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Depression
Fri, 04/18/2008 - 03:09Hi
I was diagnosed with E, 2 year ago and am still trying to control my seizures. I am not sure how many I am having, but guess approx 2 a month but not sure since I am on my own the majority of the time. My neurologist is trying to control these seizures so that I return to work and get back to what I was doing prior to diagnosis which obviously came as a shock as I was in my mid 30's whehn this occured. He has recently increased my dosage of Keppra and ever since this has occured, I am so emotional and depressed it is scary.
My question is this, how can I determine if it is the AED's that I am on that is causing all the emotional instability, or if it is the fact that I am bored, not working and generally hate the fact that I have had this E sprung upon me. Which is it.... is it the medication that I need to reduce, or do I just need to be a big boy and get used to what is happening and grow up???
I don't want to go on anti depressants if I can avoid it as this yet another medication to stuff my system up, but I don't know what to do anymore. I guess in a round about why I am trying to ask you :
- 1s it the AED that is causing me to be an emotional, depressed wreck that ultimately noone would want to employ in anycase and I need to find another solution or
- Is it me that needs to get a grip and realise that life is not that bad and stop fighting the dosages which right now is Topamax 50mg, Keppra 2000 mg and Tegratol, 250mg
I feel I cannot continue like this for much longer, I take care of my diet, and exercise and all of that so am trying my best to help myself but this is just not working and I am destroying relationships in the process not to say that I would not last in a job.
Re: Depression
Submitted by Dragool on Sat, 2008-12-13 - 17:23
It's true that there are medications which make me prefer the seizures. Right now I'm on 1000mg/day Keppra, 10mg/day Urbanyl, 50mg/day Zonegran and 20mg/day Seroplex (antidepressant). I think I'm still having problems accepting that I do have epilepsy and the antidepressants help. I have been on numerous medications and am still trying to figure out the combination that works best. Some meds make a mess of your life. It's very difficult to find something that works perfectly the first time around for you. I'm 21 and this is the time in your life when you're supposed to be figuring out who you are, but we have to spend it with medication. I'm trying to discover who I am, and if the meds are changing me. It's very hard to tell. I go see a therapist which helps a lot. It's hard to know which AED affects you and how.