i took lamictal for like 6 years, but it started to have no effect on me and i started having more seizures! since i'm taking keppra i haven't had any seizures for almost 3 years now!! my doc says if after 3 years i dont have any seizure i cant stop taking my meds!!! for me it helps to sleep a lot when i'm tired or feeling like im a little desoriented!
Re: Primary-generalized tonic-clonic (gran-mal) seizures — Idiopathic and intractable
Re: Loss of consciousness — Only during grand mal seizures--not absence.
Re: Difficulty with mental focus — I have absence seizures, so I miss information in lectures. My epilepsy medication has side effects including lack of concentration and sleepiness, which I use vivance and adderall to counteract as best as they can. Before being diagnosed with Epilepsy, I was diagnosed with ADD, and afterwards with ADHD and unidentified cognitive disorder, which seems like some sort of perfectionism issue.
Re: Major seizure - full body — No aura just wake up on the floor.
Amy Re: Stress — I do not think stress caused my epilepsy. I had simple-partial seizures for over ten years before finally having a gran-mal, which is how we diagnosed the simple-partial seizure epilepsy.
Amy Re: Lamictal (anti-convulsant) — Sorry that went in funny. It wouldn't recognize my spacing.
Amy Re: Lamictal (anti-convulsant) — Used during pregnancy as I had a gran-mal seizure two weeks before finding out I was pregnant with no harmful side effects for the baby. I participated in a study referenced below which tracked my Lamictal dosage, side effects, even follow-up for quite awhile after our baby was born to see how she was doing.
"The North American Pregnancy Registry, based at Massachusetts General Hospital, has reported higher rates of fetal malformations among women taking phenobarbital or valproate (Depakene/Depakote) during pregnancy. Both drugs have a long history of effectiveness and are widely used. Reports from international registries and research groups have shown similar results in pregnancy, though based on fewer patients. Early research is also pointing to lowered childhood IQ and other developmental problems when these anticonvulsants are taken during pregnancy.
For many of the newer drugs, approved within the last 15 years, the level of risk is still unknown, although researchers expect it to be lower because some of the new drugs differ from the older, pre-1990 drugs in the way they affect the body's metabolism. That is somewhat reassuring for Julie Thomas, who's taking oxcarbazepine (trade name: Trileptal), approved within the last five years.
So far, however, the only major research study of a newer drug during pregnancy was reported earlier this year by the International Lamotrigine Pregnancy Registry in the U.K. The registry is supported by GlaxoSmithKline, which manufactures the drug under the trade name Lamictal. Based on its results, the registry reports that the risk of birth defects in women taking Lamictal during pregnancy is about the same as the normal risk in the population. The Epilepsy Foundation is calling for more research on this and on all the anticonvulsant drugs approved in the last 15 years, however."
Reference: http://goo.gl/HeRsc
Amy Re: Simple-partial sensory seizures — Can cause deja-vu feelings, numbness or tingly feeling in fingertips and back of neck, can last for as little as a second, like a fleeting short circuit of the brain.
Re: Clonic seizures (mild generalized) — for about 6 years now i have had sudden twitches/jerks of my head and arms; i just thought it was nothing. i am now 19 years old and expecting a little girl, i had a seizure on tuesday night i was told that my eeg scan showed seizure patterns. i am now on medicine for it. i almost bit my tongue off and i can not recall 5 hours of my tuesday night. dont wait till its too late go get checked.
acc Re: Topamax (anti convulsant) — used for partial and tonic clonic seizures, also for people who have Lennox Gastaut Syndrome.
acc Re: Clonazepam, Clobazam, Clorzepate, Diazepam, and Lorazepam (anti-convulsant) — used as a short term therapy to help prevent and stop prolonged seizures.
acc Re: Lamictal (anti-convulsant) — used to treat all partial and primarily generalized tonic-clonic and absence seizures.
acc Re: Clonic seizures (mild generalized) — Consist of rythmic jerking of the arms and legs
acc Re: Tonic seizures (mild generalized) — usually a sudden stiffening of the body to become very rigid on both sides causing (if standing) someone to fall or become very tired if it happens in clusters.
acc Re: Simple-partial motor seizures — Can occur as a sudden jerk of one part to the body like your finger, sudden stiffening of the body, may cause unusual weakness in the limbs or impair speech. Sometimes it can be automatic hand movements or even laughter.
acc Re: Generalized myclonic seizures — another form of a mild seizure, it causes the person to experience a shock-like sensation which cause the muscles to automatically jerk or jump. It also can occur in the neck, shoulders, upper arms or legs.
acc Re: Mini-generalized atypical absence seizure — Is the same as a typical absence seizure except it lasts longer - the usual duration is 5-30 seconds and the person might experience eye blinking, or slight jerking of the lips.
