alcoholism-epilepsy

Can alcohol cause epileptic seizures? My wife is an alcoholic and an epileptic, and has been both for many years. According to all the information I can find on the internet, alcohol does not cause seizures unless the alcoholic is in withdrawal, usually 24-72 hrs after the alcohol is consumed. However, my wife only has seizures during her drinking binges, and never when in withdrawal. Almost like clockwork, I can tell when she is going to have a seizure by how much she drinks. 1.5 pints of hard liquor = seizure.
As one might expect, she denies that her drinking has anything to do with her seizures. If anyone has any insight on why she is having these episodes during her drinking binges, please let me know... If I can show her evidence that drinking is causing this, I will be one more step toward helping her to quit the alcohol.

[ibizan]

While the brain alone is a tricky thing indeed alcohol alone in xcess can cause ppl to have seizures,coupled with epiplepsy alcohol will aggravate/exacerbate the brain going in2 a seizure...ur wifes sounds like shes so deep in denial about the drinking and if u even proved to her the dangers of drinking with epiplepsy plus combining it with any meds she's on she'd probly still rationalize the drinking as evidenced by u saying she's done this 4 years.Does her doctor know of all of this drinking?u need to check out some Al-Anon 4 urself!

[greendor]

I've been reading on this site for at least a year.  Now, I'm trying to figure out how to log in and join the discussion. Anyway, I'm also an alcoholic with epilepsy.  One reason your wife may be having seizuries during her binges is that alcohol decreases the effectiveness of some seizure meds.   Also, it's easy to forget to take meds when you're drunk.  After my last seizure, I googled epilepsy and alcohol and found some good articles on the subject.  Maybe some of the articles will help your wife.

[ibizan]

xcellent feedback on the meds issue.....so true.....hope the lady checks this out!

[duder517]

exact same thing! my bff is a hard core alcoholic of 25 yrs. she ONLY has seizures when she is drinking, however this past yr they last longer and sometimes happen one after another. its scary to me. she knows they are coming on and is totally coherent during the entire seizure. she can even talk kinda wierd during it. she always knows whats going on and is so embarressed  after. so when she feels it coming she hides. this never ever happens when she has no money to buy alcohol.i relate to how you must feel and im so sorry for you.

[duder517]

exact same thing! my bff is a hard core alcoholic of 25 yrs. she ONLY has seizures when she is drinking, however this past yr they last longer and sometimes happen one after another. its scary to me. she knows they are coming on and is totally coherent during the entire seizure. she can even talk kinda wierd during it. she always knows whats going on and is so embarressed  after. so when she feels it coming she hides. this never ever happens when she has no money to buy alcohol.i relate to how you must feel and im so sorry for you.my name is duder517. please let me know how you and your wife are.