Quote:
Originally Posted by hankster
I figured out I had epilepsy after it stopped on meds (ten years ago). I had this little shiver-seizure thing right in front of my psychiatrist one time, and HE asked ME what it was! wtf? shouldn't he be telling me? I think everybody ie my family knew about it, they just NEVER said anything about it. people suck. from what i've read, there's nothing to do about it, so I really can't complain, but the family dishonesty does irk me. if you can't trust your family, who can you trust?
I just wonder why your t never said anything to you. I hope you will be able to work thru this.
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Hi Hankster..
I work in the field of neurophysiology, specifically with seizure disorders. Psychiatrists don't really have training in the field of epilepsy, so it doesn't surprise me that he didn't know what your symptoms might mean. Epilepsy is diagnosed and treated by neurologists, and more specifically by a sub-specialty of neurologists called "epileptologists." Epilepsy and other seizure disorders aren't easily diagnosed, and usually require testing with electroencephalograms (EEG's). That said, medications often used for bipolar and unipolar depression are our standard anti-epileptic medications - for example Lamictal, Trileptal, Zonegran, Keppra, Depakote. So it is certainly a possibility that someone with untreated epilepsy could find themselves relieved of the symptoms during treatment for bipolar or depression with an AED.
If you do indeed have epilepsy, see a neurologist. The only way to confirm a diagnosis of epilepsy is with an EEG - often with long-term video monitoring (several days to a week). Most cases of epilepsy are well-controlled with medication.