Mood Changes

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!

T

tam bam

New
Messages
216
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Hi

I am new to this forum and I will tell all of you my story later because I have to go back to work soon. I was just wondering if anyone else had this problem though. I get really angery with some of my seizures, (or at least I think it is seizure related). The other day I lashed out at a co-worker basically for no reason at all. A few minutes later I couldn't believe it happened but it did. She got really angry with me back. I felt horrible.

I seem to have these overwhelming mood changes. I can go from really happy to sad or to angry in a split second without realizing what I am doing. Later that day I had a grand mal that was hard for me to come out of. Does anyone else have this problem. I went to Mayo back in May and they wanted me to see a shrink and I told them no thanks, I will not be back. Now my new neuro is says that I am having seizures. I think I have had them for 9 years now and have been living this way without a concrete diagnosis. I have seen 10 neuros and a neurosurgeon in the past 9 years but no one could tell me what is wrong. Go figure.

Thanks so much for reading and for any replies. I feel lost and lonely.

tam bam
 
Hi tam bam, welcome to the forum. :hello:

Strong, irrational mood swings can be related to post-ictal states and even side effects of AEDs. Are you taking any AEDs currently?
 
Thanks for the reply Bernard. I am currently taking Lyrica. I do recall doing this to my mom, husband, a nurse at my family doctor's office and to another person I didn't even know on the phone that I was talking to one time. I started taking Lyrica about two months ago but the anger snaps started, well about 9 years ago. My husband noticed it first and in the past year it as gotten worse for me to control, (I cannot control it at all).

I read somewhere that this can happen with partial seizures. My seizures are kind of mixed I guess you could say. They started off being simple partial and then complex partial and now I am having absence seizures, tonic-clonic and grand mals all the time. It really stinks. I think I do still have some partial seizures as well because my husband says I will walk and mumble non-sense. I can have up to 10 seizures per day on my bad days (Noticible ones to others). I quite counting the absence seizures because I can have up to 15 of those per day. It makes it hard to concentrate at times.

I used to take topamax but I had a neuro retire on me without telling me and I resorted to a family practice doctor for treatment and he took me off of it becuase he thought I had dystonia, (movement disorder - which I do not have), and he thought maybe it was a side effect to the topamax. I was on a low dose at the time and took it for 2 years and once I got off of it my life became a total nightmare. I recently saw my family doctor and had a seizure in front of him and I asked him if I could get back on the topamax but at an epilepsy dose and he said it was not used for epilepsy but for migraines, (which is not true because I had a neuro explain to me what the dose is for epilepsy and what the dose is for migraines). UGH!!! I just get frustrated with doctors.

Sorry to ramble on but I had to get some things out so that they are not on my chest anymore.

Thanks again,
tam bam
 
I hear you on the doctors not knowing their meds tam bam -- my partner and I have been dealing with that same kind of problem recently. His GP prescribed something for back pain which made him unable to function, gave him mood swings, but when we went back and told him, the Doc flipped through his little Rx book and said he should keep taking it *rolls eyes* So we slowly reduced his dose and he's doing much better.

How long have you been off the topomax? When did you start on it? Could that be related to your worsening anger snaps?

Welcome to the forum!
 
Hi Tam Bam and welcome,

I have experienced SP, CP seizures and TC seizures and tried many meds, and yes I have experienced severe mood swings also, along with seizures. Unfortunately, I have seen a shrink, too, and take anti-depressant along with AEDs. Mood swings are common in mixed type seizures, especially complex partial seizures. Topomax IS used for epilepsy as well as bi-polar (as are many AEDs), migraines and numerous other problems. I hope you can find a decent doctor. With the number of seizures and intensity, IMO, an epileptologist would be the best type of dr. for you.
 
I just read a past link explaing this whole mood swing thing.

Torak posted it in 2007 and it explains it to a T. It is basically a warning sign before a grand mal. Wow! It finally explains a lot of things. My husband has been telling me for 3 months now he knows when my big ones are going to hit, (meaning grand mal). This is exactly what happened the other day when I bit off my co-worker's head because later that night I had a grand mal.

My gosh, this is getting bad. I just hope I can get this 2nd EEG soon so I can get on the right meds and not chew anybody else out. I am not always angry before this happens though. I can also feel anxious, extremely happy, pity for myself, depressed or impending fear. It is a strange feeling when this happens and sometimes I don't know how I make it though the day. I am just tired of the whole thing and wish it would go away because this is not me.

tam bam
 
anger auras

I get angry a lot. I do have seizures afterward. I am taking 5-htp. It does seem to help a bit. I also try to relax, and tell myself that people are just not worth choking to sithereens, just cuz you get angry at them.
I seem to be handling the stress better, probably cuz I am sleeping better at night because of the 5-htp.
You may want to try this with your evening meal, and relax until you retire for the evening.
 
Thank You Epileric, you are a mine of useful information. Where do you keep it all? My brain seems to have pushed most of the information out to make way for the misfires and *brain farts*.
 
You're welcome LM

Actually I just google things. When you've been as forgetful as I have for so long you learn how to compensate.:)
 
Hi Tam, just wanted to give you some ***hugs***.

I have been an emotional mess also. I'll be perfectly fine then something will cause me to fly into a rage. Its quite scary. Or I'll be laughing one minute then crying the next.

Hope you find comfort in knowing you're not alone.

And I love google as well. I have it as my toolbar. Ha..:rock:
 
Awwww, tam

I'm sorry you're going through this. I've been in your place several times---but each time was on a different med. And if you asked me what meds, I couldn't tell you the names right off the top of my head except one--Depakote. I don't have the auras that you're talking about, but I do feel for ya. (((HUGS)))
 
Tam Bam-
I had a similar situation happen with me- I am in the process of locating a neurologist here in Texas. I grew up here and just moved back last year. In Oklahoma, you can find lots of specialists in bigger cities, but its been hard for me to find one here in Austin! SO I too went to my family doctor just to keep my Keppra XR and Tegretol XR going without stopping until I get a neuro. My family doctor didn't even know how to dose my meds! He was going to give me 1000mg of Keppra XR a day instead of my usual 3000mg. I told him, "no, i take 3000mg, why would we change it now?" He didn't even seem to understand my request for it. My siezures have been more frequent and so my only option was to ask for Keppra XR in hopes that the extended release would do be better as far as maintaining a steady amount of meds just like my Tegretol XR.
I really felt uncomfortable having to tell my family doctor how to prescribe the meds- good thing I know what I'm on and how much and when! There are some people that don't even know!
I went to the ER after having two Complex partials this month on the 5th and the guy next to me is having a heart attack and he doesn't even know what he is taking.. that is SCARY.

Anyways- might have to deal with family doctor until you get a neurologist again just like me. Bad situation but better than nothing at all, in my opinion.

Please take care, and hopfully things will work out faster than for me. I go to neuro on the Nov. 19th after waiting 9 months already just to locate one.

Take care,
Crystal
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom