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Zonegran and Kidney Stones

Fri, 02/20/2015 - 20:23

Hello!

My fiance has had complex partial seizures since he was 2 years old. He has been on pretty much every common epilepsy medication and has tried multiple combinations to control his seizures, but they have never completely been controlled. For the last year and a half, he has been on zonegran and lamictal, which has greatly decreased his seizures from about 3 a week to 1 every 3-4 weeks. However, he has recently been developing kidney stones.

A CT scan last May showed 3 stones present, and to date he has passed 3 stones (all very painful and debilitating). He has a renal ultrasound scheduled for next week to see how many more stones are present now. We know that kidney stones are a common side effect of zonegran, and we were just wondering about the experiences of anyone has had to discontinue zonegran due to stones? Or anyone who has been able to decrease stone formation with lifestyle changes? He would prefer not to go off of the zonegran since they are helping his seizures, but he cannot continue to keep developing stones either! We have thought of making some lifestyle changes with diet, increasing water intake, decreasing caffeine, etc. but aren't sure what the best course of action is either. He is also starting to establish care with a new neurologist after an insurance change.

Thanks so much for any thoughts.

Sarah & Troy

Comments

Medication can have issues or

Submitted by just_joe on Sat, 2015-02-21 - 18:18
Medication can have issues or cause stones in some people which is also why medication levels need to be checked from tim to time. There are other things that can cause stones. Life style changes can help. But most people do not think about which way yo go or how yo get started.I haven't had stones but My other half has had heart attacks. I went to the group meeting and learned a lot. We purchased the American Heart Associan cook book. That book has been helpful in changing our eating habits. People with diabeties can use it to find ways to cut down on their sugar. But it is not really the food you eat but the ammount you eat.We were eating more fried foods. but we learned that too many fried foods can cause wellll lots of peoblems. I was the man=in person cooking and I went to brioling, grilling and other ways to cook. We bought fresh veggies and cooked them rather then the store bought foods. People today do not know how to actually cook since they can go byu a meal that can be cooked in a microwave. Do they know how to really fix a meal from start to finish?  The cook book is a place to start especially when it has substitues for all kinds of things. As for medications and all kinds of medications he has been on. Newer ones have been working. I know all about medications and have probably tried most of the ones being used today.If his medication is causing his stones then his neurologist might want to change his medication and the newer medications do work well I am currently using keppra or generic keppra and vimpat. My seizures have been reduced and the time in those seizures and time to focus (get back to normal) has also shortened. I can have a seizure today while in a group of people discussing an issue and they would know nothing of the seizure. There have been newer nedication come out that are also newer and work well. I know because my neurologist works with dortors that do drug studies on newer medications and I have been in some of those studies. I hope this helps and you get his stones gone and he gets better. Joe PS  I also know that stones do hurt and can ba painful since my father has some.

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