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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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Posted by bridgey1128 on November 3, 2004, at 15:02:28
In reply to Re: Potassium, topamax and clomipramine » Larry Hoover, posted by SLS on November 3, 2004, at 8:15:44
It's interesting, and a little scary, that a lot of Dr's start out in Vet school and flunk out and so they become medical Drs!! Vet school is VERY VERY difficult. I had a friend of mine just graduate in May of this year and she had STRAIGHT A's all through high school, plus being Valedictorian. When she went to NC State, she also made very high grades , mostly A's a couple of B's and it STILL took her an EXTRA year and a half to get into Vet school!! I was flabbergasted. She finally got her Doctorate this past May so I called her Docta Jones! Docta Jones! You know..like in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom? Short Round. Then she got married....her married name is, of ALLLL things...SMITH!!! AYE AYE AYE! Her roommates name was Smith and got married to a Jones. They had a big laugh about that. But anyway, Vet school is HARD HARD HARD. I guess the drugs are cheaper because GOd knows everything else they charge you for isn't!! Trust me, I know! We have 6 cats, 2 dogs, a hamster and 2 hermit crabs!
Posted by FionaJ on November 3, 2004, at 17:07:29
In reply to Re: Potassium, topamax and clomipramine, posted by bridgey1128 on November 3, 2004, at 15:02:28
> It's interesting, and a little scary, that a lot of Dr's start out in Vet school and flunk out and so they become medical Drs!! Vet school is VERY VERY difficult. I had a friend of mine just graduate in May of this year and she had STRAIGHT A's all through high school, plus being Valedictorian. When she went to NC State, she also made very high grades , mostly A's a couple of B's and it STILL took her an EXTRA year and a half to get into Vet school!! I was flabbergasted. She finally got her Doctorate this past May so I called her Docta Jones! Docta Jones! You know..like in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom? Short Round. Then she got married....her married name is, of ALLLL things...SMITH!!! AYE AYE AYE! Her roommates name was Smith and got married to a Jones. They had a big laugh about that. But anyway, Vet school is HARD HARD HARD. I guess the drugs are cheaper because GOd knows everything else they charge you for isn't!! Trust me, I know! We have 6 cats, 2 dogs, a hamster and 2 hermit crabs!
One of the reasons I can think of why vet.drugs are much cheaper may be because of their registration process which is much easier than meds for human use. I know about 5 years ago the average figure was $260 milj dollars to get a drug registered for human use. And as you know many of the drugs used in vet.-meds were trialed for human use first, thus being already tested in animals of some kind as this is the trial that needs to be successful before the registering authority will allow human trials. Thus making everything so much cheeper.
Posted by rainy on November 4, 2004, at 13:55:11
In reply to Re: Potassium, topamax and clomipramine, posted by FionaJ on November 3, 2004, at 17:07:29
FionaJ, I think anybody who choses to work with animals over people has got to be smart.
Kat, you OK? And have you noticed hair loss with tegretol? A friend has started trileptel for trigeminal nerve pain and is wondering about that possibility.
rainy
Posted by stresser on November 4, 2004, at 18:22:46
In reply to Re: Potassium, topamax and clomipramine, posted by FionaJ on November 3, 2004, at 17:07:29
I asked my vet for a prescription for the doggie prozac, and I was told that there isn't such a thing. I'm sure you can emagine my reply, and now he says he's looking into it. He has to call a university that has a vet. school to find out what else we can do for my baby boy. I am flabberghasted at how some dr. and vets. won't even listen to patients. I saw the darn stuff on the internet!!!!!#$*#!&&%%.......ok. This only adds to my wonderful day, but I hope you all are doing well. I swear the darn topomax isn't working very well for my daughter. I think I'm ready to end the topomax medication, because if it were going to help, I think it would have started by now. There's not really much difference and I can't figure out why. Any theories? -L
Posted by rainy on November 4, 2004, at 19:19:28
In reply to Re: Potassium, topamax and clomipramine, posted by stresser on November 4, 2004, at 18:22:46
what does it say on the package insert about pediatric use? And maybe there are other factors besides pure and simple hunger at work here? Does the doctor think she's been on it long enough?
