meds, auras, seizures, vagus nerver stimulator

No, I don’t think so. I had an eye accident as a child that damaged and left scar tissue on the right frontal lobe. It was after that I started to have seizures. I didn’t know it as a child at the time, but I was taken to psychologist to determine if I was making it up. Antidepressants are sometimes prescribed for functional episodes. In my case, I think the mirtazapine is a contributing factor. I’m on the max dose at 45 mg.  Last year I had knee surgery and was prescribed tramadol for pain. I started having auras then. I happen to look the med up and found it lowers the seizure threshold. Mirtazapine is also listed to be used with caution with people with epilepsy and low blood pressure. My blood pressure may also decrease more when I lay down?

 I appreciate your input. I’ll ask my Dr about the possibility of functional episodes though.

Take care, steve

My epilepsy has been diagnosed as a combination of secondary generalized tonic clonic (grand mal) and complex partial seizures. I know the experiences I’ve had were neither one. I didn’t go through any spasms, rapid heart rate, I remained conscious, no uncontrollable eye movements, no strange smells, loss of memory, stiffened muscles, etc. but they felt too intense and bad to be called simple auras. Every time I have an aura I try to concentrate my way out of it but had no chance with the recent deep ones. I’ve gone through a variety of meds and combos. I had the opposite experience you had. At one time, I was on lamotrigine alone and liked it. I didn’t feel drugged up, I had a clear mind, and my mood was great but I had massive insomnia, going without sleep for up to 3 days. After a relapse, my Dr. switched me to levetiracetam and I yelled at people for no reason, and one time the police handcuffed me and brought me home (I’m glad it wasn’t jail). Being on both causes depression and still insomnia. My Dr. gave me 10 mg zolpidem (ambien) for the sleep (I wish he had done that earlier!!!!!!!!) but that didn’t always work and didn’t help with depression. The mirtazapine helps with depression but not always with sleep although it did at first. If I feel that I won’t go to sleep, I also take a zolpidem. I did that last night and slept well. The only reason I woke up is I have an alarm on my cell phone to take my meds every morning at the same. I never miss a dose that way.

 The reason I mention mirtazapine may be involved with my problems at bed time or just after waking up. I’ve looked mirtazapine up and found out that one factor before prescribing is epilepsy. That’s why I think it may be a link. But mirtazapine is one of the better anti-depressants.

Thanks for responding. Steve

I’ve read up on the meds on the web and a prescription drug book I have. It makes you wonder if the side effects are worse than the condition. I’ve felt like a guinea pig going from one med or combos. I like my Dr, I think he is good.

One factor in all these meds is that they have become replaced by generics. I don’t think each manufacture of generics are equal to each other, and don’t compare to the non-generic. But if there is a generic on the market, insurance won’t cover the name brand. I’ve read peoples comments on the web of what generic brand works best for them. After doing research, I asked my Dr to write a prescription of what generic brand I wanted, but the drug store has an attitude of you take what we give you. I’ve also read that generics have a +/- 20% leeway of the active compound. Generic manufacture’s Aren’t Even Required To Have A Test Study Group. Just put them on the market. Here in the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has had so many complaints about some generic meds they are supposed to undergoing testing. Anti-seizure meds are among the meds at the top of the list. That may be another factor in my problems, taking a generic made in China, India, or some other foreign country making a far inferior drug.

Were you having any side effects on Epanutin? Are they replacing it with another med? My Dr. has never switched me to another without my input except in cases where I have been hospitalized. Why switch if it is working? Does your Dr have stock in another drug company? (joke). I sometimes wish Dr’s had to take the drugs they prescribe. The only time my Dr has tapered me completely off a med without replacing it was when I was seizure free for years. My case was closed until I had a relapse a few years later. Are they closing the case on you?

Grr, anger understood. Steve

go gappy so if I spray over you blame the epanutins lol

Glad I'm off them phew !!! 

