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adult onset epilepsy

Sun, 05/20/2007 - 23:19
Looking to see if there are any other women out there with adult onset epilepsy with the complication of migraines and breakthrough complex partial seizures. My tonic clonic seizures have been controlled for one year now with keppra but my complex partials are breaking through the topiramate. They have not found a cause.

Comments

Re: adult onset epilepsy

Submitted by beebs08 on Mon, 2008-04-07 - 20:26
Hi everyone Just new to this site and finding my way around. Have only replied to one post in this forum regarding Non-Epileptic Seizures to jessica25. Thought I was in right place but reading on have now found this topic and it seems to have many similarities to my situation. Please read my reply to jessica25 Thanks Beebs

Re: adult onset epilepsy

Submitted by apo8863 on Mon, 2010-03-01 - 17:45

Hmm, ok, so I feel a little out of place posting here as a 22 year old, but even at 19 my partical complex temporal lobe seizures were considered adult onset. I was grabbed more by your comment about the added complication of migraines. In my case, my migraines were the much more pressing problem, coming daily without reacting at all to the full range of meds. In any case, in looking for a cause for the migraines we found a small brain tumor in my right temporal lobe. It seems fairly clear that the seizures are a result of the tumor and subsequent surgery to take it out, but there is still no apparent cause of the migraines. I definitely notice a correlation between flare ups in migraines and seizures. It has been suggested that one might be an aura for the other, but it becomes something of a chicken and the egg problem when you have both seizures and migraines too often and too close together.

Keppra didn't work for me, but Lamictal did wonders for my absence seizures, and the addition of Lyrica helps  to control various other manifestations of partial compex seizures. Mine still are not completely under control, but whenever control of the seizures improves my migraines improve and vice versa. Even so, my neurologists are reluctant to say that there is a definite link. I'm not sure how they can deny it though.

One other thought, as a woman, I find that the severity of my migraines and frequency of my seizures varies deepending on where I am in my menstrual cycle. Doctors have been more reluctant to agree that there can be a connection as I have gotten older, like hormones can only affect things during puberty and menopause. Has anyone else who is between those two periods of hormonal upheaval noticed a connection? Thanks.

Hmm, ok, so I feel a little out of place posting here as a 22 year old, but even at 19 my partical complex temporal lobe seizures were considered adult onset. I was grabbed more by your comment about the added complication of migraines. In my case, my migraines were the much more pressing problem, coming daily without reacting at all to the full range of meds. In any case, in looking for a cause for the migraines we found a small brain tumor in my right temporal lobe. It seems fairly clear that the seizures are a result of the tumor and subsequent surgery to take it out, but there is still no apparent cause of the migraines. I definitely notice a correlation between flare ups in migraines and seizures. It has been suggested that one might be an aura for the other, but it becomes something of a chicken and the egg problem when you have both seizures and migraines too often and too close together.

Keppra didn't work for me, but Lamictal did wonders for my absence seizures, and the addition of Lyrica helps  to control various other manifestations of partial compex seizures. Mine still are not completely under control, but whenever control of the seizures improves my migraines improve and vice versa. Even so, my neurologists are reluctant to say that there is a definite link. I'm not sure how they can deny it though.

One other thought, as a woman, I find that the severity of my migraines and frequency of my seizures varies deepending on where I am in my menstrual cycle. Doctors have been more reluctant to agree that there can be a connection as I have gotten older, like hormones can only affect things during puberty and menopause. Has anyone else who is between those two periods of hormonal upheaval noticed a connection? Thanks.

Re: adult onset epilepsy

Submitted by amber1981 on Mon, 2010-03-01 - 18:53

OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!! You just said it! Mine started to get really bad during the time I starting getting what I know now are occular migraines! I would get a HORRIBLE pain behing my left eye and went to the ER twice because I thought my eye was going to pop out of my head! That's when all of the epilepsy stuff started to get really bad! I was just diagnosed on 01/18/10....wow...I am not alone! Oh, and this type of migraine was different then the one's I had when I was younger. Before I would see spots before I got them and they would be in the front of my head. The ones that I got when the E got bad were behind my eye and always started right after I woke up in the morning. It's strange....email if you have any other questions! ambersers@hotmail.com

 

Amber

OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!! You just said it! Mine started to get really bad during the time I starting getting what I know now are occular migraines! I would get a HORRIBLE pain behing my left eye and went to the ER twice because I thought my eye was going to pop out of my head! That's when all of the epilepsy stuff started to get really bad! I was just diagnosed on 01/18/10....wow...I am not alone! Oh, and this type of migraine was different then the one's I had when I was younger. Before I would see spots before I got them and they would be in the front of my head. The ones that I got when the E got bad were behind my eye and always started right after I woke up in the morning. It's strange....email if you have any other questions! ambersers@hotmail.com

 

Amber

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