Your comment about your vet reminds me of how we really have to be informed about what's out there for us and our animals because the providers often just don't have time to keep up.
rainy
Posted by Larry Hoover on November 5, 2004, at 9:27:07
In reply to Re: Potassium, topamax and clomipramine, posted by stresser on November 4, 2004, at 18:22:46
> I asked my vet for a prescription for the doggie prozac, and I was told that there isn't such a thing.
Show him the website?
Lar
Posted by rainy on November 5, 2004, at 11:59:46
In reply to Re: topomax and teaching, posted by headachequeen on October 31, 2004, at 12:35:05
Kat, are you OK? and Bridgey?
rainy
Posted by headachequeen on November 5, 2004, at 12:40:08
In reply to Re: topamax and balance » headachequeen, posted by iris2 on November 2, 2004, at 8:47:45
> Kat,
>
> To be honest I do not always get through your posts, as my attention span is that of a fly. But I try. I did read something that kind of stuck out from everything else you were saying. Being a bulimic I am well versed in low Potassium. It is something to have concern about. Potassium is stored in the stomach if that makes any difference to you. Anyway besides balance or whatever it is very important not to have low potassium. Your blood has a salt potassium balance. Your muscles need potassium to function. It is important for muscles like your heart. So do not take it lightly. If your potassium gets too low your heart will not pump! If your potassium is low or you think it might be you should take potassium pills. You can get in the grocery or drug store. If it is coming up low on blood work than you need to replenish it quickly and so the pills. They will not hurt you. If you just want to make sure it is okay without testing than eat things high in potassium. Potatoes or chips, my doc told me is great. Bananas and tomatoes are also some other foods high in potassium.
>
> I guess that hit my nerve as I have been low several times and it can be rather dangerous.
>
> Make sure that this is not an ongoing thing. It is not good for your muscles like I said especially dangerous for the organ muscles.
>
> Not trying to scar you, not doubt it was just a one-time thing but I do worry.
>
> Take care,
>
> irene
>Irene, I am reading posts at random today and this is the first post I read... and it is probably the most important one I shall read...
have just come home from hospital...
despite the increase in potassium pills (taking six a day now and eating oranges and bananas and anything else that has potassium in it ) when they did blood tests, there was no potassium in my blood... and they were taking blood from me constantly...
when I was finally conscious and coherent I demanded to know who was getting the potassium I was taking...
they told me that all the water I drink because of the diabetes and the anti-seizure meds (tegretol and topomax) flush it out of my system)
so they brought me glasses of what looked like orange Crush and had me drink it... concentrated potassium... tasted like the worst thing I can think of... twice a day I had to drink this stuff... and the only way was to drink it down fast and then try to keep it down... the elderly lady in the next bed, a Francophone, and I had a great time making jokes about it except the nurse understood French and stood there until I drank it all...
I did not realise until your post how important it is though... thought it just helped maintain balance...
the hospital pharmacist came around yesterday and we had a chat about my meds and the new meds they were introducing... finally a reduction in tegretol but a new one introduced to try and change the pattern...
She told me that the potassium levels were dangerously low and said that if the magnesium levels were low then the potassium levels would never be stable... next thing I knew there was a tech back to take more blood...
One good? thing about it, I have lost about seven pounds so there is something positive come out of it all...
but no one actually explained the whole need for potassium just that it would keep me from getting dizzy...so thank you Irene... you are an incredible help and just at a time when I really needed the guidance...
kat
Posted by headachequeen on November 5, 2004, at 12:49:49
In reply to topamax and balance, posted by rainy on November 1, 2004, at 20:08:28
> He said that Topamax often makes any neorological problem that you already have worse and gives you problems that you didn't have before you took it. He agreed that of course the balance issue was pre Top but he thought it was worse because of the medication. He also said that if I stopped it, and he thought I should and take lithium or something else, "there are lots and lots of drugs out there," my balance, handwriting and "ditziness" would improve.
> I really wish I didn't feel I had to tell doctors everything they want to know.
