Hello to all...Please read this and advise

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Never had seizures. At age 18 my parents were going through a bad divorce. I was at work and suddenly fainted. Neuro put me on Dilantin. I was on it for about one year. Never even thought about seizures and went about a normal life -- drank alcohol, caffeine and so on. In May 2004, I went to Japan as I do once a year. On the flight home I did not sleep at all. I drank six cups of coffee on the flight. The next morning I woke up and had 2 liters of Diet Mt. Dew (heavily caffeinated.) Then I went to go work out at the gym. I left the gym and went to my parents house and was looking at some image on the computer. The next thing I remember I was on a stretcher. I do not think I ever actually lost consciousness. I remember an aura just before all this, which made me want to lie down in bed. At the E.R. I was released immediately. My dad said he witnessed my event and that I sank to the ground. I remember my muscles being very sore. Later that night while in bed at my parents house I had a second lip biting incidence. My primary care doc had EKGs and EEGs and a CAT scan run on me and based on this he did not put me on dilantin, saying he saw no evidence of electrical activity. Later on, in August 2004, I was relaxing out at my family house, while on vacation. I was still not on Dilantin and did not even have a neuro. I went down to the beach to watch fireworks. The booming noises were like cannons and the lights were intense. The next morning I woke up and told my dad I had blood on my pillow, and that I thought I had had a seizure. The next day an out of town doctor gave me temporary dilantin. He said I should go see a neuro. I saw the neuro and have since been on 450 mg. of dilantin per day. I have been driving without problems, and have even gone twice to Japan. It is now two years seizure free. I feel like I have had some memory loss. I feel like I have had depressing thoughts. My gums are fine. It is the depressing thoughts that worry me. I want to call Parke Davis and talk to their people to ask them if sad thoughts are a side effect. I can not find a phone number for them. I am scared when I think that if I forget to take my meds, I am going to have seizures. I could swear my sense of time passing has changed since the May seizures. Has anyone any symptoms like this? I would feel happy to have anyone's opinions. I am the only person with seizures that I know. Cheers.

Comments

Re: Hello to all...Please read this and advise

Submitted by hersh66 on Tue, 2006-07-11 - 18:35

John, I have had similar experiences. I am 28 and about four years ago I started have anxiety attacks. I went to the emergency room after getting really sick and faintish after drinking a few cups of coffee at work. I know a few cups doesn't sound like much but I wasn't a soda or coffee drinker so I think my body was rejecting the caffeine. As a result of my symptoms my doctor believed that I was having anxiety attacks (caffeine can often trigger them). I felt the diagnosis was accurate because I had these feels before only not as severe. They would usually happen if I was stressed out or after a night of drinking out at the bar. I was put on Paxil and the anxiety seemed to stop except on rare occasions. In May of last year I had a grand mal seizure and the fall I took landed me in the hospital for four days. I had a couple beers the night before, but nothing extreme. To ensure that my fall was in fact caused by a seizure I was put through the regular series of tests (EEG, MRI CAT) as well as some tests on my heart. The doctors determined that the fall was caused by a grand mal seizure (because of the auras I had before hand), but the tests on my heart revealed more. They diagnosed me with Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome which is a hereditary condition of the heart. Without going into too much detail, this condition is very common and most who have it live a healthy life without any surgery. A few symptoms of having MVPS that stuck out where that many people who have this experience anxiety attacks and are often very sensitive to caffeine and alcohol. I meet with a nuro in two weeks and I am very unclear as to weather my so called anxiety attacks are in fact that or maybe partial seizures that I have been having for several years. I hear you on the forgetting to take your meds. That has happened to me a few times and here's how it goes.....Away from the house and I realize I forgot to take the meds.....instant anxiety (by the way I don't take Paxil anymore)....I feel like I might have a seizure at any moment....At this point I'm thinking "Am I having a partial seizure or is this anxiety". Some time these anxiety attacks will make me sick for a couple days. Nothing severe happens, during the attacks, only that I feel like my body could collapse at any moment and I get very sick. As you are, I'm very confused. (sorry for the long reply...you should be an honorary member of the Oprah book club just for reading this)

Re: Re: Hello to all...Please read this and advise

Submitted by alwaysfishin on Fri, 2006-07-21 - 11:28

Hey, I am on Dilantin and yes I too have the memory lose. I still ask myself if it is because of the meds. or due to the seizures. I have been told both things are the cause. I a, glad I read ur story , I was wondering if anyone has taken dilantin for a period of time. I am glad to hear that you have done so well, on it. So, I thank you for the info.