 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Epilepsy / February 2008losing lots of time
Hi, I am a schizophrenic woman who was on the drug clozaril which is known to cause seizures in some people. The doctors are not sure whether I have epilepsy or whether the seizures were caused by the clozaril. I would go to sleep on say a friday and wake up on sunday believing that it was saturday. I would wet the bed and drool alot. I live alone. This would happened before I started taking the clozaril. As a matter of fact even after getting on clozaril I wouldn't always take it. I would just hide the meds in the bathroom..I gave a whole plastic bag of meds to my mental health care team eventually and admitted that I wasn't taking them. Then I started having problems with dizziness and falling down. I could not stay standing up. It got so bad one day that I sprained my ankle. Then one day it got really bad and I hit my mouth on the coffee table and lost a front tooth. I was crawling on the ground, I could not stay upright. I called my mental health team and they called 911. After I got to the ER, one person saw me having what my case manager said was a grand mal seizure. I have no memory of this. They say that I saw a neurologist and other doctors and had an mri, a cat scan and a eeg but I don''t remember that either. This all happened in November 2007. Yesterday I had an appt with a neurologist who said he can't tell if the seizures were caused by the clozaril or epilepsy. I am on the anti- seizure med Delantin and I am no longer taking clozaril and I feel like a new person. No more dizziness, I walk normally and no more losing time as far as I know... I have to have a sleep-deprived eeg in about a week and a half to see if my brain waves are abnormal.. What do you all think? I am especially curious about what you think about the time I lost? Does anyone else experience that? Thanks. Min On Feb 7, 2:07 pm, muggle...@gmail.com wrote: > Hi, > [quoted text clipped - 35 lines] > > Min I forgot..I would also have mini shocks or blackouts..like a short in my brain..i would not blackout during this. I would have several of these per day... On Feb 7, 3:12 pm, muggle...@gmail.com wrote: > On Feb 7, 2:07 pm, muggle...@gmail.com wrote: > > Hi, [quoted text clipped - 39 lines] > > - Show quoted text - Some of the symptoms you describe *could be what are called Absence Seizures, or Petit Mals. Those are the only ones? that don't end with passing out on the floor. Usually the stronger types (Grand Mal, Complex Partial) end when they generalize (spread within the brain) and we lose consciousness. Dilantin is often prescribed first (I was told when I used it), since it's older, longer studied, and most of the potential side effects etc. are documented. Also since it's older, the research costs have been recovered since the 1930s? so it's also cheaper than some of the newer, more targeted meds. that might be used for Grand Mal or Complex Partial type seizures. (Note the correct spelling above if you do a search on site I mention below.) I think the U.S. Ep. Foundation site has a medications glossary if your Pharmacy didn't give you a printout when you first filled the prescription. They might also have a website specific to Dilantin if you ask them. On the US Ep. Foundation site, there's a Printable Version tab? (I think) so you can print the detail if you don't have it. Some things might be listed to avoid eating while using it, as some things (usually alcohol, but other pills and foods too) can interfere with its working. Also don't *miss any doses scheduled as the Dr. might take blood tests to check levels and will assume you are using the rate they prescribed, so if you took less they could increase your dose trying to reach the target dose. I posted a list of about 6? websites back about December. Title was something like 'Websites of use to newer people'. If you can't find that, reply here and I'll see if I can find it and cut and paste a new copy here. The U.S. Ep. Foundation Association is at http://efa.org . G./ > I have to have a sleep-deprived eeg in about a week and a half to see > if my brain waves are abnormal.. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Min >I forgot..I would also have mini shocks or blackouts..like a short in >my brain..i would not blackout during this. I would have several of >these per day... I'm relatively new to the epilepsy world. But, I can tell you a little bit about my experience both personal and familial with epilepsy and with medication induced seizures. My brother in law and I had our first seizures one day apart. Mine have been diagnosed with epilepsy and it seems to be an accurate diagnosis. I have had other seizures since my first medicine was prescribed. I was on only Dilantin but week before last I had over 20 seizures in a single week (I usually was averaging one ever two to three weeks). Because of the escalation in my seizure profile, I am now on Dilantin, Neurontin, and Lamictal. Once I am stable and have had time to build up the Neurontin and Lamictal in my body (about a month) we will taper off the Dilantin. After test after test, and medication trials for everything else I take, there doesn't seem to be any outside pharmalogical cause for my seizures. Bright lights, flashing lights, exhaustion/sleeplessness, extreme cold and heat, loud sudden noises, etc seem to be triggers outside my medicines. Now, my BIL who had his first and only seizure a day after mine, was taking Ultram which apparently has a risk to cause seizures. He was taken off that and has not had another seizure. Since everyone is different you seizures may very well be caused by the medication you have discontinued. Loss of time is not unusual during any seizure either medication induced or epilepsy. I am no expert and can only offer you what I have found in both my personal life and those around me. I hope you find an easy and fast answer. Cindi
|
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.