Posted by Elizabeth on September 24, 2001, at 19:37:02
In reply to Re: elusive putative seizure disorder » Elizabeth, posted by Mitch on September 24, 2001, at 13:06:27
Thanks to everyone who posted. Some directed responses:
Mitch:
> Trileptal is a cleaner form of Tegretol.Yup, I knew that. I only know about it from textbooks, though -- haven't spoken to people who were actually taking it. (That's why I read this board.)
> You will need to take it two-three times a day. My guess is you are taking 150mg bid.
Yup!
> Given Tegretol is a firstline anti-convulsant for complex partial seizures it is probably a good idea until they can figure out what the hell is going on.
Yeah, that's exactly the point.
> I was on it for a while, but I am real sensitive to nausea and it made me kind of nauseous and "wired" (I doubt if such a low dose could worsen depression-it might help some).
How much were you taking?
> I have talked to others here who seem to get by fine on it, though. Do you or your pdoc wonder if the desipramine is setting these episodes off? Keep us posted and get better.
It's not the desipramine alone (although it might have contributed this time -- TCAs do lower the seizure threshhold), because I've only been taking it for a couple months.
Squiggles:
> My sympathies for the rotten time with this particular drug, Trileptal.? I'm not having any problems with Trileptal. I haven't noticed any effect at all (like most anticonvulsants I've tried), but it might be preventing further seizures, if that's indeed what happened (everybody I've talked to about it says it sounds like it).
> I am beginning to wonder if many people are reporting "seizure-feeling" like disorders of this type. I had a similar experience upon withdrawing from Rivotril, 3x, each time getting worse, from stroke like feeling on the arm, to left side "seizure feeling", and then this year "seizure feeling" on both sides of the head.
Benzo withdrawal can definitely cause seizures. This was one of the things suggested by one of the doctors at the hospital as a possible cause of what happened to me, but I don't take it often enough (maybe once or twice a week) for withdrawal to be a problem. My SO did a nice job of explaining why that wasn't the case -- he's so much better at talking to doctors than I am (probably because he actually knows what he's talking about :-) ).
What happened to me didn't "feel" like a seizure, though, because I wasn't conscious (it *looked* like one to the people who observed it).
> My husband came home from work immediately when he saw me post that I was having an electric brain storm in the head, and I lost my memory and my ability to walk for a while. I had extreme headache and came in and out of "coma - like" sleep and I was sick for a month. My doc said "withdrawal" - the emergency doc said "not seizure", and the emergency doc who came to the house, ordered EEG EMG and spinal, which I will
get next week.I don't know whether an EEG will show anything this long after it happened, especially if it was related to withdrawal. If it was a seizure, it would be considered a complex partial seizure because you lost consciousness and weren't having tonic-clonic type convulsions (which would be seen in a generalised or "grand mal" seizure).
> These head effects may just be too new to be classified.
Yes, that's possible.
> I hope you are better, I wonder if you forgot a pill possibly?
I wasn't taking anything that would cause seizures if I missed it (which I didn't). Just desipramine and buprenorphine. (Opioid withdrawal is not dangerous, just very unpleasant.)
> I'm not sure if this is any help, but I thought you might like to know that I too have gone through surprisingly interesting side effects from psychoactive medication.
Thanks. I know I'm not alone. :-) But I don't know that this is a side effect -- it might be completely unrelated to medication.
-elizabeth
poster:Elizabeth
thread:79454
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010917/msgs/79493.html