> rainy
>Interesting, to think of the attitude toward topomax ...
having just spent the past four days in hospitals... 24 hours of them unaware of who I was or where I was or what day I was or anything else...
while they changed several of my medications,and added a few, some for the long haul and some in an effort to stabilise things, Topomax was not touched... the neurological team left it and the dose I was on as it was...
and I found out today as I was being released that the pain above my eye is a nerve and I forget what they said about it ... just relieved it is not related to the epilepsy stuff <s>... that Topomax is the drug of choice for treating it, tegretol the second, and another anti-seizure the third...
...
there were several of them... they kept asking me how many fingers I saw and I had a hard time with that... heck when I came to I had no idea what day it was, so I have no idea how many of THEM there were LOL but all of them approved the Topomax and are looking as a team for alternatives to Tegretol...
At no time did I hear any criticism of it... but I was off tegretol for the whole time I was there and only started back on a lower dose the morning I was to leave; this evening will be my second try at it again with the new drug introduced at bedtime...
so not everyone is against it...
kat
Posted by headachequeen on November 5, 2004, at 12:53:45
In reply to Re: Potassium, topamax and clomipramine, posted by FionaJ on November 3, 2004, at 17:07:29
> successful before the registering authority will allow human trials. Thus making everything so much cheeper.
>This is not the place for this discussion... but I have to get in my two cents...
I breed show and agility and tracking dogs... and they get the best and nothing less in everything from diet to vet care...
and it is less expensive to get human medical care and drugs than it is to get care for them
just ask my doctor.. he bought a pup from me and every time I see him he tells me how many patients he has to treat to pay for a vet visit or how many shots he can give to kids for the cost of one puppy shot...
and every time I feel guilty
kat
Posted by rainy on November 5, 2004, at 13:05:48
In reply to Re: Potassium, topamax and clomipramine, posted by FionaJ on November 3, 2004, at 17:07:29
Well, I'm sure not wondering any more Kat, good to have you back. About that nerve pain--was trileptal one of the other meds suggested for treating it? It's sort of a cousin of tegretol. And, relentlessly, (me asking) have you noticed any hairloss on tegretol?
Your experience has put the fear of at least one of the gods in me--I have taken low potassium levels very lightly.
rainy
Posted by headachequeen on November 5, 2004, at 13:08:01
In reply to wondering, posted by rainy on November 5, 2004, at 11:59:46
> Kat, are you OK? and Bridgey?
> rainyI am going to be OK... I am going to be fine...
It may not be for a couple of months... but I am going to be the finest healthiest happiest person you ever knew...
right now I am the scaredest person you ever knew and may soon be calling my psychologist just to talk about fear and all that...
and I swore I never would need him again...
however I shall also be back on line driving you all crazy on a regular basis too...not only that but I have started two new meds or will be starting them this evening and one of them, have not picked up the other yet, according to the print-out has appetite killing propensities...
oh joy ...
that is a pleasing thought right there...
at the moment I am planning to spend a lot of time in bed reading... doing very little...
checking my computer occasionally...
I have black eyes, and my nose is bruised and puffy from the ambulance attendants who were determined that I would wear their oxygen masks...even unconscious I was determined that they were trying to stop me from getting air <g>...
and the second ride was almost 70 miles to a larger hospital with a neurological clinic so it was a longer fight...
I am bruised all over and really sore...
and have taken the pledge that I shall have none of these generalised seizures ever again...
this is the fourth of the tonic clonic seizures I have had since the end of August and while the information they gave me to read when I was leaving today says that they should not last more than a minute or two I was out for almost twelve hours and then in and out for another ten or so...
not a fun thing... the worst part was for my husband...
he was conscious through it all and says I took thirty years off his life... I believe it. He looks worse than I do...
If it weren't for the learning experience and for the possibility of losing tegretol I would have preferred to miss the whole thing believe me...
when things finally settled down Tuesday night, one of the things I really missed was you people...
wished I had my laptop... figured you would help make it make sense...
Irene already did with her info about potassium...
each time I drink this awful stuff I will remember all the damage lack of potassium can do and soldier through...
kat
Posted by headachequeen on November 5, 2004, at 13:19:21
In reply to no longer wondering, posted by rainy on November 5, 2004, at 13:05:48
> Well, I'm sure not wondering any more Kat, good to have you back. About that nerve pain--was trileptal one of the other meds suggested for treating it? It's sort of a cousin of tegretol. And, relentlessly, (me asking) have you noticed any hairloss on tegretol?
