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headaches and confusion!
Sat, 04/15/2006 - 06:44Topic: New to Epilepsy.com
Hi there
I am on 2 types of medication as of today - keppra and tegretol
I was on the above as well as lamictal and frisium. just finished yesterday.
I get a lot of head aches from time to time, can last from the moment I get up in the morning until that night! Is this normal?
When I get warnings or auras, I get confused as well as go numb in my right arm.
I cant think straight or clearly for seconds or minutes, varies every time. But when I do get a warning, and if my partner is talking to me, he doesn't always know when I have had a warning or just had one now and then. And when this happens, he can get frustrated with me if asking me something at the time and I cannot respond to normal thinking level. I can always understand him, but not understand why i did such and such or why I cant answer him back properly. I then get frustrated and upset and feel stupid.
I'm a bit upset at the moment because I ended up getting cross with him earlier because he got couldn't un derstand why I hadn't done such and such this morning, and leaving half a brain a side and prioritising etc. I wont go into the details but the point is I was confused, I could understand why he was annoyed, but he could not see that this might have been because of having warnings which upset me. I felt stupid and small.
Does anyone else have this problem where they are confused and cant think clearly anymore?
Comments
Re: Re: headaches and confusion!
Submitted by quirky on Fri, 2006-05-12 - 09:53
Hi seizuregirl,
Thanks for your comments on this.
I thought it was just me for a while who had this problem. But now I know I'm not the only one.
Dont apologise either, you are helping :-)
I have told my partner from time to time to try having epilepsy and see what it feels like many times when I have got frustrated and I have to say, he is very supportive. It's just sometimes when he doesn't know I have had a warning or aura and things are diiferent for me again, he will get frustrated understandably, but it then in turn becomes frustrating for me.
I saw my doctor last Monday and told me my headaches have got worse becuase of my own life style rather than because of the meds I'm taking. My family thinks this could be true because I do have long days during the week, travelling to work, starting early, home late, looking after the house, studying a course at night 2 nights a week - home very late those nights, constantly tired, etc.
So everyone thinks it's because of my life style. Maybe it is?
But I cant change it, so what do I do?
My doctor has prescribed me a new drug for me topamax, which I have to try out for 4 months before coming off one of my meds- keppra.
Apparantly this is good for head aches so lets see what happens. I am nervous about this drug though because of it's side effects - weight loss, memory loss and tingling.
Keep in touch,
and thanks again for your response,
Quirky
Re: Re: Re: headaches and confusion!
Submitted by seizuregirl on Fri, 2006-05-12 - 10:43
Hi Quirky.....you're welcome. Topamax has a side effect of weight loss? Maybe I should take that...I'm having a hard time losing weight 'coz if anything it keeps finding me. I'm 144 lbs now and am 5'1. Everybody in my family has been telling me how fat I am and that I should lose weight. I understand the concept that losing weight can build up my self-esteem and make me feel good about myself 'coz I have my moments of ups and downs....and right now it's down. Not only am I feeling down, but I have one terrible headache. I've been coughing myself into fits all night long. I'm sick thanks to my nephews. And to top that off I can't find my cold-eeze candy drops to help me..........I'm not a very good person when I'm sick.
Seizuregirl
"Life is what you make of it"
Re: headaches and confusion!
Submitted by seizuregirl on Fri, 2006-05-05 - 22:25
Hi Quirky...I just saw this now...so it's pretty late in response. Sorry about that. Well, let me just say that you are not alone. The same thing happens to me. I can't remember things and often times feel so slow in certain things. But, you know what? It's not our fault. When you're a seizure patient it pretty much comes with the territory. Have you felt the depression also? I have that as well. I looked up on seizures and even corresponded with people on epilepsy groups who were able to tell me that depression can also go hand in hand with seizures. Just stuff that we have to get used to. You should tell ur partner that he should try being a seizure patient and see what it feels like. That's what I tell my family often times when they get upset with me :-) I tell you a person who has never had seizures in their life will never understand what we as patients have to go through. As for the memory problem (like stuff you have to do for the day for example) what I would consider doing is jotting things down on paper and hang it up somewhere where you can see it right away like the fridge door. If you get a seizure...at least you have a back up to remind yourself what it was that you were going to do before the seizure/aura got in ur way. This is what I'm planning to do from now on. Hopefully this system works :-) As for the headaches...I get them too which is why I try to just sleep it off. Once I'm out of my seizure I'm too exhausted to do anything so I don't even bother trying to get back to my regular routine right away. I hope I was able to put some insight into your day. If not...I apologize..... Seizuregirl "Life is what you make of it"