20yrs of epilesy

[rakhs]

hi , my brother is 30 now and he is suffering from epilepsy for past 20 yrs and on regular medications, which are;mazetol 200mg, rivotril 200mg and epilex 2mg.all tab q.d.
in last 5 years he had grand mal epilepsy 3 times.
now he usually gets myoclonic seizures (facial twitches) when he has missed his dose the previous night.
my question is should we consult a doctor again and  do the tests? how long will he have to take these drugs? will the side effects of these drugs affect him after marriage?

thanking you in anticipation.

[rakhs]

thank you so much for your concern.

[Just 4 You]

Unfortunately he will have to take medications for the rest of his life.  Just not in such large a dose, for over time he'll get better and the doctors will start reducing the dose.  Until then, thell be increasing it to stop the seizures, so be prepared for some memory problems.  The medications calm everything in the brain down, so you could tell a real funny joke and he'll probably wonder why that's supposed to be funny.  I know I do that sometimes at dinner engagements where everyone is having a good laugh, except I didn't get it.

In most cases, the drugs can lead to infertility.  I took my meds since I was 8 and when I was a teenager I had lots of unprotected sex with a girl I was seeing and yet in all that time, she din't get pregnant.  I never found out why until my 30's when infetility was becoming more and more one of the common side effects.  So if they want kids, tell him to go to the hospital lab and put sperm in a test tube to be frozen for future use.

As for seizures, the med's didn't stop mine, so I had Brain Surgery done!  They made me have a seizure while doing an MRI on me, so that when it's over, they can rewind it and find out exactly where it originated, then go in and remove that.  They said it's like taking the spark plug out of a lawn mower... the enging is still there, but the thing that was making it convulse is now gone.  I've been seizure free ever since the surgery (2003).

Unfortuantely I'm 45 now and most women I try asking out, expect a guy in his 40's to have a great job, nice house, nice car, and money to burn on vacations.  Well sorry ladies, but this guy got classed as Unemployable for Public Safety, just like people with seizures aren't allowed to drive.  They figure the safety of others is more important than the happiness of one.  Makes it hard to find a girlfriend!  Your friend is lucky he has one!

Take Care!