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alcohol & seizures & trileptal

Sat, 12/08/2007 - 07:58
Hello all, I would like to get some feedback from various people in regards to seizures that I had. It started mid last year, I had a seizure while I was sleeping. I actually didn't realize that I had one, I remember laying on the ground and I felt paralysed and I had scratches and wounds the next morning. In my ignorance, I thought I was sleep walking.... I didn't take it seriously, I thought it was a one off event and that's it... Then a few months later it happened again in my sisters house....while I was sleeping. I drank hugh amounts of alcohol the night before. Again with scratches and wounds on body and face. Had a painful tong as well from biting it. The following week I went to the neurologist and I took a CAT scan. Everything was fine. Then 3 months later I had another one, but this time I was awake and driving in my car. I remember saying to my sister, "Oh my god, I can't see anything". My body got paralyzed, I couldn't move and then it happened. Lucky my sister was next to me and took over the steering wheel. This was on the highway!! And it was the same day my father had a heart bypass. We were driving home after he had surgery. The ambulance came and I regained consciencenous after 10 min or so. Awakening in the ambulance. They took me to the hospital, took a bloodtest...said everything was ok. This happened last year september 20th. Now I'm thinking to myself, "OK, I think it's the Cocaine that's doing this to me. But the weird thing is, I took cocaine 12 days before it happened. I started using cocaine at Christmas 2006. I've done it only 5-6 times starting Christmas 2006 until beginning September 2007 (duration of 9 months). So now I was thinking to my self, "OK, this is serious now". Booked an appointment the following week with the neurologist for a MRI scan and a EEG test. Both were perfectly fine. I even took the EEG test twice, once awake and another where I had to sleep. The neurologist I went to, didn't seem very interested in my problem. He said take Trileptal and come back in 4 months. So after I had a seizure while driving. I didn't touch any drugs whatsoever. However I did continue binge drinking; especially in the weekends. And I didn't take the medication, because I'm thinking to myself; cocaine is doing this to me.... I started drinking heavily since the end of 2006. After the seizure in september 2007, everything was fine for a few months. Although I was getting auras (I didn't know they were auras, when I had them). Still binge drinking in the meantime. So while having these auras, when they happened I could stop them by focusing on something else...like for example shouting.... So a year went past, it's 20 september 2007 (a year since the seizure in my car). I was thinking about it a lot though. It's hard not too. I was happy, a year with no episodes... Then on the 25 or so of September, I was browsing the internet with my laptop in front of me, the same aura came again, I tried to stop it, but this time I couldn't... I was told I was shouting my dads name in the beginning (I can't remember that, was in my dad house). It was only a few minutes later that my father found me convulsing, he said it lasted for about 10 minutes. He tried to restrain me, but he couldn't. When I regained consciousness, a medical team was infront of my eyes. And I was saying to my family, in a blurrish speech: "Who are these people?" I had the worst headache ever and pain in my body. A few days after that I started taking trileptal. Twice everyday; 300mg in the morning, 300 mg in the night. Then I went back to the neurologist after a month. She said it wasn't enough. I had to take 300 mg in the morning and 600 mg at night. She diagnosed me with epilepsy. She had this arrogant way about her, "I know everything and thats it attitude", if I tried to explain my history. She always cut me short and never actually heard me out. I didn't take her recommendation to increase my dosage. Because I know deep down in myself that it's the cocaine and the one time that I took MDMA that were the triggers. And it's probably somehow still in my body. And that the large amounts of alcohol intensified it. That's why I haven't touched alcohol since I started taking my medication. I probably can never drink it again in my life... The medication is helping...haven't had any auras....been taking it for 2 months now, trileptal 600 mg a day. She also said that I have take trileptal for atleast 2 years.. Now what I'm asking you folks, is feedback and your opinions on my situation and whether I should listen to my gut feeling about the medication. I have been reading about negative side effects if you take a dosage that's too much for you. And in all honesty...I haven't experienced and side effect so far. And my life is normal again... Thank for your time. I await your comments BTW, I'm 25 :) M

Comments

This was probably posted a

Submitted by n2006cos on Sun, 2018-03-25 - 15:41
This was probably posted a while ago but I am also 25, had my first seizure in 2013 went and got an MRI had a benign brain tumor which was thought to be the cause. I had the tumor removed and they started me on keppra. The keppra did it's job but it made me extremely quick tempered. I would get mad at the smallest things. So like a dumbass I stopped taking it. Couple weeks later, had my second seizure. And like you it was in my sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night on the floor with a bad headache. I knew it had to be a seizure. I went back to my neurologist and switched to trileptal. My 3rd seizure happened when I drank a lot the night before and forgot to take my meds that night and that morning. Since then I have made a big effort not to skip a dosage of my meds. Now these auras you talk about happen to me sometimes also. The neurologist calls these focal seizures. They happened just before my 2 tonic clonic seizures when I was awake. When I have focal seizures my motor skills still work, but I have trouble speaking. They happen a few times a year even with the meds. They are extremely scary to me because I never know if a real seizure is coming moments later. Now the alcohol is the biggest culprit in my opinion. It doesn't mix well with the meds and also doesn't mix well with your brain lol I don't drink often but my problem is when I have one beer it always turns into 10. So I had to try my best to never start drinking in the first place. Which is quite difficult! In the end, if you and I don't want our brains to shut the hell down like it does, we just have to stop putting these poisons in our body, easier said than done, I know..Cheers and good luck!

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