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Epilepsy Twitching

I was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of 14. My parents noticed one day my arms jerking after a night were i got no sleep. This freaked them out, i thought it was normal that if you didnt get sleep you jerked like that. Well i go have some test and its confirmed that i have epilepsy.  I was put on Depakote and it worked great.  I am now 32 and my condition has started to get worse.  My neurologist has increased my dosage and it hasnt helped.  I would like to note that i did use drugs frequently during my teens and twenties.  I would love any insight as what i could to help my condition.
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Avatar universal
I would just feel really out of it.  It felt like I was watching my life happen instead of actually participating in it.  I had one person tell me that marijuana causes the same feeling and that's why they like it.  I couldn't stand it!  After my brain surgery, I was still getting the auras but would have a headache instead of the regular types of seizures I had before surgery.  You shouldn't need to have your levels checked.  Just try taking 1000 mg each morning and see if it helps you.  I didn't have any blood work done prior to it.
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1415174 tn?1453243103
Hi Gina, what kind of aura do you have (what does it look like)? If interested see my question:
Shakes, with awareness and EEG abnormal.
That is interesting about the Magnesium. I wonder if mine is off. I should ask to get tested.
thanks,
mkh9
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1415174 tn?1453243103
I think we get used to meds and you might try asking for a combo of Depakote and something else or just a new drug to see if that helps. Knowing what type of seizure you have does help I think. when your arms jerked did you also not remember what happened or were you aware. I guess I have had twitching at night but had vomiting and stomach pain. They think mine is a migraine variant (at the tiime I had no aura or headache). They put me on Klonopin and it worked entirely. But it is super hard to get off of so I wouldn't stay on it for more than a day or two to try it. My EEG was abnormal too.
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Avatar universal
Have the doctors identified the cause of your seizures?  Or have you identified triggers other than the lack of sleep?  With mine, I had several different triggers.  If I had caffeine or things with caffeine derivitives like chocolate, I would have more seizures.  If I didn't get enough fat in my diet I would have more seizures.  I tried various medications for about twenty years off and on but they all made me out of it and I would still have seizures.  Finally I discovered that vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) or surgery can help in certain types of epilepsy.  I opted for a right temporal lobectomy.  They were able to trace my seizures back to an area of scar tissue in my right temporal lobe.  They believe that the scar tissue was a result of the couple febrile convulsions I had when I was about a year old and teething.  They removed that area of scar tissue from my brain.  My doctor also recommended that I take 1000mg of Magnesium each morning to help with the aura sensations.  My surgery was six years ago.  My EEGs are still not normal but instead of having an absence seizure or a grand mal seizure when things go a bit haywire, I just have a headache instead.  Research the VNS option and the surgery options and see if you are a candidate.  I wish I would have done so sooner.
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