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26 Year Old Healthy Male developing epilepsy
Tue, 11/23/2010 - 10:39I am a 26 Year old male that had my first seizure in March 2010. I was an overall healthy person who worked out regurally and had a healthy diet. I have been on and off of anxiety medications since i was a teenager for for dealing with generalized anxiety. I work night shift in Law Enforcement and was never affected by strobing lights or lack of sleep. This is my story, suggestions and comments are welcome.
My first seizure happened March 28 2010 at 10pm. I was just going to sleep and let out a deep groan, began shaking and my eyes rolled back. My left arm then shot up and my body stiffened and i convulsed for a couple of minutes. My body then relaxed and i was covered in sweat. I was in a deep sleep for about 30 minutes. When I awoke, my left arm was in severe pain, and I had no recollection of what happened. AN EEG showed right frontal lobe activity and the MRI was normal. I was put on Trileptal 300mg 2X daily.
I had been taking Venlaflaxine for about a year( August 09-March10) and eventually weaned myself off of it completely before my 26th birthday March 26, 2010 because I didn’t feel I needed it anymore. I had a party on my birthday and consumed a large quantity of alcohol prior to the first seizure.
I did not have any further issues with epilepsy and on July 1st, I was prescribed a daily pill of Effexor XR 75MG capsules for anxiety due to an upcoming wedding. On July 18th,I had my second seizure and it has been monthly thereafter.
I have since been taken off of Effexor XR and had terrible withdrawl symptoms and have read about others having seizures due to Effexor.
As of today I have had 8 seizures, i am now on 1000mg of generic Keppra and 150mg of Trileptal both twice daily. I have dislocated my left shoulder twice due to the convulsions and now need orthopedic surgery.
Has anyone had similar reactions to Effexor XR? Any other thoughts and insights are welcome.
Re: 26 Year Old Healthy Male developing epilepsy
Submitted by hopeful32 on Mon, 2011-03-07 - 16:04
Hello, as a mother who has been independent for quite some time now, it seems very hard to adjust to a chaperone?! Thats what I call it, I am in my early 30's, and I had my first seizure in 10/2010 and 2 since then that i know about. Its seems unreal, and very weird to say in the least. In my world there has not been alot of support in the matter, and I like to think that this is a nightmare gonna wrong. Like the healthy young male, I dont exactly know how all this started and with my tests stating that i'm healthy as an ox, i am depressed, and the seizures are stating otherwise, it has been real hard to cope, but I do have faith!!! and I know that GOD wont give us nomore than we can bear, so I understand to an extent swalte, its difficult, but GOD will see us through.