Could my meds be causing other problems or may I have ADHD?

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s10sleeper

s10sleeper

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Hello everyone, I am just curious due to something that occurred awhile back. I hope this is the right forum. I have been having severe problems with work ever since my meds got changed a few years back and my seizures had started increasing. About 4 years ago the neurologist switched me from depakote and gabitril to depakote, trileptal and keppra. I then started having insomnia chronically and I had alot of trouble concentrating at work, unable to do any jobs that involved alot of work or communication. I eventually got put on ambien for my sleep issues, ativan as a rescue med that I never take, and back on gabitril so now I am taking 4 AEDs constantly and also had the neuropace implant done 2 years ago.

Anyways, due to all of my troubles and also depression they added on lexapro and I am at the max dose for that, of 20 mg. I have been told many times by people that they thought I had adhd as a child and wondered if it may have also come back.

After all of that, I ended up losing my job and going on disability, but I hate being stuck indoors and prefer to be active but alone. I finally got fed up and started another job but was still having the exact same problems. Luckily I am only part time and am able to leave when I need to, but hate to go home because I am bored with everything.

One thing that happened the other day was that I had some pain in my jaw due to some problems I have with grinding my teeth at times and so I went to take some ibuprofen from a friends bottle at work. Unfortunately one of the pills I think turned out to be an adderall as he also had his prescription med in there and he said that it turned up missing and not all of the ibuprofen. All I know is that although I wasn't wired at all, i was able to do my work that day with no trouble, able to listen to my bosses instructions and get every job completed without jumping around. I was afraid that I was going to have a seizure, but never did and so I thought that was odd, but did document the accidental taking of the med.

What also got me was that my coworker couldn't believe I wasn't wired at all and another funny thing is my nervous twitches stopped, as I always grind my teeth and shake my foot when sitting down.

Anyways, he pointed that out, which concerned me and so I spoke with my doc about my problems as I never realized the way that I normally am was any different, but it was also pointed out that I was even worse when I quit taking any sinus meds or drinking energy drinks. I may be wrong of course but it has me wondering if these are side effects of a medication although the new meds I was never on as a child or if it is possible that I may have adult ADHD. I am concerned as I want to be able to work as well as possible and get off of disability completely but I hate the thought of taking new meds as I am already on alot and try not to take my ambien when possible. I am also worried that any stimulant meds may cause problems although I have never had troubles with the sudafed you have to sign for and also with caffeine. I have never ever tried any illegal drugs though as I don't think that is smart at all, especially with seizures. I have an appt with a therapist on tuesday as I am sick of the way i feel and that is the only way to get in with a psychiatrist.
 
BTW to anyone concerned, I am not trying to get on any additional meds, and actually hope that just regular therapy will fix it all. I know that many people try to abuse medications, which is just crazy IMO, I prefer to keep my heart and I like my sleep too much to try to jump on anything else. If I were able to I would even give up taking ambien at night as the side effects are horrible and same with all of the others. Even the lexapro destroyed a relationship with an ex of mine due to the side effects it has on men.
 
It's interesting that you had a decent reaction to the Adderall (if that's what you took). For people with ADHD, stimulants tend to have a paradoxical effect -- that is, they have a calming reaction. You might want to get evaluated for ADHD, but I agree it's important to be wary about adding another medication. With ADHD meds, the effect goes away when you stop taking the med, so it's yet another med you have to commit to for the long-term.

I don't know if this is option for you, but neurofeedback has shown a lot of promise with ADD/ADHD, and the benefits appear to remain after the sessions are over (unlike meds).
 
I have heard a little about neurofeedback, however from what little I know, I am not certain that it is something that would be able to work along with my RNS implant, although I would have to research it further. Also, the other concern is cost, as medicaid is willing to cover some medications but many centers that specialize in certain areas may not accept KS medicaid. I found this out recently when I checked with my epilepsy center in Wichita and they recommended I get a second opinion from another center that can handle the RNS implant and found out that the others do not accept KS medicaid. I have alot of trouble finding places that do and so that is one of the reasons I have never gone to see a doctor as the few times I have visited doctors other than the epilepsy center the other places that accept it are places like First Care clinics, with bottom of the barrel doctors that treat you horribly.

An example of that is my last appt was scheduled for a 30 minute appt, when I went in I waited for the doctor to come in, she asked my symptoms, said shed be back with a script and brought me a script for Tramadol, which puts me into status seizures and is in the records for that as they gave it to me before and I ended up in the er having to be loaded with Ativan. I had to finally explain I did not want any pain meds for my back, I just needed to see about some muscle relaxants for a couple of days as I had just started a hard job and pulled a muscle in my back. All in all, the doctor was in the room for less than 5 minutes and I got billed 135 dollars for that visit as I had to meet my spenddown first.