acc Re: Atonic seizures or drop-attacks — This is another type of mild generalized. It is when the muscles in a person suddenly go loose in muscle strength causing them to fall or the eyelids may droop, the head may drop, an object held in the hand may fall.
acc Re: Petit-mal seizures — When some one has this type they look like they are just day dreaming, except they are not. A person who has this type is impaired of awareness and responsiveness during that time.
acc Re: Simple-partial sensory seizures — Can cause a person to have a change in sensation of seeing (hallucinating), feeling (like pins and needles), hearing (a buzzing or ringing sound in the ears), smell or even taste (unpleasant things)
acc Re: Complex-partial seizures — often known as psychomotor or temporal lobe seizures. These can cause a person to look like they're day dreaming as in if a petit-mal seizure, except they may not respond to questions or comments, or they may respond incompletely or inaccurately.
acc Re: Simple-partial psychic seizures — This affects how the person thinks, feels, and experiences. It can make a person's speech impaired by causing it to sound garbled, or by the inability to find the right word.
acc Re: Primary-generalized tonic-clonic (gran-mal) seizures — Primary-generalized tonic-clonic(gran-mal)seizure: Is one of the severe types (when some one has this type their body briefly stiffens and they lose conciousness - if they're standing or sitting they may fall to the ground and start to jerk all over)
bowler Re: Minor seizure - one limb, head only — Have had with the head but not with the limb. I have occasional difficulty with my extremetity but it has never been a full seizure nor is there any warning. A lot of times I have no idea what is going on except that I just do not feel right nor do I have a lot of control over the way I walk. Seizure disorder not diagnosed however it is likely with my history (seen by an emt) and my moms history. We both suffer migraines (hers mostly went away) and seizures...hers diagnosed in hospital while she was having it, during an eeg. They can not catch mine but I have been told likely its the same with both of us. I suffer occasionally from the seizure type thing but mom has tried several meds---phenabarbatol has worked with her, closely monitored. Is there anyone else like me? When the migraine/seizures happen together with me I have no knowledge til afterwards and I "come-to"
bowler Re: Difficulty with mental focus — I have been told, and sometimes I know I have absolutely no focus on anything when I am in the midst of one of these and afterwards I have no control nor do my eyes look right. I just cannot think and sometimes make no sense at all!
cgk Re: Lamictal (anti-convulsant) — No side effects that I've noticed.
Isky Re: Phenobarbitol — I don't remember anything from the time I was on this medication. Other people have told me I acted with no social inhibitions, and often seemed psychotic.
i took lamictal for like 6 years, but it started to have no effect on me and i started having more seizures! since i'm taking keppra i haven't had any seizures for almost 3 years now!! my doc says if after 3 years i dont have any seizure i cant stop taking my meds!!! for me it helps to sleep a lot when i'm tired or feeling like im a little desoriented!
Re: Primary-generalized tonic-clonic (gran-mal) seizures — Idiopathic and intractable
Re: Loss of consciousness — Only during grand mal seizures--not absence.
Re: Difficulty with mental focus — I have absence seizures, so I miss information in lectures. My epilepsy medication has side effects including lack of concentration and sleepiness, which I use vivance and adderall to counteract as best as they can. Before being diagnosed with Epilepsy, I was diagnosed with ADD, and afterwards with ADHD and unidentified cognitive disorder, which seems like some sort of perfectionism issue.
Re: Major seizure - full body — No aura just wake up on the floor.
Amy
Re: Stress — I do not think stress caused my epilepsy. I had simple-partial seizures for over ten years before finally having a gran-mal, which is how we diagnosed the simple-partial seizure epilepsy.
Amy
Re: Lamictal (anti-convulsant) — Sorry that went in funny. It wouldn't recognize my spacing.
Amy
Re: Lamictal (anti-convulsant) — Used during pregnancy as I had a gran-mal seizure two weeks before finding out I was pregnant with no harmful side effects for the baby. I participated in a study referenced below which tracked my Lamictal dosage, side effects, even follow-up for quite awhile after our baby was born to see how she was doing.
"The North American Pregnancy Registry, based at Massachusetts General Hospital, has reported higher rates of fetal malformations among women taking phenobarbital or valproate (Depakene/Depakote) during pregnancy. Both drugs have a long history of effectiveness and are widely used. Reports from international registries and research groups have shown similar results in pregnancy, though based on fewer patients. Early research is also pointing to lowered childhood IQ and other developmental problems when these anticonvulsants are taken during pregnancy.
For many of the newer drugs, approved within the last 15 years, the level of risk is still unknown, although researchers expect it to be lower because some of the new drugs differ from the older, pre-1990 drugs in the way they affect the body's metabolism. That is somewhat reassuring for Julie Thomas, who's taking oxcarbazepine (trade name: Trileptal), approved within the last five years.
