confusion

[gls]

My husband had left frontal resection in April 2011 --I already shared the story on my original post. This summer I started helping at his business and I noticed that sometimes his stories don't make sense--this was an issue after surgery but now it seems to be getting worse again. He is on 600 mg a day of lamictal and he recently had blood work and his level was at the high end--just a little over the normal range-- but the nurse said it was fine and that he always complains about confusion and that it is part of aging--he is 51. He will sometimes make up things if he doesn't know the answer. Tonight I was grilling outside and I asked him to watch rice that was cooking on the stove--I told him that when it boils to turn it down to simmer and put the lid on the pan and set the timer for seven minutes. I came back in the house to check things and he is standing there rubbing his head and looking confused while the pot is boiling and making noise because he did everything except turn down the heat to simmer. My god I feel like I am loosing my mind because I can't count on him to do a simple task like make rice. I know that I am all over the place with this story but I am at the end of my rope with this whole new person after surgery. I feel like I have to watch everything that he does and never leave him alone. He is self employeed and frankly I don't think that he can keep up with the pressure and tasks of his job anymore. We are looking at possibly leasing his building or selling the business. We looked into disability for him and they said that he has to be not working to apply. How would we survive if he wasn't working. I am so scared about everything. I keep hoping that it is the medicine but I really don't think it will make a difference. Trying to get anyone at the doctors office to talk to you is a joke--he has an appointment in October but I don't want to wait that long to try and lower his meds. I wonder if it could be the start of dementia...Little incidents keep happening that I keep trying to brush off and then he will seem perfectly normal so I start to second guess myself but deep down I think something is not right. I liked his neuro psychiatrist and I e-mailed him once with an issue so maybe I will email him again and see if he can point me in the right direction--Thank you for letting me get this off of my chest--sorry if the story doesn't flow or make total sense--It is three in the morning and I can't sleep but I am getting tired...

 

[Dolores]

I had my first seizure when I was 10 and have taken Dilantin for over 40 years. I have always had memory issues. My short term memory is horrid and my long term memory is like I have lost the links between the memories. For a long time I thought I had totally lost the memories. But I now realize that all I need is for something to trigger a memory and I can rebuild the links.

Your husband may be suffering from something similar. It can be a side effect of the medication or as this article explains (Types of Memory Problems), it can be a direct result of the epilepsy itself.

If you are frustrated by your husband's confusion, imagine how it feels for him. You can read numerous posts here about how the memory issues make people feel they are stupid. But they are not stupid, their brains just can't remember like a normal brain can.

That article helped me a great deal to accept that these memory problems were part of who I am as an epileptic and deal with it. I find it frustrating when people just write it off to getting older rather than looking at possible underlying reasons.

I also question the high-levels found by the blood work. Overdosing is not okay. While it may not trigger a seizure, it can exacerbate the side-effects one of which is confusion. I know because I have overdosed on Dilantin many times. All the side-effects become intensified. Until I realize I am probably overdosing, get a blood test and talk to my doctor about changing my dosage.

I would definitely email his doctor about what is happening and the overdosing. For 14 years I've kept a chart of my blood levels and dosages and how I was feeling. Now when I feel "off" I get a blood test and then discuss a dosage change with my doctor based on my history of levels.

Hope some of this made sense and I hope it helps.

 

[Cint]

If he's standing at the stove looking confused, perhaps you should have guided him away from the stove. He may have been having an aura or simple partial seizure. He had a resection just over a year ago, so he isn't completely healed yet and he does need to see a dr. to discuss this. And since it was surgery on his frontal lobe, it will effect his behavior:

http://www.epilepsy.com/EPILEPSY/FRONTAL_Lobectomy

The frontal lobes are responsible for certain kinds of behavior, and patients who have a frontal lobectomy risk experiencing changes in this behavior. Personality, motivation, the ability to plan and follow a process with several steps, the ability to organize actions over time, social graces, and the ability to behave appropriately for the social situation are the areas of behavior that may be affected. Some mild changes in these areas may have begun before the surgery, as a result of the seizures that began in the frontal lobes.

I had a left temporal lobectomy years ago, and it effected my memory along with my moods. I went into a deep, deep depression afterwards and struggled with it ever since the surgery. The surgery didn't help control my seizures, tho, so I've tried 10-11 meds out there. All have side effects.

 

[gls]

Thanks for responding to my posting. I am going to contact his doctor and see if we can go lower on the medicine to see if it helps since the level is at the higher end. I am extremely frustrated and I know that he can sense my frustration. I don't really think that he notices his mistakes or confusion so it doesn't seem to affect him like it does me. I am working very hard to try and remain calm and helping him at his business to get more organized and tracking things to make sure that he follows through with things. This is hard on me because I also have my own job to do on top of this. I am the one that carries the insurance. I keep trying to tell myself that he is now seizure free and that we are very lucky, but in some ways we are now just dealing with new problems. Sorry to sound so negative but sometimes I just need to vent---so thank you for listening

 

[Nakamova]

It might be a med side effect, but it could also be that he is having simple partial or absence seizures -- so it's important to let his neurologist know exactly what's been going on.