TLE and Bipolar Disorder

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!

M

Music36

Stalwart
Messages
445
Reaction score
41
Points
98
Does anyone know if there is a connection between TLE and bipolar disorder?
 
Hi Music36,
I don't know for sure if the two are connected but I did find out from my Epileptologist that if a person who has right temporal lobe epilepsy can sometimes be more depressed and show there emotions much more because the neurons are firing up in that area to trigger seizures and in turn the right temporal lobe is a place where a person shows there emotions a lot. I also found out if a person uses a cell phone often it can fire up the neurons and cause many people to become more irritable do to the frequency the cell phones us. Personally I think a lot of it has to do with the seizure meds a person may be taking that causes a lot of the problem. I wish you the best of luck and May God Bless You!

Sue
 
Definitely, there IS a big connection between mood disorders and TLE. I've had TLE for years and struggled with severe depression off and on. My damaged area is the left hippocampus. The left side enhances mood stability, and since this part is damaged, it leads to unpredictable moods. My neuropsychiatrist treated me with numerous anti-depressants (tri-cyclic) and finally put me on an anti-psychotic used for bi-polar. It brought on Type 1 Diabetes for me. So be careful of some of those anti-psychotic drugs out there and what they are prescribed for. Also, some of the AEDs are also used as mood stabilizers.
Now I take a SSRI for depression and a AED for mood & seizure(s).

Here is more info on E and Moods:

http://www.epilepsy.com/learn/impact/moods-and-behavior/mood-and-behavior-advanced
 
Last edited:
Porkette,

I don't think it's med side effects, b/c it's an emotional roller coaster ride from feeling like you're on top of the world and life is great and you can do anything if you set your mind to it to feeling devastated, hopeless, and like life is meaningless. There's a period of time of feeling normal, and then it's back on the roller coaster. The roller coaster can be exhausting. I'm not sure if it's being overly aware of emotions and analytical or bipolar.
 
Last edited:
I get so angry about pathic things then next day I think sod I don't care now.
 
Cint,

I know research has shown a connection between epilepsy and depression and anxiety. But, I don't think bipolar.

I had mood swings for years, but didn't think of it as bipolar until I had epilepsy surgery in 2015. The emotional roller coaster became much more intense and different after surgery.
 
Music36 said:
I had mood swings for years, but didn't think of it as bipolar until I had epilepsy surgery in 2015. The emotional roller coaster became much more intense and different after surgery.
Click to expand...

My moods became much more severe after I had a Left Temporal Lobectomy. I went into a very severe depression 6 months after surgery and that's when the neurologist sent me to a neuropsychiatrist. I was becoming suicidal at that time. He treated me with so many different meds and said I was one of his most difficult cases because no anti-depressants worked for me. I became a "study-case" for him since I was being seen at the Epi-Care clinic. He watched me closely under different meds and how I reacted mood-wise.
Now they call it a dysphoric disorder, very similar to bipolar disorder.

Read here for more info:

.http://www.epilepsybehavior.com/article/S1525-5050(04)00237-9/abstract

http://www.europsy-journal.com/article/S0924-9338(16)00177-2/abstract
 
Hi Music36,

Take note of when the depression is happening sometimes it can happen do to hormones changing each month and also a change in the weather when a low pressure comes in the air gets heavier and in turn that can effect a persons hormones. I never realized this until my Epiletologist told me about it. Also some people are bothered more at certain times of the yr. at that is all related to the amount of serotonin there is. I was amazed when my Dr. told me about this but it made a lot of sense because I saw I was having more seizures and felt more depressed when a low pressure was coming my way along with the hormones changing. Try and keep track of when this happens and what time of day or night. Write it down on a calendar and see if you notice a pattern. I wish you the best of luck and May God Bless You!