Anyways, sorry to drift, I will research into the neurofeedback though, thanks. And BTW, I spoke with my coworker to find out what the pill was, he showed it to me and it was a 20 mg adderall, so I will definitely have to let my doc know in case any seizures did occur in my sleep or anything else odd happened. As far as stimulants go though, I know I have never had a problem with them, and the doctors said that it was ok for me to take things such as pseudoephedrine and ephedrine with guaifenisin for allergies, but benadryl and many other meds that induce drowsiness other than ambien and benzos actually increase my seizures. ambien doesn't actually make me drowsy though, just allows me to sleep, my mind stops going a million miles per hour, but I hate the hallucinations once in awhile. Ativan never makes me tired at all even after having to take 2 mg. But like I said, I hate to take them so I never do, still have a full bottle from 6 months ago in the bag from the pharmacy. figure no need to even open them as if I do have a status epilepticus my father knows where they are and can get it under my tongue.

My other concern is how antisocial I am anymore. I hate being in large crowds and drift from conversation to conversation. I even have trouble calling my family and staying on the phone with them. That was also my major issue at my old job at a call center when these issues started coming back, I did not like to talk on the phones much although that was my main job. My new job is great, great people, great benefits, but I just cannot stay involved as it is so monotonous and does not interest me at all. I always did great in jobs where i was able to work with numbers, until I knew how it was done, then couldn't stand it anymore and never could bear to read more than a couple pages at a time.

Anyways, is there anykind of link anyone may have as to how this neurofeedback works, I would like to find out about it.

Thanks.
 
Thanks, I'll check into that. I will also let you know how the appt goes. I am definitely looking forward to the possibility of being able to get back into the full swing of work and to be able to work towards a career. I despise living off of disability as I know there are many others with situations worse than myself that need the assistance more than I do. Besides, health insurance from a job is way easier to get into doctors with than medicaid.
 
Well, I have had a couple of therapy sessions at the mental health center. They have helped a little. I am trying to do all that I can currently to deal with the troubles and still have alot of social problems and work related issues. I cannot get motivated at work, cannot stay on task, and get distracted way to easily. It was also pointed out to me by my therapist that I have alot of problems fidgeting arount really bad and tend to stray off topic all the time. He is saying it really points to ADHD badly and so I have a med eval in 2 weeks. The doctor I am going to see actually has ADHD himself so I think that will help in him evaluating whether or not it is that or something else. The other great thing is that he knows my doctor at the epilepsy center as he is from the same city. I really hope they are able to figure something out so that I can get back into working. I really started to notice that most of my work problems have not been seizure related as much as these other issues. Granted the seizures have made me leave work, but my performance has suffered from the other issues. I would also love to be able to get out and about and develop some relationships with others.
 
I grind and clench my teeth 24/7, and my teeth are actually visibly sawed down because of this. That's my #1 symptom (noticed it in the mid-90's) - and so far Lamictal has done nothing to reduce that symptom. I also have concentration issues...days where I can't focus at all...and days where I over-concentrate OCD-ing things.

Have you read the Freiburger Appeal (below)? These (German) doctors believe that microwave radiation (from things like cell phone masts, wifi networks, etc...) might be contributing to all sorts of health, behavioral, and concentration issues. Current safety guidelines were based exclusively on thermal effects. These doctors recognize that non-thermal effects also exist...

http://www.starweave.com/freiburger/
 
I have only been on seizure meds for 7 months. My husband and son are adhd. Since starting them I swear I cannot concentrate, or focus at work. Everything distracts me, from the phone ringing to customers talking. This is horrible. I now feel for my son and husband. I think in my case it's the meds, since I did not have this issue until I started them. I am on my 6th one, so maybe they all have this effect.
 
are you on 6 AED total? Thats odd, from what my doc said they normally never do more than 3 because beyond that they are unlikely to help. They have me on 4 though, but the problems I have had I have had even when I was on different meds. After speaking with my therapist, I realized alot of my issues stemmed from childhood when my seizures first started, even before my epilepsy diagnosis was made.
 
No, I keep getting allergic to them with hives, chest pains ect., or I cannot tolerate the side effects. Keppra was a nightmare for me. I am now on Topomax, and have weened down to 500 mg of Keppra. Been on that for 5 weeks. So far, except that I am starting to have small seizures everyday, I am doing ok. I am having trouble sleeping, and only able to get 3 or 4 hours a night of sleep.
 
