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Can too much medication make seizures worse?
Wed, 05/20/2009 - 19:46Hi 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
Re: Can too much medication make seizures worse?
Submitted by adamssa@uwec.edu on Sat, 2009-06-20 - 15:25
The toxicity thing causing seizures is interesting and most likely accuarate. I had an aura and night seizure while on Keppra. THey happened so close together that it was as if I was worse on that med than I was when not taking any seizure meds at all. I was also having v. bad side effects at the time so it is possible the drugs caused the seizures.
The toxicity thing causing seizures is interesting and most likely accuarate. I had an aura and night seizure while on Keppra. THey happened so close together that it was as if I was worse on that med than I was when not taking any seizure meds at all. I was also having v. bad side effects at the time so it is possible the drugs caused the seizures.
Re: Can too much medication make seizures worse?
Submitted by rikk on Fri, 2009-05-22 - 15:00
hi,
first lets get the to reality. AEDs cause side effects. no exceptions. all medications for that matter. that is why they are listed in the literature. Docs for the most part, don't have a cue about having seizures or the medications they use . That is not to say they are not good docs. Medications over time can change how they effect each of us. to much you get toxic. to little, not effective. body changes can cause both, even if you changed nothing.
second. Any doc that makes you feel stupid, is not listening to you. they are trying to just tell you and be on there merry way. The big deal is trust. if you are not comfortable with the way the doc is treating you as a person, or as a person with epilepsy. it is time for a new doc. If you don't trust them, you won't talk and they won't listen. one, the other, or both.
there are several new medications now. some of the old one still work for some people. The end is there is no way to predict how anyone will react to any medication, or combination of medications.
it is a good thing that your husband is doing what he can do. i hope it helps. rikk
hi,
first lets get the to reality. AEDs cause side effects. no exceptions. all medications for that matter. that is why they are listed in the literature. Docs for the most part, don't have a cue about having seizures or the medications they use . That is not to say they are not good docs. Medications over time can change how they effect each of us. to much you get toxic. to little, not effective. body changes can cause both, even if you changed nothing.
second. Any doc that makes you feel stupid, is not listening to you. they are trying to just tell you and be on there merry way. The big deal is trust. if you are not comfortable with the way the doc is treating you as a person, or as a person with epilepsy. it is time for a new doc. If you don't trust them, you won't talk and they won't listen. one, the other, or both.
there are several new medications now. some of the old one still work for some people. The end is there is no way to predict how anyone will react to any medication, or combination of medications.
it is a good thing that your husband is doing what he can do. i hope it helps. rikk
Re: Can too much medication make seizures worse?
Submitted by kay69 on Thu, 2009-05-21 - 21:45
HI Tina, firstly I totally emapthise with your meds situation. I've had really bad side effect trouble with all the AEDs to the point that's there's only 2 drugs left to try and I refuse to. I'm currently on Lamictal and I do have a few issues with it, mostly vision trouble and tremor, but compared with all the other meds this one is brilliant for me. I'll never have sz controll but I can at least function between szs. I was on depakote for 3 years and was very miserable.
Ignore thatneuro who says she's never had anyone have any reactions with lamictal- all the AEDs have side effects and all of us get some of the side effects butit's totally individual how much. I recently encountered a locum neuro who is trying to push Topomax on everyone who sees her)she tried it with 2 of my friends) and she's absolutely adament it has no side effects whatsoever, not even being drowsy at the beginning. So sadly there are doctors like that.
To answer your main question- yes, for some people high doses of AEDs can make our szs worse, it's a kind of paradoxical reaction, or it's often a complication of drug toxicity. Sopme of the meds can change seizure types as well. Usually if the drug is the culprit reducing the dose down will fix the problem. Some people can tolerate higher than usual doses of certain drugs, others can't. Just remeber all of this is completely individual, there are no set rules, so long as the person isn't toxic on their meds. I do think there are neuros out there who are so determined to get someone sz-free that they just keep upping the dosages without consideration to side effects and quality of life which is really irresponsible.
If you've got a formal diagnosis of epilepsy then it's likely you'll need to be on meds for a while to stop them getting worse, but there is always the possiblity down the track that you may be able to give it a go coming off meds. But that's something that's got to be done in conjunction with your neuro, don't EVER try coming off them on your own, ok?
Hope that's of some help. Take care
Kay x
HI Tina, firstly I totally emapthise with your meds situation. I've had really bad side effect trouble with all the AEDs to the point that's there's only 2 drugs left to try and I refuse to. I'm currently on Lamictal and I do have a few issues with it, mostly vision trouble and tremor, but compared with all the other meds this one is brilliant for me. I'll never have sz controll but I can at least function between szs. I was on depakote for 3 years and was very miserable.
Ignore thatneuro who says she's never had anyone have any reactions with lamictal- all the AEDs have side effects and all of us get some of the side effects butit's totally individual how much. I recently encountered a locum neuro who is trying to push Topomax on everyone who sees her)she tried it with 2 of my friends) and she's absolutely adament it has no side effects whatsoever, not even being drowsy at the beginning. So sadly there are doctors like that.
To answer your main question- yes, for some people high doses of AEDs can make our szs worse, it's a kind of paradoxical reaction, or it's often a complication of drug toxicity. Sopme of the meds can change seizure types as well. Usually if the drug is the culprit reducing the dose down will fix the problem. Some people can tolerate higher than usual doses of certain drugs, others can't. Just remeber all of this is completely individual, there are no set rules, so long as the person isn't toxic on their meds. I do think there are neuros out there who are so determined to get someone sz-free that they just keep upping the dosages without consideration to side effects and quality of life which is really irresponsible.
If you've got a formal diagnosis of epilepsy then it's likely you'll need to be on meds for a while to stop them getting worse, but there is always the possiblity down the track that you may be able to give it a go coming off meds. But that's something that's got to be done in conjunction with your neuro, don't EVER try coming off them on your own, ok?
Hope that's of some help. Take care
Kay x