can smoking marijuana cause seizures?

[baktea]

I was wondering, the other night about a week and a half ago, I was smoking weed and it was a sunday. I have been smoking weed for awhile now I have not responded weird to it at all. so the next day i was in the bathroom and i had just got done washing and drying my hands. After that i fell to the floor and began going into a seizure. I was wondering if me smoking weed was the reason for me going into the seizure. I am somewhat concern that this is the reason that it happened but i would like someone to explain this further to me

[alex5678]

I got to work with someone recently for a brief while who has been a much heavier cannabis user than me, and they now have personality problems I would link to schizophrenia, which is not good to see

As for myself, I was a moderate user back in 2002, with no history of epilepsy in the family. I ended up having a small seizure and waking up in college, taken to hospital for a check up. After an MRI scan (a few days later I think) I was told a small tumor had developed. This lead to becoming epileptic. I had most of it removed in 2011, but since early 00s to now have been on medication. Its not a high dosage compared to some other people with major epilepsy, 3 tablets twice a day (1xtegretol 400mg,1xsodium valproate 500mg, 1xkeppra 500mg). It took until 2006 to actually find the right dosage of meds to stop the seizures completely.

The gp and specialists I saw stated that cannabis was known to have both pro convulsive and anti convulsive properties after lighting up, and it was highly likely that it was the cause of my epilepsy. It would seem that it can play a large part in playing with your long term mental stability, but they said they were seeing an increase in the number of cases such as mine over the last few years possibly linked to cannabis usage.
I am ok now but on a couple of occasions I have forgetten to take meds which can lead to a little anxiety (happened on one occasion, eg 7 hours too late-suddenly getting a bit shaky lol). I think the side effects of the meds may also lead to a problem with my sleeping pattern. Either that or its just me staying on this computer for too long. A bit of both I suppose :) The only other side issue with epilepsy is to do with either blood flow or nerves in which some people you can feel an odd tic (tingling or pin like nerve stabbing sensation followed by hot feeling). I have found online this is common with some people with epilepsy.

I no longer smoke anything as that would definitely make me worse, but its a definite to me that the smoking caused my problem. Some people can smoke heavily and show few problems all their lives, but even then I would still question their mental status judging by certain people I have met in the past. Upon searching on here to find this discussion (and on some of the pro cannabis and student websites) it is obvious that marijuana is a common trigger for seizures, although its not something many pro smokers want to hear. If you smoke, do it lightly in moderation

[alex5678]

I was a moderate user back in 2002, with no history of epilepsy None of it in the family either. I ended up having a seizure and waking up in college on the floor. After an MRI scan I was told a small tumor had developed as a result of smoking, leading to now being epileptic. I had most of it removed in 2011, but since early 00s am stuck on epileptic medication. Its not a high dosage compared to some other people with major epilepsy, 3 tablets total twice a day (tegretol 400mg,sodium valproate 500mg, keppra 500mg).

The specialists stated that cannabis is known to have both pro convulsive and anti convulsive properties, and it was highly likely that the cannabis was the cause, as it was known that it can play a large part in your stability when it comes to mental health. I agree with this as I know someone who has been much heavier than me, and they now have personality problems I would link to schizophrenia.

[BDChancer]

Here are my experiences with epilepsy and cannabis use. I had/have been a heavy user of cannabis for about 16 years. This started with low grade soap bar until I was able to source skunk and harder varieties. So I've probably been smoking various quality weed over 13 years. I'm from the uk so any weed has been illegally obtained, so was often reliant on 'getting what I was given'. So indicate or sativa, whatever was on offer without a lot of choice.

I never really drank and have only ever dabbled with hard drugs and not had anything like that for about 10 years ( I'm 34 now).

About 18 months ago I started to have complex partial seizures and was diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy after video evidence of my seizure was shown to doctors.

I've been on lamictal for 12 months and had no seizures since then.

I absolutely loved smoking green and convinced myself that I had always been on the spectrum for epilepsy, therefore self medicating that whole time, in a bid to justify my continued use.

I've been smoking heavily since taking lamictal and have had no seizures. However, I've quit smoking for relationship and motivational reasons.

I've had to come to the realisation that long term pot use, rather than suppressing seizures, may have been a contributing factor to my onset of epilepsy.

Hard to take

As I say I loved weed and believe most drugs should be legalised ( war on drugs is terrible destructive). But, for me, I have to stop smoking. And anyone who pushes a pro weed agenda on a thread about personal experiences with epilepsy and cannabis is a grade A **** end.

[iris79]

What about the increasing evidence of a link between weed and mental health issues. Mental health problems also being a side effect of many epilepsy medications would be a concern to me. But then I'm probably biased as I work in a drug treatment service.

[bradgannon]

i used to have seizures as a child,was told that it was because i was over heating (running around without drinking enough water )my last real one was when i was 8years old but after then i had half seizures or what are called Absence Seizure (which is pretty much everything except the uncontrollable shaking )(blackouts,loss of body movements)stop taking medications for them sometime around 10years old.When i was in my teens i started smoking weed and to my surprise they happened less often (most of the time the happened when i stood up to quick )i would feel light headed and then everything went black for 10-20 seconds,if i was standing i would fall or grip my hands on something to keep from falling.after about 5 years of smoking they were only happening like once every 5 or 6 months.so now i haven't smoked anything in  several years and have not had one since.i talked to my doctor about this and he said some people out grow them and that marijuana has a soothing effect (stress reliever  ) but i found that working out has the same effect  .so what i am saying is for me it worked great,however i am not a doctor but i wouldn't think it would cause you to have seizures just for the fact that it is meant to be a stress reliever.That being said some people dose their weed with other things like lsd or other chemicals,so it may have been something they sprayed on it during growth that caused it or something they added.but by its self i doubt it will cause a seizure.

[medstudent114]

wow I have rarely heard of other people like myself who remember their seizures. It is terrifying. Smoking weed for me made me have more small seizures but other people report that smoking had a positive effect on reducing their seizures.