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My experience with epilepsy and alcohol.
Mon, 09/19/2016 - 02:41So I have had epilepsy since I was 10 years old had my first seizure in 2004 and my second in 2005, When I had my first two seizures it was established that my seizures were sleep related since at that time I had only had seizures in my sleep. I am now 23 and have been binge drinking since I was 19, it was pretty rare when I was 19 I would only do it maybe once in a blue moon, but ever since I turned 21 I do it at least twice a week sometimes more. I never had any problems with alcohol and my medicine I never had the "it will make the effects of alcohol worse" that I've been told I will have and I never had any seizures while drinking or after. That is until this past sunday, it was my birthday so you can bet that I spent that weekend drinking with family and friends, I got drunk for 3 straight days, not too drunk I was still coherent ( I mostly am i'm not a light weight) but that sunday morning after drinking that night I had a seizure in the passenger seat of my brothers car, a grand mal to be specific, this was the first seizure I've ever had where I was awake at first, like I said earlier the other two were both in my sleep. So that has been something that has worried me.
Also I feel like I should add that I've not been taking my medicine like I should, during this weekend I don't think I took any of it, and before that I was mostly takeing one dose a day when i'm supposed to take two (I take 1500 mg a day 600 mg in the morning 900 mg at night) so I would either take the 900 mg or 600 mg a day so my doses have not been consistent, this is mostly due to both my parents passing away and they were the ones always reminding me to take my medicine.
So what i'm asking is do you think the alcohol or missing the meds caused the seizure? and if it was missing the meds could I go back to drinking like I used to since it never hurt my epilepsy before? Also I know you're technically not suppose to drink at all with epilepsy so just copy and pasting the info on this site about it won't help since I want information about my specific scenario in that before sunday alcohol and my epilepsy got along fine.
It is a combination of both
Submitted by just_joe on Mon, 2016-09-19 - 11:11
It is a combination of both not taking your medications as directed and drinking. I know a little about drinking with friends. But like you I went out with friends. I had a seizure one morning after a night of clubbing with friends and closing the bars down. Yes you will hear some neurologists say NO drinking. But then there are some that will say a drink now and then will not hurt.The reason is not because the alcohol is made worse. It is because it affects the medications and the therapeutic levels. The amounts of active ingredients in your body is what is needed.You need to take your medications as directed both morning and night. Those times need to be followed daily. 2 times a day means 12 hours apart. Take then daily at those times mine are taken 8 am and pm. The reason is the therapeutic levels in your body is due to the dosages. If you looked back your meds might have been taken both morning and night in your early days of drinking a lot. If that is the case your therapeutic levels kept you from having a break through seizure. Which could have been the one you had in the car.Now After my seizure I went out with the same friends. I drank a few drinks with alcohol in the 4-5 hours we were having a good time. 2 drinks in a 4-5 hour time is enough. But in that time I drank about 8-10 drinks. They have what are called Shirley Temples. Drinks that are the same only without alcohol. Your friends will think they have alcohol in them but you can still have fun and not affect the therapeutic levels of your medications. Understand to that as your body changes the dosages need to be looked at because it may need to be raised. Weight gain over a period of time can affect it. So can any hormonal change.I went 3 years before having the seizure I had so yes it fits your scenario, It also fits my neurologists answers. There were no forums back then so a call to my neurologist and a visit 6 months later did it for me.I hope this helpsJoe