> Your experience has put the fear of at least one of the gods in me--I have taken low potassium levels very lightly.
> rainy
Thanks, rainy, it is good to be back... although I am heading back to bed soon <g>
I am NOT going to sleep though... terrified to do that...
trileptal is not the one my doctor mentioned... it started with n actually but he does not want to introduce any other anti-seizure meds into the mixture right now... actually if the pain were not such a constant and if it were not such a frightening thing for me he would leave it alone ...
but he prescribed an old anti-depressant whose name I can't remember; apparently it works on these nerve things... it is low dosage and I am on 10 mg for a week; if it doesn't work in three days I can go up to 20 mg and I am to see him in two weeks...
I am seeing my orthopaedist on Monday... the ambulance gurneys and the emerge gurney in Ottawa for several hours did a real number on my back and hip; I am going to see if he will do accupuncture and get rid of it that way now that I know it is not related to that disaster of Monday...
that had me really concerned;as for tegretol and hair loss oh yes... there is much more hair loss with it in my experience than with topomax ....
but with the vitamins and the biotin and the specialty shampoos it stopped and then the system seems to adjust. I use a lot of wax and putty and stuff on my hair and I don't seem to lose hair any more than any one else... or my stylist would tell me, believe me!!!!
But at first I did and I thought that Tegretol was going to make me bald...
and it causes nausea... then the tech doing one of the telemetry eeg tests told me that was because I was not taking it with food... same with topomax... take it with a small bit of food a banana or an orange not a huge meal ... and always at the same time and always twelve hours apart, the doses so there is a constant amount in the blood stream
and the time should be a constant... that I learned this week...
eight in the morning and eight at night... then the blood stream meaintains a constant level...
and if anyone else is on both, take the two, two hours apart...
here endeth the lesson <g>
kat
Posted by rainy on November 5, 2004, at 13:22:29
In reply to Re: wondering » rainy, posted by headachequeen on November 5, 2004, at 13:08:01
wow. You'd been feeling so bleary for several days before the seizure something must have been brewing up a storm. My wish for you now is for a furry creature or two or however many to keep you company in your recovery and to give comfort to your husband so he can grab back some of those years.
If you feel like it, tell us if the lack of potassium was a major factor in your seizure, or were your meds screwed up or do they even know? And very good luck with these new ones!
rainy
Posted by bridgey1128 on November 5, 2004, at 17:04:01
In reply to Re: screwed up meds?, posted by rainy on November 5, 2004, at 13:22:29
Good gracious Kat!!! I was feeling just sort of cruddy but I guess I won't complain....I don't believe I have a right to now after listening to what you have been through! I know sometimes you guys wonder what has happened to me and really, it's nothing except it takes me a while to read all of your posts and think of something to respond with. I have been really run down lately because I am getting back on my Atkins diet and the first two weeks of that make me really tired when my body is adjusting to going from carb burning to fat burning. Then it lets up and I feel great. It's just sort of a withdrawl period where I feel crappy. So far at 200mg I have noticed no weight loss either on the Topomax but no weight gain so that is fine. As long as it doesn't cause me to GAIN weight, I am ok with that. I can lose weight on my own when I get motivated. My goal is to lose at least 20lbs by Dec 13th when my audition is. That will put me at 210. That's not a bad weight for me at all. Not fantastic or anything, but not huge. Then I want to lose 20 more before the show opens. WEEEE...costumers gonna love me. Decided to start my daughter in the Half Pint Players next March. It's a sort of after school drama lesson thing for ages 3-7
She'll be almost 4. I keep joking she could TEACH the class. Anyway, I am alive and kicking. Apparently better off than Kat, poor thing. :( You know, I have never had any hair loss, or weird tasting foods or any of that. I have noticed the balance thing. And I had the tingling thing come back the other day but only briefly. I have never had nausea with it, even if I have it on an empty stomach. In fact, I really don't eat much breakfast unfortunately. I probably need to eat more actually. I just am not hungry. It's partly from the Topomax and partly from the Atkins diet. Oh well, whatever helps me lose weight! I also have to watch my potassium because being on Atkins you don't get as much potassium because you aren't eating the foods that are potassium rich. I take a super multivitamin and omega fatty acid pill with 3 different fatty acids in it. I don't eat fish...*shudder* eew. The Atkins and Vitamin World version of their multivitamin are the ONLY two kinds I have ever been able to take that don't make me sick to my stomach. And I can take them on an empty stomach and not feel sick and we are talking HUGE amounts of stuff in them. I tried the CarbSURE or whatever those were that they just came out with and they literally gave me stomach cramps. So I just take the other ones.