I take Keppra too, along with Gabitril, trileptal and Depakote. I also take ativan as a rescue med. I have alot of trouble sleeping and so the doctors have had me on Ambien the past 2 years. I hate the side effects but can't sleep without it as my mind runs a million miles an hour. With it I can sleep for about 2 hours and then wake up. The rest of the night is about 30 minutes asleep, 30 awake and so on. So far Ambien is the only thing that helps me sleep. Regular sedatives do nothing, Lunesta does nothing and melatonin helps very little. Sleep meds long term is no fun, what I have learned to do to prevent building a tolerance though is to allow at least 15 days without it after a fill is used up.
 
uggg! after 4 years of being so tired and wanting to sleep all the time and not getting any doctors to listen to me about these episodes, when I finally get one who listens, treats me, and finally feel better, then become allergic to the medicine, now I get one that does not let me sleep! great-no I will be up for the next 4!!! The problem is I am so tired in the afternoon at work, and am having such a hard time concentrating. When I get home, I seem to wake back up, and cannot sleep. It's like a horrible cycle. I had decided to call my doctor this morning to see what we could do about this, but I hate to add another drug to the mix.
 
I also only get 3 to 4 hours of sleep most nights, and it is only a tossy-turny light sleep in which I can actually remember opening my eyes and glancing at the moonlight and staring at the insides of my eyelids in between. Some nights I can't even fall asleep until sunrise or I wake up a couple hours after I fall asleep...and remain awake. I believe wireless technology has a lot to do with my symptoms because, until the mid-1990's, I used to sleep like a baby for 8 or 9 hours every night. In fact, an EMF researcher called me and wanted to speak to me, but she travels a lot internationally and I've yet to speak with her, but I'd emailed her about my concerns.

Wired but tired: is modern life draining your energy?

http://www.theecologist.org/green_g...ired_is_modern_life_draining_your_energy.html
 
My sleep is the same way, Elizzza. I remember opening my eyes many times in my sleep. I have been that way for my whole life as far back as I remember though. It would be nice to have a good nights sleep sometimes. I am also the type that never needs an alarm clock because I wake so often. and so I have never overslept more than a few minutes. If I try to force myself to sleep more though, I wind up with a severe headache.
 
Adhd

What I can tell you is after taking my neuro psych test prior to RTL they told me I definitely had ADD or ADHD (don't remember) as a child and this made totally sense to me. Those terms weren't used when I was a child since we just used the term brat, but absolutely I had it and still do...if that's what you want to call it or is it strictly a symptom (appears like ADHD) of the epileptic brain?

I can tell you that I'm extremely hyper in the brain. I grind my teeth while sleeping, I will rock when standing in place or sitting for too long, I can't sit and watch T.V., I get frustrated quickly because most move at what I call a slow pace (I know it's the normal pace), my ability to multi-task has completely disappeared (it's as if my brain just comes to a complete stop), and insomnia is the norm for me but I've learned to live with less sleep. Basically I'm high-strung and I don't take my meds and control my seizures now with the Gluten Free Diet and today I have nocturnal seizures / Complex Partials (only in sleep and they come far and few between now...thanks to the GF diet). However, my brain is overly active and I have no visual memory due to RTL surgery and I've come to accept life as is. I'm like a crack head without the crack. I also bore very quickly but these days I have a lot of work (I work from home / computer geek) and this has helped me tremendously. Sometimes I think releasing that high strung energy is the answer and maybe even helps control the seizures. For ex: If I'm confined for too long (sitting in a meeting or something) I will definitely start rocking...it's like I'm a caged animal and I need to get that energy out and if I'm able to release that energy it's like a relief for me. The rocking...I actually find it soothing.

Here's what a doctor told me when I first started meds...I called him up and said you have me on the wrong medication because I feel "slow" (yes, like a slow person - handicapped) and he laughed and said, "Good, it means it's working. Your brain is going at 100 mph and the speed limit is only 55 mph. and the meds act like a governor on the brain and you'll get used to it in about 3 months and you won't know any better". He was right as I did get used to it and didn't know any better but originally couldn't believe this was the per se' pace for the normal person. For whatever it's worth...yes, I'm tired sometimes at this pace but it's my brain and I've come to accept this pace. Perhaps you can find a way to channel that extra energy in a positive way.
 
Thats an interesting way to explain it. As for myself, I don't rock back and forth, but fidget with my hands and feet very badly. I constantly shake my foot if I have my legs crossed and tap my fingers on the chair or desk. This was pointed out to me by my therapist. I always thought it was fairly normal throughout my life as I have always been that way. my other big problems that concern me is that I have alot of trouble being social with people, cannot strike up conversations with people I don't know, especially females, have never really had much of a lasting relationship as I many times will upset the women that I do start a relationship with by saying something that I should never have said, basically speaking first and then thinking about it.

At work I have alot of problems because I have troubles staying on task and get bored very quickly and within an hour start to get real sloppy on my work, messing up orders and such. I have had trouble maintaining long jobs most of the time except for my previous job that involved computers and electronics, which is what I am able to do ok in since I was able to do the work my own way.

Anyways, in fact I just got in trouble again at work today because I forgot to contact my boss in regards to my hours worked and I had been late constantly while he was gone. He was also going on about how easily I get sidetracked. I tried to explain to him that I try as hard as I can not to, however it still ends up happening.

One thing that I have tried to do is break up my cigarette breaks so that I am taking about one break an hour, however, once I get back I have trouble getting remotivated and many times start thinking that I could go do something else instead of being at work. It takes everything for me to stay at work and prevent myself from doing that, although it has happened, someone would call me on my cell phone and so I would end up deciding I needed to go do that immediately. In order to prevent that I have started turning my ringer off on my phone when at work, but still have to carry it as that is the only way my father can contact me as I have to care for him too.

Regardless of what it is, whether it is meds, or whatever else the cause is. I am hoping that the therapy will help alot and that during the med eval they can figure out if it is my meds or if there is anything else they can do.

As far as the neuro psych test goes, I haven't ever really seemed to have much trouble with those as I am able to remember numbers very well although may get them switched around after awhile. I am usually able to get them done in half the time alotted, but I'm not certain if they are exactly the same as your neuro psych eval, as mine is strictly for my RNS implant and all the data goes to neuropace for it.
 
Oddly enough

I am supposed to be ADD/ADHD as well, and it would fit my personality quite well if any one of you met me. Even as I set here typing this, my feet are wiggling around in circles, legs bouncing up and down on the sofa. The laptop is going up and down....

My mind constantly runs 100 miles an hour, and my docs are at a loss what to do as I won't take meds for it. I'm on enough as it is, and I have cut the number of meds that I was on significantly.

I can do things that involve concentration, but only for short spurts of time, and then I'm up and moving. When I went places with my parents as a kid, I used to drive them up a wall.

And like you, s10, I'm on 4 E meds as well, though mine are different--I'm on Lamictal, Topamax, Klonopin and Carbatrol.

What's odd though, is that I do better with concentration if I drink coffee or tea. I can't do drinks like Coke or energy drinks. The carbonation in the Coke really bothers me and the caffeine in it isn't the same. The energy drinks--I just don't want to touch them.

I'm able to deal with work a little more easily because I substitute teach, and so my focus is constantly changing. Yes, I have lesson plans. That's true. And I constantly write notes to myself to make sure that I don't forget stuff because of my inability to concentrate. But I can make it through work quite well....it's a job that I can succeed at. I guess I'm lucky in that respect. :/

Good luck!
 
I used to consume alot of caffeine too, it was the only way that I was able to concentrate at all on my job at the call center. I was big into energy drinks, at one time I was consuming up to 5 a day in an 8 hour period. It was still very tough and I still kept losing track, but I did notice that when I gave up the caffeine things got worse again. I thought about trying caffeine again, but in the heat at the warehouse I work at plus the constant moving around, I drink alot of liquids, can't do coffee in the temperatures at 90 degrees, can't stand carbonated drinks when I am really hot and so the most I can do is iced tea. It hasn't helped much either. I am very similar when sitting down, in fact my laptop is bouncing too and when I get to typing I tend to type so fast that I go too fast for the computer.

Anyways, I usually cannot stand to be online for long periods of time, and can't stand tv either as the shows bore me very quickly. I have been forcing myself to get online and also to work on a to do list to set reminders for everything as I have been getting into alot of trouble at work and even with the doctors for losing track of time. I am always late to work and my last appt my therapist called me at 10 minutes after my scheduled time, I got into something online and so I forgot about the appt. Luckily I only live 4 blocks from the center since I can't drive.

I think today may be a rough day as my insomnia really hit me bad and so I haven't slept a wink. I have to be at work in 2 hours so we'll see how that goes.

Also, Meetz, I was wondering, do you have problems with being in social situations? I have always had that problem. I tend to get bored of the conversations and go to hang out by myself or end up leaving. I have alot of trouble meeting new people for that reason and for the longest time I have been thinking it was just depression, but after talking to my epileptologist about all of this they told me to get started back up with the mental health center as they already had me maxed out on lexapro. Not sure what ideas they may have up their sleeve, but the thought of fewer meds would be nice.
 
Yeah, I

do have problems with the social situations.

I can do the social situations that involve the teaching aspect, as they move quickly and I am having to pass on information to the kids.

Impersonal social situations are the most difficult for me though, especially if I know no one in the situation at all. If I know at least a few people, I can do fairly well, and the more people I know, I MAY start to relax and do better.

I have had some issues with personal situations, especially with my ex-husband. And if I feel that anyone in any of the situatiois is being judgmental, I start to shut down...
 
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