Nutrition Health Chat: Tuesday, Dec. 8th, 5-6 PM Eastern. Learn how vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients affect your health. Free live Q&A. Join us!
Member Comments are provided by individuals and reflect their personal opinions only. Under NO circumstances should you act on any advice or opinion posted in this forum. ALWAYS check with your personal physician before taking any action regarding your health! MedHelp International and our partners, sponsors and affiliates have no obligation to monitor any comments posted on this site, or the content and/or accuracy of such exchanges. MedHelp International does not endorse the views of any user.
Neurology (Expert Forum)
Re: Seizures
This forum is for questions and support regarding neurology issues such as: Alzheimer's Disease, ALS, Autism, Brain Cancer, Cerebral Palsy, Chronic Pain, Epilepsy, Fibromyalgia, Headaches, MS, Neuralgia, Neuropathy, Parkinson's Disease, RSD, Sleep Disorders, Stroke, Traumatic Brain Injury.
Re: Seizures
by CCF MD GS, Jan 01, 1995 12:00AM
Posted By CCF MD GS on March 16, 1998 at 10:43:42:
In Reply to: Re: Seizures posted by Anne on March 05, 1998 at 17:28:44:
: : Beware. This note could be long, especially since I just want one question answered, but the background is necessary.
I am a diagnosed depressive and have been on medication for nearly four years. My history is as follows:
I started on SSRIs which did nothing for me. I was finally stabilized on Effexor; apparently I need the Norepinephrine. Over two years my dosage was gradually increased from 150 mg./day to 300 mg./day as the lower doses quit working. When 300 mg. did nothing at the time of the increase, Eskalith CR was added to my regimen at 675 mg./day.
From that point, I started finding myself tired and unrested all the time, but never really sure why. Both my primary physician and my psychiatrist kept saying I was still depressed. After a year and a half I noticed that my limbs, and sometimes my entire body were jerking while lying in bed and not yet asleep. This eventually started occuring during the day, and it was not uncommon to have full body jerks several times an hour. Since my doctors still claimed depression (note that neither one is my physician anymore), I chose to consult a sleep specialist on my own nickel. The sleep specialist informed me that I had been having seizures and would do best to see a neurologist.
I subsequently visited a neurologist. She did not perform an MRI or an EEG. Based on my history and the severe hand and foot tremors (which I've had since I started on lithium), she concluded the seizures were drug induced.
Back to the psychiatrist. He switched me to Effexor XR and reduced my dose to 75 mg./day. He also reduced my lithium to 450 mg./day. Within 10 days, all waking seizures had almost stopped, and for the first time in two years, I was sleeping like a baby. It was wonderful. I forgot what it meant to have energy again.
Unfortunately, the low dose was not sufficient, and my doctor upped me to 150 mg./day. The seizures began coming back. He has been messing with my meds since, and he is right back to his old ways of treating the symptoms (I don't want a sleeping pill!) instead of the problem. He pulled one trick too many, I got angry, and two weeks ago I cold-turkeyed off everything.
The seizures seemed to ease up at first, but now I am noticing a lot of limb-jerking again while I'm in bed. Since I am in the process of trying to find a new physician, I am still not taking any meds. This all leads up to my question:
Is it possible there really is a neurological problem causing the seizures, and the meds were just exacerbating it? Or is this a side effect of going off the meds cold turkey.
Thanks for your help.
Anne
P.S. You've helped with this issue to a certain degree in the past as well, and I thank you for that too.
Oh yeah, I don't know if this makes any difference, but my last lithium level, which was done prior to the dosage reduction, was .8. As this is considered well below toxic levels neither the psychiatrist nor the neurologist considered this to be the culprit. Would you agree?
