changes in patterns and flu shots

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!

D

dustmansam

Member
Messages
23
Reaction score
0
Points
11
i have had seizures since i was 12 and through all the different meds, i only had seizures directly after waking. for the last year i have been on lamotrigine and tegrotol, and in the last two weeks i have had two seizures right before bed. i just received a flu shot two days before the first one, so i had just thought they could be related, but after the second i am not quite so sure. i have always dosed heavy before bed to protect my mornings but i have recently changed carreers and my sleep schedule has changed quite a bit. i go to bed earlier and wake earlier and beacause my first dose in the morning is small and is now farther apart from my night dose, could this have any effect. sorry for the run on, but any help would be great. thanks
 
Same thing happened to me!! I got a flu shot about a month ago, and had three days in a row of one simple partial after another. My whole body was sore from the flu shot, and while I have no evidence, I definitely think they are related. A flu shot cannot give you the flu, but it can make your body sore and even give you a mild fever. Being ill can lower your seizure threshold, so if a flu shot can make you feel run down, stands to reason it can also lower your threshold.
 
All kinds of stresses can potentially be seizure triggers -- including flu shots. But I think the bigger factor for dustmansam would probably be the change in sleeping patterns. Fatigue is the #1 seizure trigger, and if it's also be messing blood serum levels of your meds that could be part of the problem too.

Do you take the extended release version of either the Tegretol or the Lamotrigine? That might help. If you continue to have seizures you could ask your doc about tweaking your dosage to help give you more of a "safety margin" to deal with your new sleep schedule.
 
I've never had any problem when I've got the flu shot except my arm might be sore for a little while is all.I take the regular Tegretol and have since I was 13 and have never had any problem with it, I just can't take XR or carbamezepine without my sz's going through the roof.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom