Mood Swings For Days After Seizures

[Ashconsebzoe]

I’m engaged to a woman I love very much who’s also both an alcoholic (in recovery) and an epileptic. For most of the time I’ve know her the seizures have been kept in check with meds, but when she’s relapsed with alcohol in the past they’ve come on like clockwork. I used to associate the mood swings she’d go through with these relapses with the alcohol, but I’m seeing now that that’s not likely to be the case.

Last Friday was her birthday and to celebrate she bought this herbal “mood relaxer” called Red Dawn. I wasn’t too happy about it, but she was insistent, and bought it anyway. It came in a 6 ounce bottle with instructions to take two cap-fulls. Well, she drank 2/3 of the bottle ,and of course, later on this ended up bringing on seizures, which continued sporadically Saturday and Sunday. I later found out that she hadn’t taken her Dilantin on purpose that day and the night before because she, ironically, didn’t want a bad reaction.

Thankfully the seizures stopped after Sunday, but now it’s like I’m living with a completely different woman. Her moods are all over the place, her judgment is way off, she’s still having memory gaps, she has trouble figuring out what words she wants to use, and she’s become incredibly nasty. This has happened before when there have been seizures, but I always chalked this up to alcohol. Well, she’s on antabuse (sp?), and we were with family Friday who also ensures she can’t drink, so I know that this time that wasn’t a factor.

I really feel guilty, because I know deep down it’s not her fault, but I really don’t want to be around her at all when she’s like this. She’ll go from wanting to have sex (which I haven’t been into at all just because of the way she’s been) to saying she’s going to leave me and vice versa at the drop of a hat. This has lasted for a couple of weeks before, and it’s become very hard to want to go home when she’s like this. She’s also always tired during episodes like this, always falling asleep incredibly early. I can’t talk to her about this at all because as soon as I bring it up the defenses go right up and nothing I say can be right.

Is this normal? Are mood swings and behavior changes like this common after seizures, and lasting this long? Is it a symptom of something more?

 

[Fedup]

Mood swings happen and a lot of it can be down to the medication.

 

[Ashconsebzoe]

She is on some other medications, Risperdal and Metphormin, along with one or two others I can't recall offhand. It's not just the moods, though, but motor skills, attention span, slurring speech, it really worries me that this goes on as long as it does after a seizure. It's not as pronounced as it was at first, but still seeing it there at all 3 days after the last seizure doesn't seem right.

 

[MuayThaiFighter]

Well if seizures aren't under control, mood changes can happen and that includes hostility. Have you called a Doc? A sudden drop in the anti convulsant is never good on the body and that shouldn't happen unless the Dr. is having her taper off. I would really call her neuro or their nurse to see if it could be a reaction to the other drugs. I hope things work out soon.

 

[Cint]

Well if seizures aren't under control, mood changes can happen and that includes hostility. Have you called a Doc? A sudden drop in the anti convulsant is never good on the body and that shouldn't happen unless the Dr. is having her taper off. I would really call her neuro or their nurse to see if it could be a reaction to the other drugs. I hope things work out soon.

:agree: Mood swings and epilepsy DO go hand in hand and adding alcohol on top of it is adding fuel to the fire! One should NEVER suddenly drop an AED. That could cause a person to go status (non-stop seizure). And doing so can also cause a person's moods to drastically change because of the changes that happen in the brain while going off/changing meds. Also, alcohol along with AED's can worsen the seizures, so make sure you tell her neuro And anti-psychotic drugs like Risperdol, Abilify, Zyprexa can cause Type 1 Diabetes. Metformin is a medication usually prescribed for Type 2 diabetes. Does she also have Diabetes and is she seeing an endocrinologist as well as a therapist?

 

[Ashconsebzoe]

She does also have diabetes, brought on by polycystic ovarian syndrome.

Part of the problem is right now she doesn't have a regular doctor. She has no insurance, I can't add her to my plan yet since we're not married and she stays home with our twins. All the medication she has came from the county health department. I know this is a bad situation, she should be under a regular doctor's care, but until we're married in a few weeks she'll be uninsured. She can't even get medicaid because her and I live together and they say I make too much (and I don't make that much).

EDIT: Another part of the problem is that she's been suffering from depression, she's hasn't been taking her medication as regularly as she should (missing a day here and there) and she's tried to go with BS herbal remedies, which have only exacerbated the issue.

 

[Cint]

At least try to stop the herbal treatment. I also have E, depression and Type 1 Diabetes from the Zyprexa, so getting it all sorted out is very tough. She needs to take the AED's. Better safe than sorry.

 

[Ashconsebzoe]

Oh, absolutely. I didn't know about the herbal remedies until after the fact, that's been stopped. I do everything I can to encourage her to take her meds, but work has me out of the house for 11-12 hours each day, so I can only do so much.

 

[petero]

hey - welcome to the forum
first of all I'm a recovering alcoholic 10 years & 1 month.
I have heard that these "herbal blends" are terrible for seizures. These things alone can cause seizures. I would never smoke any of those "herbal blend" type products.
I laud you for helping her through these tough times.
I was on Risperdal for a month or so and it didn't seem appropriate for me to take given the effects I was experiencing.
I've been on phenytoin (Dilantin) since diagnosed in 2008. From what I've learned about it, missing a dose shouldn't do much at all as far as an immediate effect is concerned. It's my understanding the drug stays in the body until it is metabolized and isn't expelled immediately like other drugs. So I can't recommend skipping a dose, but I can't say either that missing a dose would have an immediate effect.
I have heard that drinking can cause seizures, and sometimes I attribute my epilepsy with having been a heavy drinker for many years (though I have considered other reasonable origins).
Alcohol can affect the way medications work also.
Keep us up to date on how it's going.

 

[Ashconsebzoe]

Oh, she's certainly had seizures brought on by alcohol, and I really do think these herbal things did bring it on this last time.

I'm leaving work and won't be near a computer for a few hours, but I really want to say thank you to everyone who's offered advice, it helps immensely, even if with nothing more than my own mental well being.