Headaches.

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froggy

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A wee bit of background: I had my first seizure in July of this year. Following that I had a head CT, MRI, and EEG that were all normal. I had my second seizure last week. Since the second one I've had a lot of headaches. I've had periodic migraines for years and they run in my family. These aren't quite as bad as my typical migraines but they are much more frequent. Excedrin usually takes care of it. They've mostly been coming on in the evenings. I'm taking 500 mg of Keppra twice a day and seem to be tollerating it well so far. I had a cold last week and thought that the headaches were related to that but they've held on longer than the cold did.

So, opinions? Experiences? My images from just a few months ago showed absolutely no indication of anything that shouldn't be in my brain and I don't remember having these headaches after the first seizure.
 
What kind of seizure did you have? Is there a chance that you whacked your head or back, and that's causing the headache? Since the headaches come on at the end of the day, perhaps fatigue and eyestrain are playing a role too, especially if you are still recovering. Some people experience headaches as part of the post-seizure recovery period. Even if you didn't experience them after the first seizure, it's possible for seizure patterns to change, and for the recovery time to vary.

Migraines and epilepsy are closely related, so perhaps whatever triggered your second seizure has also led to a lower threshold for migraines or migrainr-like headaches.
 
Hi, Froggy,

Did I say welcome to the forum? :)

Keppra is a medication that is sometimes prescribed to prevent headaches. I looked up the adverse reactions to Keppra in the package insert. http://professionals.epilepsy.com/medications/p_keppra_pi.html
The incidence of headache is almost identical between Keppra and a placebo. So it doesn't happen often. But it can happen. Here's another site to look up what patients think of Keppra: www.askapatient.com

My migraines got worse as my seizures got worse, too. Nak is right - they are related. Are you keeping a seizure diary? It might be helpful to record your migraines in there, too, and see if you can see a pattern.

If all else fails, you may want to see a headache specialist. They really do a better job on headaches than a general neurologist.

I'm thinking positive thoughts for you. Migraines are terrible - hope they are gone soon.
 
Thanks to both of you! I'm pretty sure that they were both tonic-clonic seizures. From what I'm told about both of them that seems to fit the best. And I did hit my head with this last one! I had a black eye and a bruise on my temple. And granted I should be better about wearing my glasses while on the computer. I'll go ahead and track these in my diary just to see what my neuro says at my next appointment.
 
I know nine times out of ten after I have a seizure I'll have anything from a little headache to one where I'm laying on the couch with an ice pack on my head.

Keep a seizure diary as said above. Did you say that you do get headaches after a seizure normally? Do you spend alot of time alone and get the headaches when you are alone? There could be a chance that you may have had a seizure, and if you're like me unless there's someone there to see me have one and tell me that I've had it then I don't know it happened.

I do spend alot of time alone in the house while my husband is at work and I'm sure I've had them while he's gone because there have been times where I'll end up with some sort of headache.

A few months back my neurologist sent me to a headache clynic because I told him that the meds he gave me didn't seem to do anything.

At the clynic I don't think they understood that the only time that I have these headaches are after a seizure, I think they thought I was getting them on a regular basis. I told them I could have a few seizures in a week and then go a few weeks without one. They didn't come on a regular basis, but they just didn't seem to understand that.

They gave me a shot to take when I have a bad headache but I really don't notice if it does anything.

Let me know what you find out for yourself. I'd love to know any way to stop these because some of them just kill me!

Thanks
 
For the really bad ones have you tried a migraine med? Something like maxalt or imitrex? Maxalt works great for me when I get the really bad ones.
 
Is Maxalt prescription? I tried the Imitrex and it didn't really seem to do anything for me. The Imiterx was prescription that I took.
 
It is a scrip. Its in the same family as imitrex. But imitrex did less than nothing for me too. Maxalt has been like a miracle!
 
My headaches come after Szs-Really blinding ones & often I can only get respite from pressing my eyeballs really hard with my thumbs!
 
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