Post seizure depression?

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It’s been a month since I had a prolonged tonic clonic seizure. (Also a possible focal seizure around the 23, but I’m waiting to talk to neurologist to confirm)

I just still don’t feel right. I think I’m feeling depressed. I’ve had a few good days and I think “ok. I’m feeling myself again. Thank goodness!” But then other days I’m just sad and find it hard to really accomplish much. My partner tells me I just need to stop and be happy and that I’m ok. I feel bad. I know I’ve been hard to be around and it’s been hard to focus my attention on him. I’ve tried telling him how I feel, but he’s obviously frustrated with me.

Idk, he just doesn’t understand. It’s not like I’m having sad thoughts that make me feel sad. Sometimes the sad feeling is just there. Nothing provokes it. It’s hard to describe. At first, I was scared from the seizure, so I had a reason to feel off. But the last week or 2 my poor mood seems to be for no apparent reason.

Bleh. It’s also not like I’m sad all day. I still have fun, but that feeling just creeps in out of nowhere.

Anyone else experience something similar? If so, any advice on how to get past this?
 
Hi Kaityokanina,

I understand very well how you feel. Often I would have days where I felt very depressed no matter what was going on.
I did find out that when a person gets epilepsy it can sometimes cause depression especially if the problem triggering the seizures
is on the right temporal lobe of the brain or the frontal lobe (where the forehead is). When there's damage on the right temporal lobe
it can cause a person to be very emotional a down and the frontal lobe controls a persons behavior so that could also be the problem.
I don't know if you are taking any seizure meds yet but take my word they can surely cause depression.

I found keeping myself busy so I had less time on my hands to think about what was going on helped me a lot so try and keep
yourself busy. Also if you like music listen to the music they have proven that music helps calm a person down and relaxes them.

Another reason why you may feel more depressed is hormones changing each month that it was really got to me but then I started
eating almonds or peanuts and that helped me a lot because they leveled out my hormone balance.

I wish you the best of luck and May God Bless You,

Sue
 
Hi Kaityokana
I’m pretty sure it’s been mentioned in this forum that depression and epilepsy are linked but definitely something to discuss with your neuro when you can.

I do sort of understand as I had a similar situation where I had a seizure a few months ago which was different to my other seizures. I discussed it with my neuro who confirmed it as a seizure. I got frustrated with myself with the circumstances of the seizure which put me in a bad mood. My neuro explained the seizures will change and it’s ok.

I see a psychologist who helps me with anxiety and stress so she helped me with the situation and some techniques to fall back on.

At the moment my stress levels are up at the moment again, mainly due to so much going on. I’m finding I’m getting frustrated easily.
I used to be on a couple of epilepsy forums but when I’m like this I find it’s better to take a step back and give my brain a break, so now I’m only on this one but I usually just quickly check the posts.

In regards to my other stressors I tend to discuss them with my psych and my best friend who gets me.

Like Porkette I try to keep my mind busy, when I’m at home I find stuff to do whether it’s playing games to keep my mind active, watching stuff on my iPad. But most weekends I do put the music on as it’s relaxing and my bird loves it.
 
As CQ:) said, epilepsy and depression can be related. I'm not sure if you are on any meds but there are some that can cause depression. Talk about it with him about it.

One thing that I have problems getting upset about is that I can't drive. So I can't leave the house when I want and it's hard to get together with my friends because they live at least a half hour away. Most of them stopped hanging around with me and I know it's for that reason. I have one friend that we try to get together as often as we can, which isn't that often. We do talk on the phone a good bit.

Sometimes people don't understand that it's not that easy to 'Turn that frown upside down' - I don't know if you've ever heard that saying.

How long have the two of you been together? Were you with him when you had you're first seizure? Do you live together? I started dating my ex-husband a bout a year after my first seizure and I was still pretty bad seizure wise. Since he saw what I was like pretty much right from the beginning it helped with things a lot. He also went to neuro appts with me so he was able to ask questions and have my neuro tell him what was normal, problems with depression for example, and what might not be. He would also give advice on how to work through things.

As said try to keep your mind busy. Maybe take on a new hobby and learn to do something.
 
I forgot to mention in my last post I found a lot of people find it hard to understand what we are going through so they just assume we will be ok.
I often say I’d like see people walk a while in our shoes and see how they cope , not just epilepsy but a lot of medical conditions which I call ‘invisible medical conditions’ as you may look ok on the outside but no one knows how you feel on the inside .

This forum is great, not only to share our experiences with epilepsy but vent aswell 😉.
 
It’s been a month since I had a prolonged tonic clonic seizure. (Also a possible focal seizure around the 23, but I’m waiting to talk to neurologist to confirm)

I just still don’t feel right. I think I’m feeling depressed. I’ve had a few good days and I think “ok. I’m feeling myself again. Thank goodness!” But then other days I’m just sad and find it hard to really accomplish much. My partner tells me I just need to stop and be happy and that I’m ok. I feel bad. I know I’ve been hard to be around and it’s been hard to focus my attention on him. I’ve tried telling him how I feel, but he’s obviously frustrated with me.

Idk, he just doesn’t understand. It’s not like I’m having sad thoughts that make me feel sad. Sometimes the sad feeling is just there. Nothing provokes it. It’s hard to describe. At first, I was scared from the seizure, so I had a reason to feel off. But the last week or 2 my poor mood seems to be for no apparent reason.

Bleh. It’s also not like I’m sad all day. I still have fun, but that feeling just creeps in out of nowhere.

Anyone else experience something similar? If so, any advice on how to get past this?
My daughter is dealing with profound depression. She is very suicidal post-ictal. She is having many myoclonic episodes which are causing the same post ictal responses as her tonic clonics. So she is getting more depressed. She also feels hopeless. I have a call in to her doc and we are meeting with a social worker soon for options.

it is so hard to watch her going through all this and not be able to really help. I will keep coming here with any progress…and for support.

thank you
 
Hi mm55,

Hugs to you. I hope your daughter can get guidance and support from her doc.

Although it's no fun to add more medications to the mix, tricyclic anti-depressants are known to work well against post-ictal depression without lowering seizure threshold. Perhaps her neuro or a neuropsych could discuss some options.

And she is of course also welcome to join CWE and find support here.

Best,
Nakamova
 
Hi mm55,

Hugs to you. I hope your daughter can get guidance and support from her doc.

Although it's no fun to add more medications to the mix, tricyclic anti-depressants are known to work well against post-ictal depression without lowering seizure threshold. Perhaps her neuro or a neuropsych could discuss some options.

And she is of course also welcome to join CWE and find support here.

Best,
Nakamova


Thank you so much. She’s actually so depressed that she doesn’t want support. We are in touch with someone who can help facilitate it. I like your suggestion about the tricyclic antidepressants. I will look into those. I used to come to this forum when she was first diagnosed but then her seizures were under control for a long time. Now they’ve just gotten very bad. Thank you all again
 
I’m not depressed, angry, frustrated, sad, emotional, because I had a seizure,
it’s because of the seizure. If that makes sense.
Recovery is hard.
 
I’m not depressed, angry, frustrated, sad, emotional, because I had a seizure,
it’s because of the seizure. If that makes sense.
Recovery is hard.
I get what you mean
I get frustrated because of the seizure itself, especially if I don’t remember anything
 
I have no doubt in my mind that seizures probably throw off hormones and such in the body, too, or hormones that are off cause seizures. When hormones are off, I think it could cause some issues with depression or anxiety.

I also know that many anti-epilepsy/seizure medications can cause depression. I had major depression problems on Lamictal, but I was sure I was also deficient in vitamin D, which probably made everything worse.

There's that, "Stop and be happy!" thing, but when you are feeling low energy, not motivated to do anything, it's difficult.

It might be worth it to get your vitamin D levels checked as that can be a contributor to depression. For myself, I don't feel right if I stay inside all day. I have to get out in about for at least an hour a day - breathe some fresh air and get some sunlight or I start feeling a bit under the weather, but I am vitamin D deficient and have to supplement for it. A lot of people with seizures also benefit from Vitamin D among other vitamins like B vitamins and such.

It's hard to have a spouse that is ill or simply isn't feeling like doing what they used to. Do let your spouse know that you are trying your hardest to get better.
 
Depression, ultimately loneliness. Following depression from tonic clonic s that last. Starting on right temporal lobe. I am trying to enjoy life but can't drive at all. I somewhat fear going out alone. I usually have tonic clonic status seizures at any time (retractable). Depression is standard. Depakote, lamottigine, and bimpat cause ongoing mood problems. Depression morphs into anger, and do I push people away sometimes when I really don't want to. For those kind of outbursts I stopped keppra .
 
I have found depression right there with the seizure disorder. Especially after a tonic clonic it does something to the brain chemistry. It has taken months to recover at times. I found the right anti depressant but still feel out of it or low after a seizure. Jeanne
 
some meds just really didnt agree with me and caused emotional issues, abusive, depression, all sorts of fun things
 
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