So far, however, the only major research study of a newer drug during pregnancy was reported earlier this year by the International Lamotrigine Pregnancy Registry in the U.K. The registry is supported by GlaxoSmithKline, which manufactures the drug under the trade name Lamictal. Based on its results, the registry reports that the risk of birth defects in women taking Lamictal during pregnancy is about the same as the normal risk in the population. The Epilepsy Foundation is calling for more research on this and on all the anticonvulsant drugs approved in the last 15 years, however."
Reference: http://goo.gl/HeRsc
Amy
Re: Simple-partial sensory seizures — Can cause deja-vu feelings, numbness or tingly feeling in fingertips and back of neck, can last for as little as a second, like a fleeting short circuit of the brain.
Re: Clonic seizures (mild generalized) — for about 6 years now i have had sudden twitches/jerks of my head and arms; i just thought it was nothing. i am now 19 years old and expecting a little girl, i had a seizure on tuesday night i was told that my eeg scan showed seizure patterns. i am now on medicine for it. i almost bit my tongue off and i can not recall 5 hours of my tuesday night. dont wait till its too late go get checked.
acc
Re: Topamax (anti convulsant) — used for partial and tonic clonic seizures, also for people who have Lennox Gastaut Syndrome.
acc
Re: Clonazepam, Clobazam, Clorzepate, Diazepam, and Lorazepam (anti-convulsant) — used as a short term therapy to help prevent and stop prolonged seizures.
acc
Re: Lamictal (anti-convulsant) — used to treat all partial and primarily generalized tonic-clonic and absence seizures.
acc
Re: Clonic seizures (mild generalized) — Consist of rythmic jerking of the arms and legs
acc
Re: Tonic seizures (mild generalized) — usually a sudden stiffening of the body to become very rigid on both sides causing (if standing) someone to fall or become very tired if it happens in clusters.
acc
Re: Simple-partial motor seizures — Can occur as a sudden jerk of one part to the body like your finger, sudden stiffening of the body, may cause unusual weakness in the limbs or impair speech. Sometimes it can be automatic hand movements or even laughter.
acc
Re: Generalized myclonic seizures — another form of a mild seizure, it causes the person to experience a shock-like sensation which cause the muscles to automatically jerk or jump. It also can occur in the neck, shoulders, upper arms or legs.
acc
Re: Mini-generalized atypical absence seizure — Is the same as a typical absence seizure except it lasts longer - the usual duration is 5-30 seconds and the person might experience eye blinking, or slight jerking of the lips.
acc
Re: Atonic seizures or drop-attacks — This is another type of mild generalized. It is when the muscles in a person suddenly go loose in muscle strength causing them to fall or the eyelids may droop, the head may drop, an object held in the hand may fall.
acc
Re: Petit-mal seizures — When some one has this type they look like they are just day dreaming, except they are not. A person who has this type is impaired of awareness and responsiveness during that time.
acc
Re: Simple-partial sensory seizures — Can cause a person to have a change in sensation of seeing (hallucinating), feeling (like pins and needles), hearing (a buzzing or ringing sound in the ears), smell or even taste (unpleasant things)
acc
Re: Complex-partial seizures — often known as psychomotor or temporal lobe seizures. These can cause a person to look like they're day dreaming as in if a petit-mal seizure, except they may not respond to questions or comments, or they may respond incompletely or inaccurately.
acc
Re: Simple-partial psychic seizures — This affects how the person thinks, feels, and experiences. It can make a person's speech impaired by causing it to sound garbled, or by the inability to find the right word.
acc
Re: Primary-generalized tonic-clonic (gran-mal) seizures — Primary-generalized tonic-clonic(gran-mal)seizure: Is one of the severe types (when some one has this type their body briefly stiffens and they lose conciousness - if they're standing or sitting they may fall to the ground and start to jerk all over)
bowler
Re: Minor seizure - one limb, head only — Have had with the head but not with the limb. I have occasional difficulty with my extremetity but it has never been a full seizure nor is there any warning. A lot of times I have no idea what is going on except that I just do not feel right nor do I have a lot of control over the way I walk. Seizure disorder not diagnosed however it is likely with my history (seen by an emt) and my moms history. We both suffer migraines (hers mostly went away) and seizures...hers diagnosed in hospital while she was having it, during an eeg. They can not catch mine but I have been told likely its the same with both of us. I suffer occasionally from the seizure type thing but mom has tried several meds---phenabarbatol has worked with her, closely monitored. Is there anyone else like me? When the migraine/seizures happen together with me I have no knowledge til afterwards and I "come-to"
bowler
Re: Difficulty with mental focus — I have been told, and sometimes I know I have absolutely no focus on anything when I am in the midst of one of these and afterwards I have no control nor do my eyes look right. I just cannot think and sometimes make no sense at all!
cgk
Re: Lamictal (anti-convulsant) — No side effects that I've noticed.
Isky
Re: Phenobarbitol — I don't remember anything from the time I was on this medication. Other people have told me I acted with no social inhibitions, and often seemed psychotic.