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[svoman18]

Hi everyone, my name is Bryan and I've been having seizures since I was 15. I am now 22.
I've been on lamotrigine from the start and with each seizure, my drug dosage has just been pushed up constantly.
Of course the doctors have told me the same that have told others here, people just develop epilepsy and some people out grow it by the time they're 18. Well that didn't happen for me. Can't say I've ever heard of someone out growing this.

So I was having seizures for a couple years and constantly having education increased and I'd go long enough to start driving and eventually have another seizure. One day my sister happened to be on the internet and read an article about a boy who was having seizures and was born with some other mental issues. And his parents took him to a chiropractor and they found his neck and back were out of alignment and causing a lot of his problems. Needless to say, some of his conditions went away and seizures were reduced to almost none.

So after hearing that, I went to see a chiropractor and he found my neck and back were also way out of alignment. And I told him, prior to my epilepsy, I was playing football and had a 300lb guy fall on me and I heard and felt my back crack. But I was ale to walk away no problem. And this was 3 years before I saw the chiropractor.

So anyways, he started working on realigning my neck and back, and in that process, I went 2 years without a seizure, and that was my longest stretch being free of one. I had quit going for a long time and ended up having a seizure again. Prior to it I could feel my neck hurting and aching.
So I went and saw another chiropractor that was closer to me, and I've been seeing her regularly, but a few days ago I was at one of grass cutting jobs and I believe had a seizure. And in this case I'd been free for a year and a half.

All I remember from this past one is, walking up her driveway with my leaf blower blowing off her sidewalk, then blank....next I remember I am loading up my leaf blower on the trailer, getting my mower tightened down and going to her front door. She flipped when she saw me because my shirt was covered in blood. My nose and head were killing me, so I'm pretty sure I must've face planted into her sidewalk or front porch stairs.

My neurologist doesn't want to increase my medication because she says sometimes a break through seizure can happen at my age cause you're brain is finally fully maturing?

Anyone else heard of that?

 

[valeriedl]

Welcome to the forum!

Did the guy fall on you before or after you started having seizures? I know that head trauma, like a concussion, can cause seizures. If you played football there's a chance that you could have gotten one.

I had problems with my lower back a few years ago and went to a chiropractor for that. He cracked me all over, not just my back, but the amount of seizures that I normally have never changed while I was seeing him.

I know there are people who may go months or years without a seizure them bam one comes out of no where. On average how often were you having seizures before that 2 year run? How often are you having them now?

Have you had a CAT scan or MRI done recently? Any blood work done? There might be a chance that the med needs increased, even if your neuro doesn't want to do it, or the med might need to be changed all together.

 

[svoman18]

He fell on me before I started having them. But he didn't fall on my head, he fell on my shoulder that was up in the air.

After my first seizure, I had another one 3 months later. Then started medication and that held me over for 9 months. Upped my dosage, that held me over for 6 months. Dosage increase again and started seeing the chiropractor. I started at 25mg lamotrigine 2x a day and now I'm at 225mg twice a day.

Prior to the one from the other day, I'd been free of any for a year and a half

She said she wants to see if another one occurs sometime this month before increasing the dosage since I'm already on such a big dosage

 

[masterjen]

Hi, svoman18, and welcome to the forums!
Just curious why your doctor seems insistent on sticking with (just) the lamotrigine. Perhaps the addition of another medication, or a switch to a new one, may be something to consider if the lamotrigine seems to not be working. It is possible to develop a "tolerance" to certain medications and certain medication doses, and this may be what is happening in your case.
It is also worth taking a new look at seizure triggers, as I've heard around here on the forums that these can change, too. Consider any significant life events or changes to your routine that may have been seizure triggers for the recent ones. Some examples: if you have been able to get by with some alcohol in the past it is possible that you no longer can, late nights and insufficient sleep may be acting as a trigger when before these were not an issue, etc. Again, just examples I thought of and I'm sure you can think of ones that will be more relevant to your life. Controlling triggers is always more favorable than upping/changing/adding medication, and it would be great if you can figure out if something has been a recent trigger.

 

[MichaelJO7]

My neurologist doesn't want to increase my medication because she says sometimes a break through seizure can happen at my age cause you're brain is finally fully maturing?

Anyone else heard of that?

From the reading I have done, the frontal lobe in males may not fully be developed until as late as age 30. (Between 20 and 30 appears to be the norm for males.) This is probably what your neurologist is referring to. Your neuronal pathways and connections (in the frontal lobe) may not be fully developed. I am inclined to agree with the reasoning of your neurologist.

 

[AlohaBird]

Did the guy fall on you before or after you started having seizures? I know that head trauma, like a concussion, can cause seizures. If you played football there's a chance that you could have gotten one.

He fell on me before I started having them. But he didn't fall on my head, he fell on my shoulder that was up in the air.

But if you played football for a while this might be about the cumulative effect of getting your head bonked multiple times, not just about any one incident.

When was the last time they ran an MRI on you? My neurologist was just telling me about how much this technology has improved even in the past few years.

 

[svoman18]

I could have gotten more sleep and definitely had more water in me. I didn't have anything to drink before I left for work or at work. So my doctor told me to get more sleep and stay hydrated as those can be triggers.

I've never been hit in the head while playing, I just play with friends at the park.
And no I have never had an mri. I guess the doctors called it good enough with an eeg test.
But I'm thinking I'd like to get one done

 

[Dutch mom]

Welcome svoman18

And no I have never had an mri. I guess the doctors called it good enough with an eeg test.
But I'm thinking I'd like to get one done

An EEG is done to look for epileptic activity in the brain.

A MRI doesn't show epilepsy. It is done to look for possible causes of epilepsy, like brain damage, brain abnormalities etc.

 

[AlohaBird]

Right. ^^^^

An EEG looks at how your brain works, it's a functional test.

An MRI is structural scan. It can rule out any damage from head bonks (and that could be old scar tissue from the time you fell off the monkey bars or your bike as a kid not just the football). It can also rule out nasty stuff like brain tumors and blood vessel tangles (extremely unlikely but...)

Usually they start with the structural scanning first. I'm surprised they didn't do that with you.