Anyone here suffer from epilepsy? I am having partial complex seizures again and walked into someone today by accident. I really don't like the epilepsy meds - I used to be on a low dose of Depacote - but living without meds is risky. Anyone have success with other meds or alternative treatments?

I too suffer from epilepsy, and the thing that has worked for me is a medication - 800mg of tegretol. It had very few side effects for me and I haven't had a seizure in 10 months. I wish you the best of luck on your journey to finding what works for you.

[shezbut]

(((unhappyguy)))

I've been there It doesn't take your pain or frustration away, I know, but I can relate.

No meds worked to control my complex partial seizures ~ especially without bad side effects! I had my left temporal lobe re-section surgery in 3/06. Injured hippocampus area and surrounding tissue was removed. Since then, I've been pulled off all AEDs. I have had a complex partial here & there (but very few and far between!) and regular auras.

That's my personal experience. My doctors would probably put me back onto an AED to control auras and very occasional cp's if they could, but I became very suicidal on phenobarbital (my umpteenth med used to control sz's). The answer, for me, is to simply accept that I'm going to have simple partials. Hopefully, my occasional complex partial will stick to when I'm falling asleep or ill.

Hope that you find the right treatment very soon. Best wishes!

[Jenn1fer82]

Hello there,

I also have partial complex seizures. I didn't know I had epilepsy until I was in my early twenties and I am 28 years old now. I take trileptal and vimpat and their side effects could be hard to live with. How are your auras? I find my auras to be very frustrating and hard to cope with. If you ever need more support with people who experiences the same things go to the epilepsy foundation website. There you'll find a forum just like this one and people can provide the same support.

I've gone through many medications so far the ones I'm on now are helping. Even though the seizures are not completely gone things are better compared to the past. My doctor wants me to go under the knife but I refuse because I don't want to wake up and find out I'm a totally different person. The side effects from the meds are really hard to deal with. I become very dizzy so I learned to take my morning meds two hours before I need to get ready and then go back to sleep. By doing this helps prevent me from getting drowsy as I'm getting ready for the day. What I've noticed in the last few months that now my seizures are increasing when I'm on my menstrual cycle. I'm so surprised that my seizure is a ever changing diagnosis. I've been told to get on anti-stress medication to help relax me because stress is one of the big factors that provokes a seizure. It is hard to accept that soon enough I'll be taking a load of medication to feel normal again. Normal? I don't think that exist when it comes to epilepsy. AHHHH!!!

[pegasus]

Ask your Doctor about VNS, it helps many people.

Vagus nerve stimulation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia