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Alcohol hangover and medication

Tue, 02/09/2010 - 19:24

Hi. I have had two grand mal seizures in my life. One when I was 18 and another, a year ago, when I was 22.  Now I am 23. Both of these seizures happened after a night of very heavy drinking. Those two times were the worst hangovers I have ever suffered in my life. After the first one when I was 18, I had an EEG done and it showed no abnormalities. I continued partying and drinking heavily on the weekends for over four years and nothing bad happened until last year when I had my second seizure. I had an EEG done again and this time it showed abnormalities. My doctor sayd that i should go on medication. But i refused and told her that we should see what happens in the next months. Now almost a year has passed and I have had no seizures. I do not consider myself an epileptic. Rather a low seizure threshold maybe? For a long time I did not drink a drop of alcohol, but during the last few months I have started to drink again... I have tried to avoid hangovers by drinking a lot of water and taking magnesium and multivitamins and getting a good long sleep after drinking alcohol. But still, even when I feel almost no hangover the next day, I still take xanax or diazepam a couple of times during the day but they work like tranquillizers and make me feel very sleepy and tired for the whole day. My question is: what AED would be good for me to take during the next day after drinking? What would be a good choice to take for just one day since i don't need medication normally, I am not having any seizures. But for the hangovers... I need some drug to make me feel safe. I know... i probably shoud not drink, but with my personality, the neuroticism and anxiety, I sometimes NEED to get drunk on a weekend...

So, what drug would you recommend for that kind of occasional use? I have been doing some reading and it seems that pregabalin would be good to raise GABA levels in the brain after drinking. I am quite sure that hangover seizures are a result of low GABA levels after drinking (that is why I take xanax or diazepam, to raise my gaba levels, to feel safe and not be afraid of a seizure).

English is not my native language, I hope everything I wrote is understandable.

Comments

Re: Alcohol hangover and medication

Submitted by anno2009 on Sun, 2012-08-26 - 18:56
Hi I have the same problem. I have epilepsy and it affects me the most when I am hungover. I am 21 and in college so when people tell me to simply "not drink" or that I have a drinking problem I get really annoyed because they do not understand. I am in college. I've never had a seizure before but when I am hungover I always feel like I could possibly have one and I've come very close to having seizure. When I'm hungover I usually lay in bed all day because I am afraid of having a seizure in public. My heart usually races and it is hard for me to fall asleep so I just lay down for the whole day. When I try to socialize with my 5 other roommates it is hard because I simply feel "out of it". This morning my "hangover" was really bad and my roommate gave me one of her anxiety medications. It's called Ativan. I looked it up online and I saw that it is taken by people who have epilepsy. I took it a few hours ago and I feel completely fine now. I am considering asking my doctor to prescribe me Ativan but I'm not sure if he will. I would only take it on rare occasions for when my hangover is unbearable like it was today. I really felt like I was going to have a seizure this morning and I'm not sure what would have happened if I didn't take that Ativan. I think I should be able to be prescribed it for emergency situations like this. Does anyone think a doctor would prescribe me Ativan?

Re: Alcohol hangover and medication

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 2012-08-27 - 08:40
Talk to your doctor first about seizures and alcohol. Usually, the withdrawal effect of alcohol on the brain is what makes people susceptible to more seizures after drinking. The answer for many is to not drink to excess and get hungover! Sure that's hard when a person is young and wants to do everything their friends are doing, but people need to get informed and weigh risks versus benefits. And that means learning the risks associated with seizures. Ativan is used to help stop seizures, but it is not to be used on a regular basis. Also, people need to be careful mixing alcohol with medications such as ativan or any seizure medicine as the side effects will add up. Ativan is not a harmless drug and shouldn't be used unless specifically prescribed for a person. Just an fyi! Not drinking to excess is not as bad as you think. People may be surprised at how well they feel and how many people don't like to drink. Try it.. you may just find the benefits outweigh the risks. You may think I am boring, but think of the big picture.. Epi_help Resource Specialist

Re: Alcohol hangover and medication

Submitted by Stanstedy on Tue, 2012-09-18 - 05:10

Couldn't help but respond to your comments. It was in college that I had to have a massive brain tumor removed (1970); epilepsy followed after that. But I do know that while in college I did become much more involved in drinking..it was the thing to do. Even though after the sugery and diagnosed epilepsy,I contniued to drink. I did not even need any excuses to drink. My seizures became much more frequent. Alcohol does indeed reduce their tolerance. Alcohol eventually made me more depressed and affected my sleep...more seizures. The medicines do not react well with alcohol either; don't use them as you would to reduce a hangover. When I stopped drinking my seizures were reduced. I rarely drink now and just a little. Why rely on so much alcohol to make you feel better? There are other ways. We all need to take care of ourselves.

StanStedy

Couldn't help but respond to your comments. It was in college that I had to have a massive brain tumor removed (1970); epilepsy followed after that. But I do know that while in college I did become much more involved in drinking..it was the thing to do. Even though after the sugery and diagnosed epilepsy,I contniued to drink. I did not even need any excuses to drink. My seizures became much more frequent. Alcohol does indeed reduce their tolerance. Alcohol eventually made me more depressed and affected my sleep...more seizures. The medicines do not react well with alcohol either; don't use them as you would to reduce a hangover. When I stopped drinking my seizures were reduced. I rarely drink now and just a little. Why rely on so much alcohol to make you feel better? There are other ways. We all need to take care of ourselves.

StanStedy

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