Posted by headachequeen on November 5, 2004, at 17:28:19
In reply to Re: screwed up meds?, posted by rainy on November 5, 2004, at 13:22:29
> wow. You'd been feeling so bleary for several days before the seizure something must have been brewing up a storm.
>>The new neurologist had asked if I ever noticed or felt an aura before the seizures I had ... aura?? what aura???well, the tech doing one of the EEGs the day after I was admitted was talking to me as she attached all the electrodes to my scalp and face and when I described that bleary feeling she asked if it felt like living and walking in a dream... and then told me that was an aura that warned of a seizure...
so now I know what the aura is...
next time it happens I am fastening my seatbelt!!!
> If you feel like it, tell us if the lack of potassium was a major factor in your seizure, or were your meds screwed up or do they even know?>> The potassium played no part in it at all, but the doctors and pharmacist were concerned that I had none in my system... and thanks to Irene I understand why now.
The meds were screwed up and I was actually in a toxic level of tegretol because I had been taking aspirin for the pain in my head... it didn't help but aspirin intensifies the tegretol dose...
as does a med that I am taking for blood pressure... in fact the pharmacist told me that they use it to cut down on expensive drugs used for transplant patients because it doubles the effect so reduces the amount of the expensive drugs needed and I am on 140 mg a day of this stuff... what with the aspirin I tried to kill the pain (tylenol and that sort of stuff had not worked) and the aspirin I take each day for stroke prevention along with 140 mg of Tiazac each day, the tegretol I was taking was more than doubled so I was in toxic levels which didn't help at all...Add to that and I think it is the old <sigh> redhead thing, I have a peculiar form of epilepsy...
turns out that the breakdown and a lot of the depression they have been trying to treat over the years were not actually that at all, although it was helpful in that it helped me deal with issues from childhood that needed to be dealt with, but are symptoms of the epilepsy; this form according to the doctor who tried to explain it to me today, does all sorts of things that are not necessarily seizures and can be very confusing to deal with...
trust me to do that... I never get it right or simple...
They tell me it will take two months to recover from this and that there will be seizures in that time until they get the meds properly balanced...
so until then it is a matter of blood tests and back to the clinic for assessment and more EEGs and so on, and the sleep clinic and heaven knows what...
but I never want to go through that again...and in the book of rules... yes I have rules to follow now... it tells me that these seizures seldom last more than a few seconds ...
HAH!
>And very good luck with these new ones!
> rainy
Thanks, rainy, I do appreciate it...
kat
Posted by headachequeen on November 5, 2004, at 17:34:47
In reply to Re: screwed up meds?, posted by bridgey1128 on November 5, 2004, at 17:04:01
> Good gracious Kat!!! I was feeling just sort of cruddy but I guess I won't complain....I don't believe I have a right to now after listening to what you have been through! I know sometimes you guys wonder what has happened to me and really, it's nothing except it takes me a while to read all of your posts and think of something to respond with. I have been really run down lately because I am getting back on my Atkins diet and the first two weeks of that make me really tired when my body is adjusting to going from carb burning to fat burning. Then it lets up and I feel great. It's just sort of a withdrawl period where I feel crappy. So far at 200mg I have noticed no weight loss either on the Topomax but no weight gain so that is fine. As long as it doesn't cause me to GAIN weight, I am ok with that. I can lose weight on my own when I get motivated. My goal is to lose at least 20lbs by Dec 13th when my audition is. That will put me at 210. That's not a bad weight for me at all. Not fantastic or anything, but not huge. Then I want to lose 20 more before the show opens. WEEEE...costumers gonna love me. Decided to start my daughter in the Half Pint Players next March. It's a sort of after school drama lesson thing for ages 3-7
> She'll be almost 4. I keep joking she could TEACH the class. Anyway, I am alive and kicking. Apparently better off than Kat, poor thing. :( You know, I have never had any hair loss, or weird tasting foods or any of that. I have noticed the balance thing. And I had the tingling thing come back the other day but only briefly. I have never had nausea with it, even if I have it on an empty stomach. In fact, I really don't eat much breakfast unfortunately. I probably need to eat more actually. I just am not hungry. It's partly from the Topomax and partly from the Atkins diet. Oh well, whatever helps me lose weight! I also have to watch my potassium because being on Atkins you don't get as much potassium because you aren't eating the foods that are potassium rich. I take a super multivitamin and omega fatty acid pill with 3 different fatty acids in it. I don't eat fish...*shudder* eew. The Atkins and Vitamin World version of their multivitamin are the ONLY two kinds I have ever been able to take that don't make me sick to my stomach. And I can take them on an empty stomach and not feel sick and we are talking HUGE amounts of stuff in them. I tried the CarbSURE or whatever those were that they just came out with and they literally gave me stomach cramps. So I just take the other ones.You are going to reach that target weight and then knock them dead in auditions...