I hate levetiracetam (Keppra, do you get the real Keppra?). Last spring and summer, when I started having problems, I was on 500 mg lamotrigine (Lamictal) and 1000 mg of levetiracetam (I have no clue how they come up with these names. I have to ask the pharmacist on occasion, how do you say this again). My Dr. upped the levetiracetam up to 1500 mg and made both meds ER’s (Extended Relief, take one a day instead of divided doses). What’s really good about my Dr he has an e-mail address at his office that allows his patients to correspond with him without a visit. He almost answers the same day. Upping the levetiracetam increased my insomnia. It kept the mirtazapine and sleeping pills awake. I tried going back to 1000 mg of the Frankenstein med (levetiracetam) on my own but started having auras again. I e-mailed my Dr. to see if I could up the lamotrigine and cut back on Frankenstein, but I’m maxed out on lamotrigine. I’m tempted to ask for another co- med and phase out of Frankenstein (and another dosage increase again because of recent problems).  I was on phenobarbitone years ago and felt like it was a Zombie med. for me. I need to start making notes and what questions to ask my Dr otherwise I will forget.

Give me the names and addresses of your Dr(s) and I’ll write and tell them what jerks they are. Signed Winnie. That will make my joke for the day.

Take Care, Steve

One of your comments was deleted by the moderator. If you make a reference to another web site address, or other certain guidelines (you have to look all of them up), they will not post your comment. About a month ago, in one of my responses, I made some kind of remark. It was finally posted about 8 hours later (that’s 3.3333 metric hours, the U.S. never went metric). A couple days ago, a student commented he was doing a research paper on people with epilepsy and wanted to post a questionnaire. The site was deleted as it violated the guidelines of taking a poll. A while back, people were commenting on a mirtazapine post. It had a long list of comments, and some people, for whatever reason, started attacking each other. The moderator had to step in and remind people of the guidelines. It was funny.

The last time I tried to sing a song all the windows in my place shattered. One of my favorite singers is James Taylor. I often listen to his bbc album (1970 or 71?) on youtube.

I’ve wondered what famous people were epileptics and they include: Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, Ward Bond (actor), Julius Caesar, George Gershwin, Dostoyevsky (Russian writer), Vincent von Gogh, Isaac Newton, Agatha Christie, Charles Dickens, Alfred Nobel (peace prize), Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Edgar Allen Poe, Theodore Roosevelt (U.S. Pres.), Richard Burton, Lord Byron, Lewis Carrol, Leo Tolstoy, Joan of Arc, Thomas Edison, Beethoven… I had to re-look up some of them. There are more, but too many to mention.

Good Health, Steve 

I’ve never been prescribed Sodium Valproate. I searched it on the web and found it isn’t prescribed along with one of my meds, lamotrigine. Very common side effects reported were tinnitus, which I already have and don’t want it to get any louder, hair loss and double vision (I need cataract surgery). It’s hard to find patient reviews on meds off the web, but the ones I found, seem to like it overall. My neurologist never recommends vit. One web site indicated sodium valproates can rob your body of D and folic acid. I take another med from another Dr. which deletes folic acid. I take a prescription strength folic acid pill of 1mg/day to make up for it.

My Levetiracetam ER (extended released) is manufactured by Lupin. It is specially coated to be timed released, so I can’t crush it. At the dosage I take now, the drug store price is $343/mo., but with my insurance, it cost me $20/mo. I wouldn’t be taking it otherwise. It’s the Lamotrigine ER that is out of sight, $1,421/mo. But again, with insurance, $20/mo. I definitely wouldn’t be taking this if I had to pay full price. It’s manufactured by PAR. I don’t know if you have a web site for coupons for meds., good for one year. One site, goodrx, in the U.S., the cost for the lam. comes down to $756/mo. and the levet. drops to $88/mo. The cost of the lam. is still out of my range and rage. Coupon or not, the non-generic meds are insanely priced. Insurance will only cover generics.

In the recent past, I read an article concerning the quality and effectiveness of generic meds. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) had anti-seizure meds in the top five to be tested since there have been numerous complaints about them.

I have an appointment with my neurologist this Thursday. I hope he has a positive input.

Thanks for your response, Steve