Community Forum Archive
The Epilepsy Community Forums are closed, and the information is archived. The content in this section may not be current or apply to all situations. In addition, forum questions and responses include information and content that has been generated by epilepsy community members. This content is not moderated. The information on these pages should not be substituted for medical advice from a healthcare provider. Experiences with epilepsy can vary greatly on an individual basis. Please contact your doctor or medical team if you have any questions about your situation. For more information, learn about epilepsy or visit our resources section.
sleeping side effect
Tue, 05/06/2014 - 01:14Hello everyone. I have a problem with sleeping most of the day. For example, I will fall asleep at maybe 2 or 3am, and wake up at 8am, and then fall back asleep at 9am, and wake up at 4pm. I have tried resetting my schedule by staying awake all night and all day, but I end up returning to my previous schedule of sleeping all the time. I take two medicines that both have side effects of lethargy/drowsiness: zonegran for epilepsy and cymbalta for depression (another side effect of zonegran). I have been trying to find a stimulant that works for me, but I don't enjoy carbonation, so I don't drink soda or energy drinks. I also don't like coffee. I drink chai a lot, but I can easily fall asleep even after drinking one of these. I do have caffeine pills but it doesn't give me a real boost. Does anyone have a solution? I just wish there was something I could eat or drink that could wake me up, give me real energy, let me take advantage of the daylight hours. I feel so unproductive when I sleep through the whole day!
I read your post. I alswo
Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2014-05-06 - 09:54
I read your post. I alswo know that there are side effects to any and all medications including over the counter medications. If it were me I would ba calling my neurologist and asking him about newer medications designed to treat all my seizures. All of your doctors need to know all the medications you take since medicines can counter other medications. Newer medications do control seizures well and they have fewer side effects. One of those is less drowsyness. They are being designed to treat kinds of seizures but after they are approved those medications are still tested to treat other kinds of seizures. Keppra for instance was originally designed to treat partial seizures and some generalized seizures. Once on the market they tested it on other kinds of seizures and it worked on more kinds of seizures. It has been the best AED I have ever used. It does have side effects that do happen to 5-8% of the people taking it but you don't hear about the other 92-95%. Seizure medications have been designed to help shorten the time in the seizure and time to get back to normal. Most of my seizures are seconds now when thiose seizures used to be minutes long. The time to focus used to be 15-45 minutes and now that is done in seconds, All of those changes dan help your body because seizures do drain energy and that includes ALL kinds of seizures I hope this helps and you get the assistance you need. Joe