Hi Ellie,

You are a great writer and take my word I can relate to a lot of what you have been through. I started having sz. when I was 10 yrs. old in the beginning it was just migraine headaches and then that led into absence sz. for me when I was in the 6th grade. My neuro at the time had me taking zarontin, tegretol, mysoline, dilantin, and phenobarbital all at the same time because they couldn't control my sz. I was half asleep for most of the day because they had me taking 106 pills a week. By the age of 12 the complex partial sz. began and I would see colors flashing back and forth in my eyes, hear wierd sounds, or sometimes just hear one word repeated over and over again. I was having over 300 sz. a yr. and my neuro found out that I had a scar on the right temporal lobe that was triggering my sz. and when I went through my monthly cycle with the hormones changing that's when the sz. would really fire up one right after another.
Years went by and I finally looked into having brain surgery done. I had to a video e.e.g. done but they had to do surgery and put the electrodes directly on my brain. My neurosurgeon drilled 7 holes in my skull 4 on the right and 3 on the left and they put the electrodes directly on my brain this is when they were able to find the scar tissue that was triggering sz. along with finding out that anything with nutra sweet (aspartame) was causing me to have sz. after sz. Later on on had ultra sound brain surgery and my surgeon removed 75% of the right temporal lobe and all of my right hippocampus this helped reduce my sz. greatly to the point where I went as low as 68 sz. in one yr. compared to 300 before the surgery. I've learned taking vitamin B12 once a day helps reduce my sz. along with putting a cold washcloth on my face and neck 3 times a day or more helps calm the neurons down in the brain and stops or reduces sz. for people I was in a medical study about this last yr. and they found each time I had any sz. my body temp. was higher even before the sz. so they told me to put a cold washcloth on my face and I was amazed to see that it helped reduce my sz. even more. When it comes to having sz. during your monthly cycle start eating peanuts or almonds because they have progesterone in them and progesterone helps calm the nerves down. What's happening is when a woman goes through her cycle the estrogen level increases which causes more excitment in the brain and the progesterone level decreases and there's less calming of the nerves and this is what triggers sz. for some women. They have also found out that keppra can increase sz. for some people I know keppra caused me to have drop attacks and myoclonic sz. which I never had in my life until I went on that. Also neurontin can be dangerous for some people the last I knew the drug co. making neurontin had $240 million in lawsuits because the drug was causing people to start having sz. that never had them before. I know the drug messed me up terribly.
Just keep your chin up and have faith because there's a reason why all of you have gone through the epilepsy and all that goes with it. I know it's made me stronger in life. Here's wishing You Well and May God Bless You!

Sue