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Can too much medication make seizures worse?

Wed, 05/20/2009 - 19:46

Hi I have been on Depakote for the past 5.5yrs and over the past 9mths have been suffering from horrible side effects that have never occurred before. They occur about 1-2hrs after taking my AM dose, eg: dizziness, nausea, dirrorea, increased ringing in ears, vertigo, difficulty concentrating or focusing on anything. Sometimes I wake up like I am in a fog. All this leads to anxiety which automatically makes things worse.

Up until 9mths ago I was on 1500mg/daily and due to these side effects I have been slowly decreasing the dosage and am now at 750mg/daily. My previous neuro mentioned that too much meds can increase the likelihood of seizures. That totally freaks me out, so whenever this feeling comes on I worry about having a seizure and so I feel like I'm on a treadmill I can't get off of.

I recently tried switching to Lamictal but the side effects became even worse. My new neuro made me feel rather stupid by saying she'd never had anyone in 5yrs have any reaction to the drug and I should just try halving or quartering the dose. I told her no thanks. Apart from those 2 drugs I have also had an awful reaction to Tegretol.

I have 2 young girls and feel awful that I can't be a good mum to them when I'm doped up on medication. My husband is great but he has to hold down a job which involves travel.

Does anyone know of any meds that have few side effects and something that your body will tolerate when you are trying to get off Depakote? Or does anyone know of the smallest dose allowable for someone on Depakote? I'm not someone who has a great deal of seizures and I'm wondering whether the meds are really worth continuing on with. Any advice is most apprecited.

 

 

Comments

Depakote made me sick as well

Submitted by Cassy0987 on Tue, 2017-10-24 - 06:56
Depakote made me sick as well as my son my sons blood platelet count diminished to 90 he was tired all the time. Had little purple dots on his legs and was so shaky they put him on levocarnatine to counteract the effects. Now that he's off that he's doin much better. He takes onfi,topomax,and clonozipam. Too much meds made it way worse his seizures we're almost constant he was on 7 medications. His diagnosis is Lennox gastaut. One of the hardest seizure conditional to control with meds.

Also it made him tired and

Submitted by Cassy0987 on Tue, 2017-10-24 - 06:57
Also it made him tired and fall over all the time and get terrible bruising all over

Also, having epilepsy doesn’t

Submitted by Peanuts4me on Thu, 2018-05-31 - 13:58
Also, having epilepsy doesn’t make us bad moms any more than having acne or being blind or deaf. Your children live in a world where people have all sorts of illnesses, disabilities, and levels of intellect. They will learn to adapt and show compassion based on the positive or negative way you present your condition and the level of self respect you convey. Always show them that you are both weak and strong. Always make sure that they see you picking yourself up when you fall, and that you aren’t giving up. My mother in law was born with Cerebral Palsy, and she raised my husband to be a compassionate and loving helper. He was putting his moms shoes on for her by the time he could tie his own. Now he is a supportive husband who encourages me, and is teaching our boys to be kind and loving to people regardless of their differences.

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