I was finally re-diagnosed with epilepsy, after 23 years of being told I had outgrown it. I have autonomic epilepsy, with a history of tonic clonic and complex partial seizures. As a child, I took phenobarbital, but since my re-diagnosis in jan/feb of this year I have been on lamictal, keppra, vimpat, zone gran, and now oxtellar. I have had relatively good seizure control on all of them, but apparently I am allergic to them. Its not even that I have horrible side effects, but I have had on each one, the side effect that requires immediate stoppage of the drug. I have tried to push through, but between the rashes and swollen lymph nodes, it is not safe in terms of other organ systems to keep taking them. Has anyone ever experienced this? I am starting to run out of drugs to try, and the constant titration up and down from each med is taking a toll on my body. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!
So many meds
- Thread starter Fifi
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hello fifi
have you ever thought of or discussed with your doc - diet, like the ketogenic diet..Its not easy but it sure provides hope, outside of meds..
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news..._fall_2010/a_diet_to_treat_epilepsy_in_adults
http://neurorexia.wordpress.com/201...ular-neuroscience-look-at-the-ketogenic-diet/
have you ever thought of or discussed with your doc - diet, like the ketogenic diet..Its not easy but it sure provides hope, outside of meds..
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news..._fall_2010/a_diet_to_treat_epilepsy_in_adults
http://neurorexia.wordpress.com/201...ular-neuroscience-look-at-the-ketogenic-diet/
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Hi Fifi --
Sometimes if someone is prone to allergic responses, the meds can be tolerated if they are titrated up in the tiniest, slowest of doses. If there are any more meds to try, you might ask about this option. If that's too risky, I agree with Chaz that perhaps a dietary approach (Modified Atkins) would help, or maybe neuorfeedback if you can find a practitioner near you.
Sometimes if someone is prone to allergic responses, the meds can be tolerated if they are titrated up in the tiniest, slowest of doses. If there are any more meds to try, you might ask about this option. If that's too risky, I agree with Chaz that perhaps a dietary approach (Modified Atkins) would help, or maybe neuorfeedback if you can find a practitioner near you.
Janus
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YES, I hate the meds, and the whole Big Pharma game involved, myself. I have seen successful results with the diet. I just have food allergies and strict healthy diet already to abide by and think that another "diet" concern would be too much. And, I try to remember that we ALL have something. Like the diabetic that would die without injection. And some people die from seizures (my doc. said) So acceptance is the key for me. AND it aint bad.
I may be one of the few people on this site that was excited by my diagnosis. I had already been diagnosed as epileptic once, the second time was a relief. They finally could tell me what was wrong instead of me explaining the myriad of symptoms I had and all of the meds I was taking to find some relief from each symptom. I have thought about the diet, but I don't think my gut could handle it. I have titrated slowly on several of the meds, but it just seemed to draw out the amount of time I had sores or swollen lymph nodes before they took me off the meds. I was really just wondering if anybody else experienced the same thing- not problems with side effects- but allergic reactions. The doc has made sure to only prescribe formulary meds, thinking I am allergic to the non- formulary compounding agents. I'm just not sure what to do next. Thanks for the input though!
Fifi
some of the E meds have aspartame as ingredient, suggest you look at every single ingredient in your meds.
http://rense.com/general94/excito.htm
some of the E meds have aspartame as ingredient, suggest you look at every single ingredient in your meds.
http://rense.com/general94/excito.htm