hello all! my husband was recently diagnosed with epilepsy in october 2013. this diagnosis came after a heavy night of drinking on top of close to 4 hours of sleep after being up for almost 22 hours. he had a grand mal, and was taken to the er by ambulance., where he had another seizure 2 hours after arriving. he had an cat scan and mri which both came back great. no problems. he then had an eeg which came back abnormal. the doctor put him on keppra 2x daily 500 mg and advised him to lower his caffeine and alcohol intake and no driving for 6 months. he did just that. and was doing ok untl last week. he had suffered another seizure, while at work. when i got there, they said that he was dehydrated. this could have been due to the caffeine, his workout the day before or his alcohol intake the day before as well. i dont know im so scared and confused. we dont get to see his doctor until next week sometime and i have been literally crazy every day since this happened. at the er, he was given a prescription to up his keppra dosage and he seems to be taking it well. ive just been a nervous wreck and really dont have anyone to talk to and feel alone . we both have small families and i dont have a barrage of friends, so im hoping to connect with people here who can offer insight, prayers and just listen. thanks in advance
new to this husband recently diagnosed
- Thread starter lirva
- Start date
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!
Ruth
New
- Messages
- 3,025
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
Exercise is good for us, so you can rule that out as a cause.
I take Keppra. My neurologist told me to take Vitamin B Complex, one pill a day, over the counter. I do not have any problems with Keppra.
If he can cut out his alcohol completely that would be better. I was told that I could have some alcohol by my doctor and it increased my seizures.
You don't need to feel alone anymore. This is a great place to be.
Bernard made this forum out of love for his wife Stacy. That love permeates throughout the whole forum.
You can PM me anytime and tell me you just want me to listen. I will.
You are welcome.
I take Keppra. My neurologist told me to take Vitamin B Complex, one pill a day, over the counter. I do not have any problems with Keppra.
If he can cut out his alcohol completely that would be better. I was told that I could have some alcohol by my doctor and it increased my seizures.
You don't need to feel alone anymore. This is a great place to be.
Bernard made this forum out of love for his wife Stacy. That love permeates throughout the whole forum.
You can PM me anytime and tell me you just want me to listen. I will.
You are welcome.
- Messages
- 2,241
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
lirva
welcome to cwe.I take tegretol,Topamax and phenobarb.
I'm sorry about your husband being diagnosed with epilepsy.
He will need to cut back on his drinking like Ruth says and drinking doesn't go with the meds.I'm not able to take Keppra because I'm allergic to it.
The people on this forum can be great at answering your questions.I've had epilepsy since I was a little kid.
The pills can depress you or the seizures can depress you, when your having them.
welcome to cwe.I take tegretol,Topamax and phenobarb.
I'm sorry about your husband being diagnosed with epilepsy.
He will need to cut back on his drinking like Ruth says and drinking doesn't go with the meds.I'm not able to take Keppra because I'm allergic to it.
The people on this forum can be great at answering your questions.I've had epilepsy since I was a little kid.
The pills can depress you or the seizures can depress you, when your having them.
Yeah, epilepsy can be difficult and I often wish I was never diagnosed with it and often ask why do I have it, but over time it's just waste of depression because regardless of how much I hate it or something just makes things worse.
Your husband should cut out all alcohol consumption, if he must at least have perhaps something as wine with little alcohol in it. At least that would help him, and reducing caffeine ? I guess it could be a trigger, but in my opinion he should try to find the right dosage and right medicine to suppress his seizures regardless of what he consumes. I just say he shouldn't drink.
I've never been drunk in my life or ever smoked anything, so really that's not a hard part on me except for caffeine and my neurologist never told me to stop it. My cardiologist did, at first when he thought it was syncope but it was epilepsy.
Caffeine, stress, alcohol, all can be triggers but in my opinion he should take some vacation time if he is working too much at least every little while.
When I was first diagnosed, it was very depressing, and when my neurologist (additional training in epilepsy) put me on the first medication keppra xr they continued, so he upped the dosage, and they continued, and upped, until it was at max dose. I was averaging a seizure once a month until I was put on lamictal, that was September... Now, I am almost off of keppra xr and will stop in a few weeks and will see how it turns out.
Don't worry, hopefully everything will get better but he does need to reduce his stress level and drink more water with reducing caffeine.
Your husband should cut out all alcohol consumption, if he must at least have perhaps something as wine with little alcohol in it. At least that would help him, and reducing caffeine ? I guess it could be a trigger, but in my opinion he should try to find the right dosage and right medicine to suppress his seizures regardless of what he consumes. I just say he shouldn't drink.
I've never been drunk in my life or ever smoked anything, so really that's not a hard part on me except for caffeine and my neurologist never told me to stop it. My cardiologist did, at first when he thought it was syncope but it was epilepsy.
Caffeine, stress, alcohol, all can be triggers but in my opinion he should take some vacation time if he is working too much at least every little while.
When I was first diagnosed, it was very depressing, and when my neurologist (additional training in epilepsy) put me on the first medication keppra xr they continued, so he upped the dosage, and they continued, and upped, until it was at max dose. I was averaging a seizure once a month until I was put on lamictal, that was September... Now, I am almost off of keppra xr and will stop in a few weeks and will see how it turns out.
Don't worry, hopefully everything will get better but he does need to reduce his stress level and drink more water with reducing caffeine.
- Messages
- 5,983
- Reaction score
- 993
- Points
- 268
Caffeine and stress, mental and physical, are huge seizure triggers for me. Not getting enough sleep is another. I've been dealing with a lot of stress with things that are going on in my life right now and I've been having seizures left and right.
I'm not too sure about the alcohol for me because I very rarely drink. When I do it's only at big family get togethers, like Christmas, and I'll only have one drink. I know that it is a seizure trigger for many people.
One side effect of Keppra is becoming angry very easy, its nicknamed Keprage. He could yell at you or other people very easy. I'm on it and I know I do these things not realizing that I'm doing it.
This is a great web site. There is probably at least one person here that is dealing the same issue that you could be dealing with, no matter how stupid it may seem.
I don't have many friends or family that live close by and sometimes when you try to talk to them about things dealing with epilepsy they don't quite understand what you are trying to describe. Almost all the time on here people will.
It's nice to meet you and I know that you will be to get and give a lot of advice!
I'm not too sure about the alcohol for me because I very rarely drink. When I do it's only at big family get togethers, like Christmas, and I'll only have one drink. I know that it is a seizure trigger for many people.
One side effect of Keppra is becoming angry very easy, its nicknamed Keprage. He could yell at you or other people very easy. I'm on it and I know I do these things not realizing that I'm doing it.
This is a great web site. There is probably at least one person here that is dealing the same issue that you could be dealing with, no matter how stupid it may seem.
I don't have many friends or family that live close by and sometimes when you try to talk to them about things dealing with epilepsy they don't quite understand what you are trying to describe. Almost all the time on here people will.
It's nice to meet you and I know that you will be to get and give a lot of advice!
Caffeine, alcohol and a wide variety of other medications and supplements can reduce the seizure threshold. Alcohol, literally 2 sips of a rum runner, triggered my last one. I would much rather cut out alcohol than even chance another seizure. This forum is great, I have been welcomed with open arms by everyone, you will get the moral support you need here, I know I have.