and I am looking forward to hearing that you have landed a choice role...
In fact, it will be just in time for my birthday... what a gift that will be...
go and do it!!!As for not taking it on an empty stomach successfully, it hasn't bothered me either...
but taking the teg on empty stomach has me so nauseous I could simply curl up and die...
funny how they are so different and yet supposedly alike...
and I have had no hair problems with topomax either...and have I mentioned to you that taking an ounce or so of cashews or pecans or walnuts before eating will cut the appetite... and they are good for so many things as well...
your heart and most parts of the body...and they really work... when I remember to do it I am not nearly as willing to eat as when I forget...
although right now I have had no interest in food for quite some time LOL...Oh Bridgey your posts do sound so much more calm and like you...
it is working...
now break a leg and knock them dead...
your greatest fan is waiting for news...
kat
Posted by headachequeen on November 5, 2004, at 17:41:47
In reply to no longer wondering, posted by rainy on November 5, 2004, at 13:05:48
> About that nerve pain--was trileptal one of the other meds suggested for treating it? It's sort of a cousin of tegretol.
Rainy, the med isNortriptyline and apparently it will make me feel sleepy as well as attack the pain in my head...
I am still going to try the accupuncture... taking the pills over the weekend because the pain is driving me crazy but I do not want any more pills than I have to ...
and the doctor is not thrilled either LOL
kat
Posted by stresser on November 5, 2004, at 19:15:33
In reply to Re: no longer wondering / trileptal » rainy, posted by headachequeen on November 5, 2004, at 17:41:47
I'm sitting here stunned at everything that's been going on the past several days with everyone.
Kat- I really wondered what was up with you, because there weren't any posts. Did this hit you all of the sudden? I am truthfuly worried about you, it is strange how life unwinds, and we make friends that we have never met. I think you need to ask your hubby for a laptop for Christmas this year. We can't have you away from the board for long, because being the "control freak" that you are, I need you to help me control my life. No Joke!! Don't forget.....I'm learning how to be the "Queen of Control," from you. I'll keep my fingers crossed for your new medication.
Larry- Good idea to show the vet the website, I will do that for sure.
Bridgey- There's too much talent in your family!!! I know what it's like to go back to the Adkins....it's a bear! Talk about lethargic and seeing stars? That was me, when I did it for a spring break vacation. Oh, it worked like a charm, and I stayed on it a month before and through the entire vacation. All it took was one baseball concession stand to take me down,.......to a snickers bar!!! That was the end of that. YOU GO GIRL.....I have the utmost confidence and faith in you.
As far as veterinarians go, I know it's harder than medical school because you need to know more that just ONE anatomy. I don't know how they do it. If only the animals could talk, and tell us how they feel......they are one of the greatest joys of my life. I had a dream last night about my dog that died three years ago. Do you ever get past that empty feeling? I have thought about him the entire day, and still want him back as much as I did three years ago.
Must get busy now........this is addicting! -L
Posted by headachequeen on November 5, 2004, at 23:49:54
In reply to Re: no longer wondering / trileptal, posted by stresser on November 5, 2004, at 19:15:33
> I'm sitting here stunned at everything that's been going on the past several days with everyone.
