible hopefully when my seizures stablize a little bit more I will be able to return to therapy I think I do need it for sure. I hope ye guys are keep well :)
 
I think so... At least for me, my mood turns awful in the day or two before I end up getting my seizures. I have mostly simple partials, so they don't culminate in the same way as T/C seizures, but before my especially intense and long simple partials (which usually take place in clusters) is when my mood goes all crazy. Of course, this seems a little unrelated to what you're asking once I look back.

I posted on this sometime in the past month, and it definitely seems likely that epilepsy can affect moods.
 
Hey runninggirl, thanks for your reply. I do feel too that even before I get a tonic clonic I get very depressed this could be seizures that are affecting my whole brain chemistry. I would normally get jerks before I get a tc seizure Hopefully my seizures will get controlled soon. I hope, I pray. I hope you are keeping well :)
 
I was prescribed Paxil today to help control the depression and anxiety associated with seizures; my primary said this was a common occurrence. I hesitated to follow-up because, in the past, Paxil has caused me some symptoms of hypomania--I know what to look for this time, tho!

I also get an explosive, irritable mood about 24 hrs before a seizure sets in; I think that this may have something to do with the T/C seizures--but I am not sure--the neuro said it may be more a manifestation of some sort of bipolar activity.

I didn't want to return to the Mental Health Association for help with the depression and anxiety, but I am proud of myself for doing so today.

Hope everyone had a blessed day! :)

Chels.
 
One of the meds that I take is Keppra and it makes me very angry. I've gotten so mad at people in public places, mostly grocery stores, that I've actually started screaming at them and telling them off.

I have a really hard time being around young kids too. My friends little girl was coloring on my coffee table one time and it started screaming at her. The poor little girl started crying like crazy. Once I got hold of myself and realized what I was doing I started apologizing like crazy, I felt so bad. I know it's just things that kids do but I just can't stand it.

I very rarely get depressed but recently I was going to go to a place for therapy for my back. I had to cancel my first appt with them but told them that I would be there for my next appt. When I came in the receptionist told me that I had to reschedule my first appt before they could do anything (which I was never told). They said that they could see me but I would have to wait an hour. After waiting 45 min I went into the bathroom and broke down crying like crazy. When I came out they told me that they were ready for me but I yelled at them and said I was leaving because they were a** holes. I cried for another 3 hours after I got home.

Talk to your dr about the things that are going on with you and he might change your meds to help you feel better.
 
Hey guys thank you so much, well I am on prozac aswel to help with the depression. It's horrible and today I feel really irritable, I don't want to be around people much cos I'm afraid I'll snap their heads off when I know it's going inside me. I will talk to my doctor, now I think I'm just going to have a wee nap and hope that it gets better.

Valeried sometimes I totally feel like that, I ended up crying for 30 mins in the bathroom after a small arguement with my sister, it's like I get completely hypersensitive or something. But I just gotta keep reminding myself this is just a rough patch and somehow everything will come together.....somehow. Hope ye guys are all keeping well :)
 
I actually heard about seizures that make you go on a rampage throwing stuff and acting all crazy as part of the seizure...very rare but it exists. like a complex seizure just in more bizzare way
 
Hey kostareyna, is this a reaction from the limbs that is kinda forcing your body to throw stuff or is because your brain chemist has changed and you feel so moody that you get so angry that you actually get to that level of rage? Thanks :)
 
I actually heard about seizures that make you go on a rampage throwing stuff and acting all crazy as part of the seizure...very rare but it exists. like a complex seizure just in more bizzare way

I've had some seizures where I'll pick up things and start doing odd things with them. Once I had a pillow in a pillow case that I kept trying to put on my foot like a sock. My husband tried to take it off of me but I wouldn't give it up so he just let me keep it till I came out of the seizure because he knew I wasn't going to hurt myself or it.

I think it's more or less that my brain isn't putting two and two together and understanding what I'm actually doing.
 
I have noticed a difference in my mood...I think it is that I don't know what's going to happen in the future- that is...I don't know what / when / how / things are going to go in the future...the unknown is frightening when you don't know what to expect.In a nutshell it is extremely frightening.
 
Hey kostareyna, is this a reaction from the limbs that is kinda forcing your body to throw stuff or is because your brain chemist has changed and you feel so moody that you get so angry that you actually get to that level of rage? Thanks :)

They aren't my seizures so I can't tell you how it feels but I think it's pretty violent from what I understood and as far as I can tell it because something in chimically changes in the brain for the duration of the seizure since that's the time where go franzy on everything.
 
Oh I get you now valeried, I can do dangerous things after my seizures like I hopped out of a moving car before but the doctor said it was because my brain got such a rattle that it needed time.

Hey Pip that is for sure it is frightening and annoying that I can't organise a weekend away because my TCs are all over the place at present so I can't go anywhere. I'm actually getting very depressed from it all at this stage.
 
My cousin has had ECT to treat depression. But it really wipes out his memory, and it may or may not have left him vulnerable to having seizures in other situations -- he's had at least one non-ECT seizure since starting treatment.
 
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