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ritalin or alternatives?
Sat, 04/29/2006 - 01:26Topic: New to Epilepsy.com
Hello,
my dr wants me to try medication to address executive function problems that have almost stopped me in my tracks over the last several years.
i don't have any frontal lobe diagnosis, just a long-standing suspected L TLE (with suspicious eeg and several unexplained symptoms, but overall it's not really typical, no deja vu etc.)
does anyone have experience with ritalin, or newer alternatives? (i.e. non stimulant). i really don't think any of these are for me - how could they be the right thing if there is any seizure activity going on at all?
already i'm in teh twilight zone where i can't even express properly what is wrong, and almost no one can hear me shouting for help. i'm scared that even if these non specific drugs don't actually cause any harm, at best they would just mask the real picture - maybe give me 5 or 10% non specific improvement, just enough to throw me deeper into the no-man's land, where i still can't fend for myself, but look vaguely a bit better from the outside and then i can't get any more help either.
is there some hope or some advantages that i'm not picking up on...?
thank you for any ideas, all the best to everyone.
maddie
Re: ritalin or alternatives?
Submitted by ouize on Mon, 2007-08-13 - 17:28
Hi, i'm new to this epilepsy stuff.. was just diagnosed this past october (2006) but i noticed years ago when i was having the auras, not having any clue to what was happening, doctor sending me for ultra sounds and upper g.i's and other things, sure it was an ulcer (and it wasn't).. anyways.. babble... eventually for a different reason i had her put me on something like ritalin, called strattera, i couldn't focus at work, i zoned out all the time. Before even finding out these where seizures i was having, they stopped. I did enjoy the strattera a lot. Concerta is another good one i've been told by my psychologist. All drugs have their side effects, some good, some bad which is why i don't stay on them. I hate the idea of chemicals in my body, but, strattera wasn't so bad.