Posted by Mitch on May 19, 2001, at 2:22:29
In reply to Re: Temporal Lobe Epilepsy-anyone out there?, posted by zeke on May 18, 2001, at 21:21:39
Zeke, Thank God for you responding! I have always been skeptical personally about having occult epilepsy. It is just that I will have some weird experience that changes my mind and others have wanted me to check it out. It could just be a personality disorder or "atypical bipolar syndrome"-I don't know. Why I say this is that I have taken various anti-convulsant meds for bipolar and I haven't found any miracles. *Neurontin* I find "wakes up my head"-whatever that means.
The neurologist that I can choose is limited where I live. All I can really do is see my pdoc on the next visit and get a referral, or go to my gen. pract. and convince him to refer me (but he just thinks that I am a "somaticizer") and I will have to really tell a real fable to get the referral (sad, huh). That is strange-because I suffer from panic-like symptoms and NEVER been to an ER or been hospitalized for ANY psychiatric phenomena.
Thanks for reminding me that a normal EEG doesn't rule out epilepsy-but I am not really *hoping* this is what it might be-you know what I mean?
It is true that I am fascinated with philosophy and relgion. I am not a church-goer, but am considering joining one (and have been involved in church as a teen). When I was in college I seriously thought of a philosophy degree as a pre-law curriculum. There is a "Knowledge and Reality" course that I just don't want to miss that is being offered this fall where I graduated.
Well as far as sex goes you just touched on something that is also correct. I am most of the time pretty disinterested in sex-just don't care-just don't think about it much (whether I am depressed or not). I am somewhat isolated and my pdoc says that I have social phobia (on top of whatever I actually have-whatever that is). But there are occasional times when I am manic that I get hypersexual.
You mentioned being unusually good-natured and helpful to others-that is right on the money. I can get a lot of rejection sensitivity if I think that I haven't helped someone as fully as possible. Sometimes I go out of my way at work to tell jokes and make others feel well. Also, I have found that I will introduce myself to strangers (work-related) easily-and get really involved socially at times.
As far as anger goes-there is a little truth to grudge issues. I can still feel anger long-term and not be able to trust someone-but I *beleive* that holding grudges is wrong and you have to get beyond it somehow. I was prescribed a low-dose of thorazine 25mg/day in my 20's for anger and not long after I started having panic symptoms that the thorazine seemed to make *worse*. I was taken off of it and given Xanax and that is when the Lithium/mood stabilizer/antidepressant/anti-convulsant road began.
The olfactory stuff that I can remember when taking the Effexor-was smelling a "cooking cheeseburger" smell at work and I was talking to two other people that could'nt smell a thing. Other times I would be sitting on the couch watching TV after I got off work and suddenly smell natural gas leaking and would look all over-go to the basement sniffing trying to see if everything was ok-that has happened a few times.
The derealization/depersonalization thing happens when I feel "trapped" or "boxed-in" and can't "escape". I have NEVER had a panic attack outside. It has always been in a "box" of sorts.
Like I said above there is something peculiar about Neurontin. It wakes me up. This is difficult to describe. If I stop it suddenly I lapse into a *profound* lethargy/sleepiness with cognitive problems. But if I took a high dose of it it makes me real nervous/agitated/spacey.
Adderall was interesting. I took it with *just* Neurontin for a while. I could actually sit down and *learn a new card game*! We are talking 5mg Adderall + 300mg/Neurontin a day. I could *listen* to other people. I could work while others were talking around me without getting pissed off and distracted. There was music I could play that I have heard for years and actually understand the lyrics for the first time! There was something strange about Adderall though-it is a mixture of dexedrine and amphetamine and right after I took it I felt calmed to the point of laying in the sun and taking a nap right after getting up! But later in the day I would get "waves" of feeling wired and then calmed. I don't know if just straight Dexedrine is what I ought to try or not.
I do know that I took the Neurontin/Adderall during a time of the year that I typically have a major depressive episode (twice a year at the same time-seasonal , huh?). I didn't get depressed at all. I didn't get high either. I slept 7-8 hrs. regularly every nite. I went right to sleep at nite and got right up in the morning. It just made me a little edgy at times and if someone upset me about something I would just tell them-I wasn't exactly very *warm*.
Finally, one med that I tried that was a little strange. I tried some Trileptal (oxcarbazepine) and I got some mild priapism (like Trazodone) and got a little sexually preoccupied which was pleasantly surprising-but it seemed to make me hyper and I was REAL nauseous and vomited a couple of times-it got stopped.
Do you think just plain Tegretol would be a better idea?
I take some Klonopin now-would Clobazam or Tranxene (clorazepate) work better??
Thanks for the information about the standard EEG options.
Sorry, for the excessively long reply-but I wanted to touch on all of your questions.
Mitch
> Did either the Neurontin or Adderall improve the TLE related symptoms? Neurontin is used in psychiatry but it is marketed for partial epilepsy. Amphetamine (Adderall) also has antiseizure effects. In fact, it sounds like you did best (so far) when you were on Adderall. Neurontin and Adderall also are reported to have antimanic effects as well.
>
> Another option to an ambulatory EEG would be a standard EEG with Nasopharengic or Sphenoidal leads. These are more sensitive to the medial temporal lobes.
>
> Good luck.
poster:Mitch
thread:63474
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010515/msgs/63584.html