Hi,
I had a Temporal Lobectomy in 2004 and experienced a great deal of anxiety and depression since the surgery. Mentioned the anxiety and depression to my neurologist and my nocturnal Tonic Clonic seizures since my surgery have now been labelled as pseudo-seizures. I was sent to see a psychiatrist and my neurologist has wiped his hands of me (I have not seen him since he sent me to a psychiatrist). You may not experience the same issues with your neurologist but as soon as I mentioned any mental issues like stress and depression, my seizures were labelled as pseudo-seizures.

Hi Aaron.

Anxiety is a rough thing, isn't it? People can think you're just being a baby, doctors can think you're overreacting. In the end you begin to feel you're just nuts.

Your brain can work against you sometimes. When something traumatic happens
in your life, your mind can develop these sort of phobias in order to protect
itself from more harm. Why? Because that's the only way it knows how to cope.
It's that or mental shut down, and the mind has a very strong need to
survive...so it stays away from the "bad" so that it can continue
functioning the best way it can. Unfortunately, the brain won't outright tell
you the exact event that made to hide under the covers, so it's difficult to
figure out.

I'm not a huge fan of pills. Many rely on them for a
quick miracle fix because it provides faster results than 5 years of
counseling. The thing is, it's a false state of normalcy. What makes you stay
inside your home may be relieved or eliminated by medication, but when you stop
the meds...back in the house you go. So then you should ask yourself, are you simply treating the symptom? Before you get more prescriptions, you may want to consider counseling to see if the anxiety is caused by Epilepsy, your medication, or perhaps it's something related to your environment.

I'm not downplaying your anxiety either. I also understand that when your control center is misfiring, it can cause a wide range of things which usually include those of the mental variety. The first symptom I get when my noggin is working up a mad is a panic attack. Wherever I am, I....must...GOOOO! If I'm in the store, I drop everything and head for the door. No thinking is involved, I'm just told to run....run away. Can't reason with the grey matter much and all the counseling in the world won't help me during that lovely moment.

I would like you to keep your options open and to include more solutions other than more/different pills. At the very least, mix the medication with an 8 oz. glass of counseling. Digging through your mind takes a while, but it's way worth the effort in the long run.

I also have no idea why the word "normal 0" is appearing in my comment..lol. 

Hi Aaron,

 I also have epilepsy and anxiety. I don't have agorophobia and haven't taken Keppra, but I can empathize with your situation.   I want you to know there is a lot of hope for you to find something that will help you.  The answer may be a switch in anti-seizure medications or a switch in the type of anti-depressant or anti-anxiety med or the dosage (working with your doctor).  There are many different classes of depression and anxiety meds, so if one doesn't work or has an unacceptable side effect, there are many other options.  The key is to be patient and keep trying different things until you find what works.  Expect that this will take time and make sure to keep communicating with your doctor.  I haven't found any medication to get rid of all my symptoms but it made a big difference in how I felt (and continue to feel).

 I wish you all the best.  Christy