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I have and it has worked great. I was only having nocturnal seizures 3 yrs. ago and was on medication for that but then I started having complex partials during the day so I had to stop working. Things got worse and medications stopped working so VNS was my only option and it has worked great. No more seizures. I'm still on medication but it's fine with me. I'm basically a freak because it normally just controls seizures, to stop them completely.If you read my info you can see my frustration with medicine. I would honestly like to try just the VNS therapy w/out medication and see if it helped me. The most frequent I have ever had seizures is one every 1-2 months. After getting off medicine a second time at the age of 18, the side effects slowly disappeared and I was no longer having seizures. I started to feel normal again. Until, at the age of 20, I had a seizure which I think was brought on by a lack of sleep. I was up until about 5am studying and went to bed 5-8:30am. Had a seizure after I woke up. I'm extremely hesitant to get back on any kind of medicine because I have tried two that helped the seizures but had me suffer so many side effects.
Has anyone here tried VNS therapy as their only treatment for Epilepsy? If you know anything related to VNS therapy I would love to hear it.
My granddaughter was born with hydrocephalus and had seizures as a result of the shunt placement. It took about a year to get her seizures some what controlled. She still had them a couple of time a month until the last 6 years they started getting worse. The VNS was place a year ago in efforts to slow the cluster seizures down. Now we know the reason for the increase was hormonal and could have been addressed another way. A little over two weeks ago she started seizing and was unresponsive to the magnet piece that you swipe to slow and halt. She passed away after 2 cardiac arrest 2 days before her 22nd birthday. After her passing I googled VNS and cardiac arrest there are many cases. So again use as a last resort it does work well for everyone.I had the VNS surgery as a last resort and it has been good for me. Sure, the 10 meds I tried are a frustration to deal with, but then so are the seizures, the burns the many bruises and so was the unsuccessful brain surgery. Much more life changing and painful than the VNS was for me. One seizure every 1-2 months would have been a godsend for me, even with my getting enough sleep and taking meds. I was having 4-5 seizures a day. I had my first VNS in 1998 and replacement in 2002. I have shortness of breath once in a while and wheezing sometimes, but that is about it as far as side effects.