Sue
 
There is a connection between bipolar and TLE, but it's not clear whether the two conditions are co-occuring, correlative or causative. Bipolar-type symptoms may also be caused by, exacerbated by, and/or treated by seizure medication. So it's not entirely straightforward :)

Below are a few threads from the CWE archives that might be of interest:
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/connection-bipolar-epilepsy-549/
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/epilepsy-link-bipolar-7304/
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f20/bipolar-i-epilepsy-25501/
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/new-psychiatrist-mild-bipolar-epilepsy-18953/
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f20/fear-meds-bi-polar-epilepsy-906/

And some overviews and research on the topic:
http://www.epilepsy.com/article/201...depression-and-mood-disorders-people-epilepsy
http://www.epilepsy.com/article/201...k-between-depression-and-anxiety-and-decrease
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17644769
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1186336-overview
 
Porkette,

It's usually a rapid cycle for me. I can be in one state of mind for a week or two and then switch and then switch back and then be normal for awhile and then it comes back again. It doesn't have anything to do with weather. I should start keeping track on a calendar. As far as hormones go, I may be in menopause now. I've been in perimenopause for years and now it's been 3 1/2 months since my last period.
 
Last edited:
Also, I'm 49 years old and I think back over my life and I can see the possibility of having had bipolar disorder (that's if I do have bipolar disorder) for many years and not realizing it until after surgery when my emotions became much more intense for awhile. Also, I have been able to be more honest with myself and others regarding my emotions since surgery.

I'm very goal-oriented when I'm in the hypomanic state. I decide there are all these things I want to do and I'm going to do them. Some nights, I lay in my bed unable to go to sleep with my mind thinking about so many things and I can't shut my mind off and go to sleep. When I come down from that state of mind, I am no longer so highly goal-driven and I think about the challenges in achieving those goals and that the goals may be too difficult to achieve.
 
Last edited:
That how I am music.i get these ideas lay there all night thinking about it places to things to see or my temper or mood flicks either totally paranoid or anger.It all seems dueabl during night.
I even thought I was great artist made my husband go out 8am for sketch book and right pencils of course I realised I was not a great artist when he got home.
I am thinking we hear about bipolar rather than manic depression being called manic you lost.
 
Just want to say I'm not sure about bipolar. I'm just thinking it's possible ever since surgery in 2015. I felt bipolar for about 6 months or so after surgery. Then I felt normal. Then I felt bipolar again. Then I felt normal for awhile. Then the emotional roller coaster started again. I may just be over aware of my emotions. But, there is definitely some emotional changes since surgery.
 
Cint,

Thank you. I enjoyed the videos. I do already know about this phenomenon, but I have never experienced it myself. I have communicated with another person with TLE who has had these experiences related to God. I am not a religious person, but the first few months after surgery I became more interested in religion, but it was temporary. I'm Jewish and I got into watching Rabbis give lectures online. But, I have never experienced anything psychotic like thinking your God or God spoke to you. Since surgery, I have experiences where things seem surreal. It has happened when I'm in a car or I walk into a store. I believe what I have experienced is derealization. The other night I was in a car and the other cars on the road seemed surreal, like I was in a movie. These experiences did not start occurring until after surgery. I look down at the road sometimes during these experiences and things about the road (like the lines) have an effect on me. I feel like my senses are more aware. It's hard to explain. But, I'm not having seizures. I do have occasional auras, but I don't think these experiences necessarily occur on the days of the auras.

My family and friends don't think I have bipolar disorder. I have read a lot about it and watched videos. I probably don't have it.
 
I should add that I believe the derealization episodes come from anxiety, which greatly increased after surgery. I was pretty much in denial about anxiety issues that I had all my life. They weren't as bad before I had surgery. Surgery made anxiety 100 times worse for about six months. I experienced anxiety and all emotions at levels I had never experienced in my life that first six months after surgery. It's been almost two years since surgery and the anxiety is much better, but worse than before surgery. I know it's common to go along with epilepsy. It also runs in my family.
 
Now, I'm thinking it may be hormones that has me on an emotional roller coaster or at least partly related. I may finally be in menopause after 10 years of perimenopause. I'm not sure yet but it's been 4 1/2 months since I got my last period. Time will tell. I'm 49 so I'm close to the average age.
 
Last edited:
The insomnia is really bad the past couple of weeks. I'm having nights where I can't go to sleep until 4:00-5:00 in the morning. It's ridiculous and crazy. I'm assuming it's the menopause. Then when I finally get to sleep I keep being woken up by hot flashes and night sweats. I'm just hoping this does not cause a seizure. Next month will be two years since my surgery and I have only had auras since my surgery. I'm thinking the fluctuation of emotions and crying spells could very well be menopause. What do you guys think?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom