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Please tell me about your experiences with VNS surgery

Tue, 01/10/2012 - 00:16
Hi everyone! Currently, I live in Japan and techniques and medicines common in the US are about 10 years behind here. For example, Keppra and VNS surgery were just legalized last year. If you mention Vimpat to any epileptologist they will give you a puzzled reaction. Anyway, I am currently on 4 AEDs and my doctors agree that any surgery would be too dangerous for my situation. My epileptologist (who is also a neurosurgeon) asked me to consider VNS as an alternative. Yet, since I have not tried Keppra I am wondering if that may be a good first route, since it is less invasive, and then try VNS. I haven't seen any data showing good results with VNS, only case-by-case stories which all seem to have come out in the grey area. I want to know the following if you have had VNS: 1) What has been your reaction to it? 2) Has it increased your QoL and if so, how? 3) If you are taking Keppra with a VNS implant, have there been significant results? Thanks for any input.

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