>
> Kat- I really wondered what was up with you, because there weren't any posts. Did this hit you all of the sudden? I am truthfuly worried about you, it is strange how life unwinds, and we make friends that we have never met. I think you need to ask your hubby for a laptop for Christmas this year. We can't have you away from the board for long, because being the "control freak" that you are, I need you to help me control my life. No Joke!! Don't forget.....I'm learning how to be the "Queen of Control," from you. I'll keep my fingers crossed for your new medication.
>
It certainly came on suddenly... apparently I shouted out twice, a common thing with tonic clonic or I gather the current politically correct term is generalised (used to be'grand mal')
and then was completely rigid and unconscious in a matter of a couple of minutes...
in between the shouting and the unconscious my arms and legs did the rhythmic movements, another new twist for me but normal part of tonic clonic... and my husband did his best to hold me still so I could not hurt myself...
he was terrified for me as this was so new..and could not hold me still and could not get me to regains consciousness
when I did not regain consciousness after five minutes and became cyanotic he called an ambulance when he returned to the bedroom, I have always refused to have a phone in the bedroom, I had fallen from bed to floor, taking the bedclothes with me and was wedged between bed and wall ...
had broken our antique bed, at least the frame which is cast iron... and have the bruises to prove it, I was still unconscious but moving around, but in a padded and safe but enclosed environment...
He has told me bits and pieces as I ask questions because I need to know... I know it hurts him to go through it because it was so hard on him...
tonight he said that he should have grabbed one of my cameras and photographed me so I could see what he had to see and maybe I would stop asking...
but it haunts me...
I lost twenty-four hours other than the odd moment when I would fight to the surface...
and I have to have it back...
it obsesses me...
and it scares the daylight out of me...
right now I am a little dizzy and scared to death to go to bed in case it happens again...
taking gravol and that other stuff the doctor prescribed both just in case...
as I said earlier I have to talk to someone about fear because I cannot and will not let it control me like this...
but for the moment it has control...
as long as I do not know what happened and how to prevent it I am scared...
and to have my doctor (he was in emerg with me treating me until he shipped me out) tell me that he felt so badly for me ... that does not help :(
Fear is not a healthy thing either... it has to be dominated... and controlled...>
> Bridgey- There's too much talent in your family!!!We will soon be hearing about this pre-school talent and I for one look forward to it with great glee <GG>
> As far as veterinarians go, I know it's harder than medical school because you need to know more that just ONE anatomy. I don't know how they do it. If only the animals could talk, and tell us how they feel......they are one of the greatest joys of my life. I had a dream last night about my dog that died three years ago. Do you ever get past that empty feeling? I have thought about him the entire day, and still want him back as much as I did three years ago.I don't think that one ever gets past that feeling of loss but there is a time when the feeling is one of memory and warmth when you think of the dog with smiles more often that tears...
working toward that now with one that died three months ago...kat... who believes this place is incredible therapy...
incredible...
thanks, L
>
>
>
>
Posted by rainy on November 6, 2004, at 15:06:52
In reply to Re: no longer wondering / trileptal, posted by headachequeen on November 5, 2004, at 23:49:54
Lorilu, you wrote that you're on provigil. Have you found that it has any effect on your thinking process besides helping you stay focused? I can't stop thinking today and I'm wondering if it's the medication. (It's not all that interesting, either.) I've been on 200 mgs for a little over a week. I think it makes me shaky, too. Have you noticed that?
rainy
Posted by stresser on November 6, 2004, at 16:09:12
In reply to can't stop thinking, posted by rainy on November 6, 2004, at 15:06:52
Kat- I would be exactly the same way with my husband. I would as him repeadedly about what happend with the seizure, and I'm sure it would be agonizing to recall the event. Can you emagine? I hope you are feeling better today, and am wondering how you are doing on the new medication? -L
Posted by headachequeen on November 6, 2004, at 17:05:25
In reply to Re: can't stop thinking, posted by stresser on November 6, 2004, at 16:09:12
> Kat- I would be exactly the same way with my husband. I would as him repeadedly about what happend with the seizure, and I'm sure it would be agonizing to recall the event. Can you emagine? I hope you are feeling better today, and am wondering how you are doing on the new medication? -L
I know that he wants to forget it as he is afraid that it is going to happen again; I am afraid it is going to happen again and the doctors are afraid it is going to happen again... if they are afraid then I am terrified so I have no idea where that leaves him, but I feel that I have to know...
