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TLE, newbie
Wed, 06/16/2004 - 16:26Topic: New to Epilepsy.com
Hi...I'm new!I'm almost 100% certain that I'm having temporal lobe seizures, and have been for about ten years, but never knew what it was before or how to describe it to doctors. I'm hoping to get a diagnosis soon, but in the meantime, I have a few questions that I can't find answers to...1.) If the seizures don't cause that much of an impact on my functioning, should I take medication? I only have "episodes" while running the water to either brush my teeth, wash my hands or take a bath. This can be embarrassing in the ladies' room, but not enough so to warrant taking meds!2.) Is there a chance that the seizures could get worse, or progress into petit mal seizures? Also, I have problems with "myclonic" dreams, where I wake up jerking. Is this related?3.) I have schizophrenia and am about to start medications for it. I'm wondering if I might have problems with taking medication for both conditions, or if there is one medication which treats both?I've got a few weeks before I can ask a dr, and I'm a bit nervous about all of this. I worry that if I take meds for both conditions it might put me at greater risk for tardive dyskenesia or liver problems!If anyone has any suggestions for where to find this info or knows anything, let me know! Thanks!Tonya
Comments
RE: TLE, newbie
Submitted by maubast on Tue, 2004-04-13 - 17:39
Thanks! Trying to get medicaid in order to see neuro dr...I've been having these "episodes" the exact same way for almost 10 years, but the nighttime thing only started recently. I KNOW that TLE is what I'm having, in my heart. I can clearly differentiate between my schizophrenia and these specific seizures. My psychiatrist also thinks it's very possible, and said that it's estimated that as much as 30% of people with schiz also have symptoms of TLE, diagnosed or not. I guess it's because it's all in the temporal lobe. So confusing!! It's very overwhelming stuff.Thanks very much for the information!
RE: TLE, newbie
Submitted by EpilepsyDotComEditor on Wed, 2004-04-14 - 09:31
The doctor who is treating your schizophrenia should be aware of the effects of the medications on possible seizures (this can happen) and interactions between medications used for the two disorders. Just be sure to keep him or her fully informed about everything that's going on in your life. Some seizure medicines, such as carbamazepine (Tegretol) and valproate (Depakote), are occasionally used for psychiatric disorders as well, so that could be something for your doctor to consider. Good luck!
RE: TLE, newbie
Submitted by tibet2 on Tue, 2004-04-13 - 16:48
hi, first things first. wait until you have a diagnosis before you worry about psych drugs and E drugs interacting. you don't know for sure what is happening. and E and schizophrenia can have overlapping symptoms. http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/p950927.htmlit can be a "diagnositic challenge." just what you don't want to hear!yes - seizures can get worse - often the first indication that something is wrong will be a new nocturnal seizure type. people can have a very specific seizure trigger - such as running water, hot water, reading, writing, chess playing, eating .... running water might be partly a function of flourescent lights in the bathroom and reflections.... but could be running water. sounds like you could use a top notch neuro to sort this out.