=
Thanks for the question Anne. First of all, we would NEVER recommend that you stop your medication cold turkey. This is a potentially dangerous thing to do and could cause a number of different problems. Effexor can also cause several different neurologic problems including tremors and twitching. On rare occassions it can also cause seizures. Lithium as you know can also cause several neurologic symptoms. I think you do need an EEG by the sounds of things. I'm not sure you can say the events you are having are or are not seizures based on the story. It is possible that you are having myoclonic jerks? A sleep study may also be of benefit. Sounds to me like you need to see someone ASAP to straighten this out for you. Could you have some other underlying neurologic problem? it is possible but with the types of medication you take, those problems should be worked out first. If you wish a referal to CCF call 215 444 5559.
This information is provided for general medical education purposes only. Please consult your physicain for diagnostic and treatment options of your specific medical condition.
In Reply to: Re: Seizures posted by Anne on March 05, 1998 at 17:28:44:
: : Beware. This note could be long, especially since I just want one question answered, but the background is necessary.
I am a diagnosed depressive and have been on medication for nearly four years. My history is as follows:
I started on SSRIs which did nothing for me. I was finally stabilized on Effexor; apparently I need the Norepinephrine. Over two years my dosage was gradually increased from 150 mg./day to 300 mg./day as the lower doses quit working. When 300 mg. did nothing at the time of the increase, Eskalith CR was added to my regimen at 675 mg./day.
From that point, I started finding myself tired and unrested all the time, but never really sure why. Both my primary physician and my psychiatrist kept saying I was still depressed. After a year and a half I noticed that my limbs, and sometimes my entire body were jerking while lying in bed and not yet asleep. This eventually started occuring during the day, and it was not uncommon to have full body jerks several times an hour. Since my doctors still claimed depression (note that neither one is my physician anymore), I chose to consult a sleep specialist on my own nickel. The sleep specialist informed me that I had been having seizures and would do best to see a neurologist.
I subsequently visited a neurologist. She did not perform an MRI or an EEG. Based on my history and the severe hand and foot tremors (which I've had since I started on lithium), she concluded the seizures were drug induced.
Back to the psychiatrist. He switched me to Effexor XR and reduced my dose to 75 mg./day. He also reduced my lithium to 450 mg./day. Within 10 days, all waking seizures had almost stopped, and for the first time in two years, I was sleeping like a baby. It was wonderful. I forgot what it meant to have energy again.
Unfortunately, the low dose was not sufficient, and my doctor upped me to 150 mg./day. The seizures began coming back. He has been messing with my meds since, and he is right back to his old ways of treating the symptoms (I don't want a sleeping pill!) instead of the problem. He pulled one trick too many, I got angry, and two weeks ago I cold-turkeyed off everything.
The seizures seemed to ease up at first, but now I am noticing a lot of limb-jerking again while I'm in bed. Since I am in the process of trying to find a new physician, I am still not taking any meds. This all leads up to my question:
Is it possible there really is a neurological problem causing the seizures, and the meds were just exacerbating it? Or is this a side effect of going off the meds cold turkey.
Thanks for your help.
Anne
P.S. You've helped with this issue to a certain degree in the past as well, and I thank you for that too.
Oh yeah, I don't know if this makes any difference, but my last lithium level, which was done prior to the dosage reduction, was .8. As this is considered well below toxic levels neither the psychiatrist nor the neurologist considered this to be the culprit. Would you agree?
=
Thanks for the question Anne. First of all, we would NEVER recommend that you stop your medication cold turkey. This is a potentially dangerous thing to do and could cause a number of different problems. Effexor can also cause several different neurologic problems including tremors and twitching. On rare occassions it can also cause seizures. Lithium as you know can also cause several neurologic symptoms. I think you do need an EEG by the sounds of things. I'm not sure you can say the events you are having are or are not seizures based on the story. It is possible that you are having myoclonic jerks? A sleep study may also be of benefit. Sounds to me like you need to see someone ASAP to straighten this out for you. Could you have some other underlying neurologic problem? it is possible but with the types of medication you take, those problems should be worked out first. If you wish a referal to CCF call 215 444 5559.
This information is provided for general medical education purposes only. Please consult your physicain for diagnostic and treatment options of your specific medical condition.
