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JME and Alcohol

Fri, 06/17/2016 - 06:48
Hi Everyone, I am 23 years old and was diagnosed with Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy about 6 years ago. I was taking Lamotrogine which was making the myoclonic jerks worse so i have since been put on Keppra which seems to be controlling them very well expect for the odd muscle jerk in my fingers when i'm overly stressed/tired/anxious but i am able to drive and work full-time so i have no complaints there. Recently i've seen a neurologist for the first time in 6 years and he scared me a little bit, particuarly when he said i should only be having a maximum of 2 units of alcohol at one given time. The past few years i have been drinking reguarly on the weekends with friends like most people my age, if i over do it i do tend to get quite bad hangovers and can have a few more muscle twitches the next day but if i take it easy and get plenty of sleep i seem to recover as normal. I'm certainly going to cut down any heavy drinking from now on and be more careful but my questions are, does everyone with JME have to avoid alcohol almost completely even if the seizures are well controlled? is the 2 unit limit a widespread recommendation for everyone with epilepsy? Does anyone with JME manage to control their seizures completely whilst still having a couple of drinks on special occasions e.g weddings, graduation. Are there any special precautions i could take if i know i'm at an event with alcohol involved? Many thanks.

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