Hello, my name is Jaime.  I am 29 years old and was diagnosed as epileptic at the age of 15.  I am currently on Lamictal, which has controlled my seizures for most of the past 9 years. 

My seizures first started when I hit puberty.  They started out petit mal at about 13, then were full blown grand mal by 14.  I was on a few different meds, carbemazepine, tegretol and one or two more.  I started the Lamictal at age 20, and got pregnant a few months afterwards.  My neurologist told me that many women's epilepsy 'comes out of hiding' when they hit puberty, due to the drastic change in hormone levels, then slows down or stops all together with pregnancy for the same reason.  I'm not sure if it was the meds, or the change in hormones from the pregnancy, but the seizures basically stopped.  I had one at age 21, one at age 23, and not again until age 28 (one in May of 09 and one in Oct 09).  The seizure in May 09 was definitely caused by consuming too much alcohol.  Alcohol has always been a trigger for me.  I am not a heavy drinker, so it's not difficult to avoid.  Not to say that I never consume alcohol, I do have a glass of wine or two a few times a month, but that's the extent of my drinking.  I guess I started to feel safe, and figured that I wasn't going to be having a seizure.  So I went out with my girlfriends to dinner, and had a few margaritas.  We ended up going out dancing, and I had a few more.  The next day I had a seizure.  Go figure, the one time lol.

A side note - My period has been non-existent for a year now.  My doctor believes that I am experiencing early on-set of menopause.  My hormone levels have been gradually dropping over the past 16 months, and are now abnormally low for someone my age.  My doctor put me on some hormones to try to increase my levels.  I was to be on them for 2 weeks, then off for 2 weeks.  This was to continue for 3 cycles, then I was to go in for a review.  The first 2 weeks were ok, but I felt off somehow.  It's hard to explain how - dizzy, lightheaded, forgetful, absent-minded.  The 3rd day I was off I had a seizure.  There were no traditional triggers (alchol and lack of sleep - my only real triggers).  The only difference in my lifestyle that I could think of were the hormones.  I have stopped taking the hormones (my decision) and now feel perfectly normal.  I go see my doctor next week.

My question to the women in the group is this : have drastic hormone changes affected your epilepsy?  If so, has menopause in particular caused changes? 

Hoping that life will go back to normal and I can go back to not being consumed with seizure fears,

 Jaime