pounding headache and nighttime seizures

[aurora2000]

I have been suffering from bad migraines for the past six years, however, my symptoms worsened very suddenly this past February.  I had noticed, since December, some increasing memory problems, like I was having difficulty remembering the names of friends who I have known for a long time in the middle of a conversation (quite embarassing) as well as trouble recalling names of people I had just met.  Then, in February, I suddenly started having a pounding headache every time I lay down to sleep and sometimes I would be wakened from sleep by my right toe or my right thumb spasming uncontrollably for 15-30 seconds.

This started to get really bad because I couldn't get any real sleep and the head pain just got worse and worse.  Eventually I was being awakened about five times a night, and I could only sleep sitting up or sitting forward.  I went to the emergency room, and eventually had an MRI which was negative.  My doctor scheduled me for an EEG, which was a take home kind with video monitor.  The results showed abnormalities: rare sharp waves in the right parietal area.  At that time, my doctor had been trying me on Verapamil, but it made my chest pound, and with the EEG results, he switched me to Topamax.

Topamax has been a rollercoaster ride of side effects.  In some ways it has decreased my head pain, but only at the expense of many nasty side effects (much weight loss and appetite loss when I am already underweight, tons of anxiety and compulsive/obsessive cleanliness behaviour, short-term memory difficulty, difficulty expressing myself verbally and poor spelling, extreme fatigue, or, extreme agitation, etc.) and I have stayed on it the past three months simply because I am still having such bad head pain every day, especially whenever I lay down horizontally for rest, especially when I lay on my right side.

I recenlty had another MRI (normal) a CT scan of my sinuses (normal) an MRA/MRV (normal) and another EEG in hospital this time, which I am still waiting on the results for.

My question is: what is causing my head pain, what can I do to stop it so I can lie down and rest like a normal person, and do you have a suggestion as to a more effective medicine for me than Topomax (topamax) because I am really suffering from these side effects.  (I have tried: verapamil, pamelor, neurontin, indomethacin, daypro, tylenol with codeine, hydrocodone, imitrex, atarax, and the herbs feverfew and butterburr)