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Should I take medication?

Mon, 05/23/2005 - 11:13

Hi, I am a 22 year old girl living in Queensland Australia, I have been having seizures since I was about 16 years old, all of them Grand Mal with total black out and memory loss afterwards, confusion, well you know the drill.

Anyway, I only generally have one every eight months , which is pretty mild and that is why I am wondering if I should take medication, or not.I had another seizure a week ago, my first in ages, and my doctor told me I should be on Tegretol. But I dont know, Ihave read about the side effects and it really scares me, and I think that maybe if I just eat really well, and look after myself I should be fine......

I dont know, can anyone give me any advice? I dont know what I want to hear, but are all those side effects true? does it really stop the seizures totally? please help

Comments

RE: Should I take medication?

Submitted by Yakota on Mon, 2005-05-23 - 11:13
Hi. I am no physician but to my knowledge drugs are not 100% effective in controlling seizure. True some drugs help eliminate seizure, others increase seizure, and they all have side effects, some worse than others. Yes. Diet is important. Some foods and food additives actually increase and can cause seizure. Sleep too is very important in trying to stay seizure free. Is there any correlation between the few seizures that you have and any sleep derprivation? Look for some sort of pattern or similarity between the seizures that you have. Stress, menstral cycle, menopause, pregnancy, diet, amount of sleep, oxygen, and even altitude can have an effect on seizure. I have TLE with partial complex seizure. I have taken many different AEDs, sometimes 3 at a time to control seizure. None of them worked to stop the seizure. I got the vns in March of 2003. I had it turned off in October of 2004. I don't take any AEDs and haven't for almost 11 moinths. I still have seizure but have learned to live with E. I had worse seizure and horrible side effects while taking AEDs. E is a complex thing to live with. I am still very much in the learning process. Having a dad who himself is a physician makes going the "natural route" that much more of a challenge. In my favor is the fact that my mom too is seeking "natrual" means to help relieve symtoms of her high blood pressure. She can't seem to tolerate any pharmacutical drugs having a bad reaction to most of them. All the best in whatever you decide. Blessings. Linda.

RE: Should I take medication?

Submitted by angel_lts on Tue, 2005-05-24 - 07:34
Well of couse it is your choice. Be very careful of your diet, low sugar in take... All healthy foods. Dont eat things with MSG in them and those dietier sugar are not good.check out the group for both medical and alternatives side to epilepsyLisahttp://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/EpilepsyApproach/

RE: Should I take medication?

Submitted by valhdz on Tue, 2005-05-24 - 08:01
You should take meds. even if your seizures are 6 - 8 months apart. My friend has gran mal seizures and she takes Depakote, that helped her stopped the seizures from surfacing again.

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