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epilepsy and "rage episodes"

Sat, 01/08/2005 - 16:37
hello,I'm wondering if anyone has any input or experience with this. My brother has epilepsy diagnosed in his early 20's. Seizures are mostly controlled by medication. However, he has episodes of extreme, nearly violent rage where he seems out of control and screams at people in a way that is pretty scary. I have always noticed that he has what we called a "bad temper" but really it was always alot more than that. Now though, these episodes are becoming more frequent. (3-4 times weekly)We are wondering if this has anything to do with his epilepsy. The episodes are so extreme that it seems not right. He screams and throws things though he has not been physically violent. If anyone has any input it would be great to hear. Does this sound at all familiar to anyone else?Thanks.

Comments

Re: epilepsy and "rage episodes"

Submitted by fleabones on Fri, 2008-05-30 - 22:03

Can you have rage seizures without having actual epilepsy itself? My son was just diagnosed with rage seizures, but the drs are saying its not the same as having actual epilepsy itself...?? He is on depakote celexa and are fixing to wean the depakote and put him on lamictal...

Can you have rage seizures without having actual epilepsy itself? My son was just diagnosed with rage seizures, but the drs are saying its not the same as having actual epilepsy itself...?? He is on depakote celexa and are fixing to wean the depakote and put him on lamictal...

Re: epilepsy and "rage episodes"

Submitted by Sophs64833 on Thu, 2008-07-03 - 13:12
I've had rage issues and still do from time to time. Sometimes it can be just a small thing that can tick me off and I'll just explode at whoever did the small thing that got me annoyed. I've actually had short temper problems since I was young. But when I was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of ten, my short temper became worse. And as they were trying different meds on me to see which one worked, my temper went really bad. I even threw a chair at a councilor and hurled a desk at one of my classmates in school. Sometimes I'm able to control my temper, but other times.. my rage can just explode at anyone near me who "annoyed" me. It can be such a small thing as asking me an innocent question while I'm listening to the television.

Re: epilepsy and "rage episodes"

Submitted by Karleen on Wed, 2008-10-15 - 10:39

This could be several things but I can relate to this.  I was diagnosed with epilepsy at 11 and after years of coping just fine even though my epilepsy has been almost impossible to control, I found myself being told by friends and family that I just wasn't myself anymore.  I was taking 450mg of Topirimate a day and 400mg of Lamotragine a day and had suffered a miscarriage just a few months previous so I put it down to that.  I began to realise within myself though that things just weren't quite right.  I would get angry for no apparent reason and if I had nothing to vent that anger out on I would break things and just go into a fit of rage.  Often I would find it hard to get out of bed and just felt like a dark cloud was following me around everywhere.  After suffering like that for a year I decided to look further into my condition and medication and it said that depression can becaused with my combination of drugs but it is also a common 'side effect' you could say of epilepsy.  I decided to go to a doctor wo said: "do you go out?" when I answered yes he said "well your not depressed then".  I felt like an idiot and this made me so angry that when I went home I trashed my room up and made myself sick from anger then I crawled into a space and started crying.  A few month later my boyfriend told me he was going out and for no reason what so ever I went mad and trashed the house and broke every dish there was and lay there crying.  I phoned NHS24 who talked me through all sorts of stuff then got a doctor to call me back, they said it was obvious that I was suffering from severe depression and it's not uncommon in people of my age who have had this condition and who have had to deal with it to suddenly just feel stuck and that my medication will be pushing that depression along as will everything that has happened in the past few years.  She sent a fax through to my regular doctor who could instantly tell that something wasn't right who put me on Fluoxetine 20mg capsules right away and referred me to a Cognitive Behaviour Therpay course both which have done wonders.

I don't know if this could help you at all, but it's worth thinking about.

This could be several things but I can relate to this.  I was diagnosed with epilepsy at 11 and after years of coping just fine even though my epilepsy has been almost impossible to control, I found myself being told by friends and family that I just wasn't myself anymore.  I was taking 450mg of Topirimate a day and 400mg of Lamotragine a day and had suffered a miscarriage just a few months previous so I put it down to that.  I began to realise within myself though that things just weren't quite right.  I would get angry for no apparent reason and if I had nothing to vent that anger out on I would break things and just go into a fit of rage.  Often I would find it hard to get out of bed and just felt like a dark cloud was following me around everywhere.  After suffering like that for a year I decided to look further into my condition and medication and it said that depression can becaused with my combination of drugs but it is also a common 'side effect' you could say of epilepsy.  I decided to go to a doctor wo said: "do you go out?" when I answered yes he said "well your not depressed then".  I felt like an idiot and this made me so angry that when I went home I trashed my room up and made myself sick from anger then I crawled into a space and started crying.  A few month later my boyfriend told me he was going out and for no reason what so ever I went mad and trashed the house and broke every dish there was and lay there crying.  I phoned NHS24 who talked me through all sorts of stuff then got a doctor to call me back, they said it was obvious that I was suffering from severe depression and it's not uncommon in people of my age who have had this condition and who have had to deal with it to suddenly just feel stuck and that my medication will be pushing that depression along as will everything that has happened in the past few years.  She sent a fax through to my regular doctor who could instantly tell that something wasn't right who put me on Fluoxetine 20mg capsules right away and referred me to a Cognitive Behaviour Therpay course both which have done wonders.

I don't know if this could help you at all, but it's worth thinking about.

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