I have had TLE all my life (I am 47 now).  I was taking dilantin until
I was 10 or 11.  Before they took me off dilantin I was a straight A
student, able to do math a year or two ahead of other students.  When I
went off the dilantin it was because they thought I didn't need it
anymore.  I think back then they really didn't have a good idea of TLE.

But since then until a few months ago, life has been hell for me.  The
siezures have always been bad and constant everyday.  I have had, every
day since 10 years old, paranoia, deja vu, jamais vu, voices, devils
and angels visiting me, dissociative states, etc.  I was sometimes
questioned by people if was schizophrenic, but I have never really lost
any touch with reality, just that there was always these symptoms but I
was still aware of my own being and cognizant all the way around.
sometimes I could write the most beautiful poetry, though, from these
experiences.  About 6 or 7 years ago I started looking up my symptoms
along with epilepsy on the Internet and discovered that I probably had
TLE.  Since "self diagnosing" it made it easier knowing that it was a
real problem.

When I was first off the dilantin, I remember laying on the couch and
staring at my hot wheels track on the floor.  The orange track seemed
to be moving along the floor, even though it was staying still.  I
started thinking of these experiences as normal for me.  After a while
it just got more and more depressing.  I made into college and things
got better as long as I was in school (outside of going to high school,
which was terrible for me).  I stayed in school till I had my Masters
in German.

I have moved since to Germany where I found a neurologist  that
understood what I was saying.  He put me on valproate at first and I
worked up to 1000 mg.  at 1000 mg I started to eat like a horse.  I
felt a lessening of the TLE symptoms, at least my mood was getting
stabilized, but I was shoveling food into my mouth faster than I could
swallow it.  I didn't even care how it tasted.  He then started
titrating me on Lamotrigin (not sure what it is called in the States).
I slowly decreased on the Valproate while increasing the Lamotrigine.
It took several months but I am now taking 350 mg of Lamotragin per day
and 250 mg of valproate.

I have found that I am losing weight now.  About 3 or 4 pounds per
week.  There was a severe compensation for the epilepsy that I could
only sooth by eating.  Since I have been taking the Lamotrigin at 350
mg I am feeling like I am high all the time and I only eat when I'm
hungry, since I don't feel the need for compensating any more.

I asked the neurologist if Lamotrigin was an amphetemine, but
apparently it isn't.  It is weight neutral, so all in all this is a
great thing, since I am 6'1 and was over 300 lbs - but have a really
large frame, so even at 250 to 275, I look pretty good.

I seem to cycle with the Lamotrigine now between the "high" feeling and
just a little under that, about 80-90 percent, with just a hint of the
old symptoms coming back.  I don't know if I already wrote this yet,
but the neurologist told me I wasn't high, it was just what normal
people feel like.

It has been so long since I have felt this way.  I hardly even know how
to deal with it.

Sorry if I have put this in the wrong forum.  The one thread I found on
TLE was closed, so I thought I would just start a new one.