I had a visit with my Doctor Thursday and we started over from the very
beginning. You see I have been lying to him all along and doing it all
because of this catch 22 that I was in and most of us are still in with our
driving license. I was having seizures but was telling him I was not just to
keep my license. Since wrecking two vehicles inside of six months and making
the decision to give up my driving license I was finally able to tell him
the truth. We got a lot accomplished and wow did I learn a lot. Several of
the things I learned I have seen discussed here in this NG. One of them was
about the use of the drug Klonopin. I use it as needed when a seizure comes
on and it will help make the seizure come to an end faster. If it isn't a
grand mal seizure it will stop other seizures rather quickly too. I place a
.05mg pill under my tongue and within minutes it is gone. What I didn't
realize is that I take Topamax and Mysoline daily and the Klonopin works
against the Topamax. The doctor told me that the way it works is Klonopin
takes a week to be 3/4 out of your system, so if you take it more than one a
week you will build it up in your blood and can become addicted to it rather
quickly. I have taken as many as three in a day to stop seizures, and I have
went as long as a month without taking any the problem is after taking
several in a few week period and then not taking any for awhile my body
starts to have withdraw from it and those can cause seizures. If all of that
makes any sense. So I guess what he was saying is I am addicted in a sense
to Klonopin even though I may not take it for weeks at a time. It is kind of
like an addict getting clean when I stay away from it for long periods and
then I take one and it is like I fall off the wagon and I am right back. I
never knew this was happening because of the other med's I take.

He said the Mysoline I take if I miss one pill in a days time I will have a
seizure, I am on that much of it. I take 750mg a day and most people are
almost toxic at 100mg a day. He could not explain how I can take that much
and just barely be therapeutic but he said I am. He is considering putting
me on Lamictal (sp) and stopping the Topamax. He also said he may put me
back on Dialantin and Phenobarbital. I have to have Blood work done Monday
morning to see what all my levels are and also to see what my calcium,
potassium, magnesium, and several others are. He said that many of these
chemicals can effect things in my body that will cause seizures.

Now here is the kicker, my middle name is no exercise and he told me that
exercise can actually help in stopping seizures. He said that the endorphins
released during exercise will help eliminate the chemicals that build up in
an epileptic's body and if we don't exercise then those chemicals will
continue to build until they reach a level of seizing. That might explain
why I am having seizures at least every 4 to 6 weeks. It may sound odd but I
know lack of exercise will do a lot to the human body. I also know that when
I was younger and got plenty of exercise I didn't have a problem with
seizures as much. Also my weight will have a direct affect on my medicine
fluctuating up and down.

So to sum it all up no more Klonopin, more exercise, a different med (which
one has yet to be determined), oh yeah the exercise helps reduce stress
also.

One last thing we talked about social drinking and he said as long as it is
social drinking and not going out and getting plastered drunk he has no
problem with it. A cocktail occasionally he said won't hurt me but he
emphasized occasionally.