when I was in hospital they kept giving me Tylenol to bring down a fever... and I kept thinking of my orthopaedist who has told me not to take Tylenol in any form because it is so hard on the liver and I have been given so much of it over the years for pain that it is probably built up in damage...
but they cannot give me any aspirin product and I am not to take aspirin products ... so where does that leave me I wonder...
another question that I should have asked before I left...
the new med is not to be taken with antihistamines unless with the agreement of the doctor... well I did not ask about that either and I take a very strong one, one that is banned in our armed forces ... so I have been not taking it and sneezing and itching until my skin is about to peel off in layers at a time..
I know that my own doctor has given instructions that if I call I am to be given an emergency appointment that day... so Monday I shall call and get these questions answered...
I an making a list :(Another thing that the poor demented husband has told me is that when he tried to hold me so I would not hurt myself my skin was so hot it was uncomfortable to touch... and nothing that I have read includes fever in these seizures...
more questions I want answered...the neuro team wants him to come on the appointment when I go to the clinic as they want him to tell them what the nocturnal seizures are like, what happened this time and what happened during those other, daytime, tonic clonic seizures a few weeks ago... maybe then I will get the answers I need, but I cannot wait until then...
this is a full day out of my life and it is so weird...
the one new med is supposed to deal with seizures but, at the same time, it is supposed to stop the racing brain thing, the constant thinking that keeps me awake at night...
well that part is not working...
the pain killing stuff is supposed to make me sleep too... not working...
I am afraid to sleep... and it is early in the morning before I fall asleep out of exhaustion...
then I am up and doing things by eight...
and afraid even to nap when I am so tired that I know it will push me to seizures if I don't rest...
logic loses to terror...those constant thoughts may be keeping you from sleeping properly... or resting properly...
sure doesn't let me sleep at least it didn't before this and the doctor put me on that whatever it is so that my brain would rest...
it worked; I would sleep for eight hours...
kat
Posted by headachequeen on November 6, 2004, at 18:13:03
In reply to can't stop thinking, posted by rainy on November 6, 2004, at 15:06:52
> Lorilu, you wrote that you're on provigil. Have you found that it has any effect on your thinking process besides helping you stay focused? I can't stop thinking today and I'm wondering if it's the medication. (It's not all that interesting, either.) I've been on 200 mgs for a little over a week. I think it makes me shaky, too. Have you noticed that?
> rainy
Is it the medication or is your brain simply racing? are the thoughts coming so quickly that you can't keep up?
some of those thoughts may be ones that you should be writing down as they may be ones you want to act on later...
others may be ones that are anxiety driven...
which is it?
kat
Posted by rainy on November 6, 2004, at 18:43:24
In reply to Re: can't stop thinking » rainy, posted by headachequeen on November 6, 2004, at 18:13:03
Ms. Kat, it isn't racing thoughts--my parents didn't dub me Slow Poke at my mother's knee for nothing. I can't answer as I'd like becasue we have to go to a hoity toity concert tonight in about five minutes, but I'm a little concerned about you.
What does sleep deprivation (and I understand your interest in staying awake) do to the odds of you having another seizure? Can your MD help you out here? You don't have to asnwer--I'm just thinking out loud. I know it seriously messes with manic depressive episodes. Also, from a lay person's pont of view, this fever buisness sound like there's something besides a strictly neuro phenomenon going on.
And finally, while there was a tylenol scare here in the U.S. a few years ago, it seems to have died down and despite having spent five years or so swilling a lot more vodka than was good for any part of me, I still use it because I can't tolerate ASA.
My liver function panels are always OK. So unless your medical people tell you, specificall otherwise, don't sweat the tylenol right now.
Here's David, gotta go, hang in there and trust your body. Give up some of that famous control and let sleep come. It heals. If you have another seizure it's truly not the end of the world.
easy for me to say
all best wishes and good thoughts
rainy
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