[Wren]

Hi Jules - I hope you don't mind that I copied your post and started a new thread with it.
Your wife being pregnant (wow- wonderful! - congratulations!) and starting to have seizures (oh - not so good)
Has she had an MRI? IMHO that's the most important thing and she should have one as soon as possible...... Maybe a CT first then an MRI ... they are SOOOO important.

Weekends can be a bit slow here. I know people more informed than I am will be here to talk to you later.

I'm holding you and her in my heart and wishing you the best.
.................................................. ...........................................

Hello my name is Jules2 and I am also new to this site. My wife of 14 years has just been diagnosed with left temporal focal seizures, in March 2008.

BTW we are both nurses, she is a Pedi ICU nurse and I am a Neuro nurse. A few months before she was diagnosed I noticed that she would suddenly make certain statements when trying to speak to me. For example, if she was trying to point to my shoes, she would say "those are your people" or she uses the word "person" a lot. At first we would laugh about it and dismiss it. I started noticing that she was doing it more frequently, so being the neuro nurse that I am, I began to get very worried. To make a long story short she had an MRI, EEG, Lumbar Puncture performed and nothing was detected except for the fact that she was having a lot of seizure activity in her left temporal area.

Her neurologist started her on Lamictal and currently she is on 200mg twice a day. The problem is that she has the episodes about every 2 weeks. And to top it off we just found out we are pregnant (6 weeks)......breathe.

This morning she woke up and immediately started to experience the focal seizures, mind you it is only speech. She has never had a grand mal seizure (thank God). We both became worried and I called our Neurologist (good friend of ours) and she asked that I give her the Klonopin we keep handy for these situations. The Klonopin makes her very sleepy but it seems to control it. She said it is probably the hormones from the pregnancy ( i hope that is what it is).

"I hate this and it makes me sad, scared and frustrated because the medication obviously is not controlling it. My wife is "Chatty Kathy" and the nucleus of our family. We have an 8 year old daughter. I miss her keeping us all in line and running this household. I miss my wife and I want her back.

I dont know what to do and hope that someone her can shed some light on our situation. I have dealt with epileptic patients for over 17 years as a neuro nurse and I DO NOT want my wife living with this problem and much less having grand mal seizures.

Please shed some light on this sitaution to help me cope better to be there for my wife. I can't even imagine how scared she must feel.

Thank you,
Jules2"

[Twinkletoes]

Welcome Jules2!

So sorry to hear about the difficulties your wife is experiencing. I hope someone here is able to shed a little light on that for you.

Congratulations on the pregnancy -- hope all goes well there for you. Does your 8yo want a baby sister or baby brother? I'll bet she is thrilled!

[Porkette]

Hi Jules2,
Welcome to the forum! I've had absence a complex partial along with simple partial sz. for 36 yrs. I also had brain surgery twice to help reduce my sz. (seizures) My advice to you and your wife is for her to start taking vitamin B or vitamin B12 once a day, cut back on the carbs, protein, and starch foods and eat foods high in fat if she's able this is known as the ketogenic diet similar to the atkins diet. The diet builds up ketones in the body which stop sz. I've been on the diet for a few yrs. and it's done wonders for me since the surgery only reduced my sz. If epilepsy runs in the family it could be in the genes, but I have a feeling that it has to do with your wifes hormones changing so much since she's pregnant. I know each month I have 2-3 days where I have anywhere from 4-8 sz. in a day and it's all because the hormones are changing in my body. Tell your wife to start keeping a calendar of her sz. Have her write down what time she has any sz. along with a discription of the sz. by doing this her neuro or Epileptologist can see a pattern as to what days of the month, or what time of day/night she is more likely to have any sz. Have her take note also if a low pressure is going on regarding the weather because that will often trigger sz. for some people. Tell her to stay away from nutra sweet (apartame) it has been proven that nutra sweet causes more electrical activity in the brain which can trigger sz. for many people. I found that out the hard way drinking diet soda. Which in turn caused me to have many more sz. If your wife is able she should have a wada test done to see what area of her brain she is using for speech and memory. I found out that my speech was split on both sides of the brain and my neurosurgeon and Epileptolgist told me that they are finding that a lot in women. Have your wife take note also if certain colors trigger sz. for her or if hot water triggers a sz. those are some of the things that cause me to have sz. I've had many e.e.g's vegg, MRI, CT scan Spect scan, Pet scan and wada test and the test showed scar tissue on the right temporal lobe of my brain but when it came time for surgery the Dr. found brain damage on the frontal lobe and left hemisphere of my brain which never showed on any of the tests because the brain damage was in to deep. This could be what's going on with your wife. Its up to you and your wife but I would stay away from neurontin they are having legal issues with the drug and it has caused many people to have status sz. who never had a sz. in there life. I tried the drug and I ended up with absence status sz. Sorry for carrying on so long. I wish you and your wife the best of luck and May God Bless You and Your Family!

Sue

[Darlene]

Hello and welcome to Neurotalk. Sue has given you some great info on epilepic seizures . I my self have had epilepsy for over 45 years. I went through two pregancies, not have many problems. I would also try to keep her stress low.

I would suggest during the hot weather for her to stay in from the hot weather. The summer months are what I and many others have to deal with.

I to am on Lamictal as well as Keppra which I haven't had any problems with. I would ask your neuro to keep a blood level on them.

Also, congradulation on becoming parents again. My prayers and thought are with you.

Darlene

[lor]

Jules, Welcome. Several have told you about epilepsy. I just wanted to tell you that I have epilepsy & had two perfect, healthy babies. Congratulations to both of you

[Jules2]

Thank you all for welcoming me to the forum and most importantly for your stroies and advice. Yes my daughter has been bugging us about having a baby. The funny thins is she has no clue we are pregnant. Tuesday we leave for Disney World and we are planning on telling her there.

My wife had a few focal seizures yesterday and I emailed our neurlogist and she has decided to add Keppra to treat her. I gave her Klonopin 1 mg yesterday and it seemed to help her, so I thing that Keppra along with the Lamictal will help her.

She has had several EEG's and 2 MRI's. I will ask our Neurologists of the other exams you all have suggested.

Thank you all again for the wonderful information you have shared.

Jules2

[Jules2]

Originally Posted by Porkette

Hi Jules2,
Welcome to the forum! I've had absence a complex partial along with simple partial sz. for 36 yrs. I also had brain surgery twice to help reduce my sz. (seizures) My advice to you and your wife is for her to start taking vitamin B or vitamin B12 once a day, cut back on the carbs, protein, and starch foods and eat foods high in fat if she's able this is known as the ketogenic diet similar to the atkins diet. The diet builds up ketones in the body which stop sz. I've been on the diet for a few yrs. and it's done wonders for me since the surgery only reduced my sz. If epilepsy runs in the family it could be in the genes, but I have a feeling that it has to do with your wifes hormones changing so much since she's pregnant. I know each month I have 2-3 days where I have anywhere from 4-8 sz. in a day and it's all because the hormones are changing in my body. Tell your wife to start keeping a calendar of her sz. Have her write down what time she has any sz. along with a discription of the sz. by doing this her neuro or Epileptologist can see a pattern as to what days of the month, or what time of day/night she is more likely to have any sz. Have her take note also if a low pressure is going on regarding the weather because that will often trigger sz. for some people. Tell her to stay away from nutra sweet (apartame) it has been proven that nutra sweet causes more electrical activity in the brain which can trigger sz. for many people. I found that out the hard way drinking diet soda. Which in turn caused me to have many more sz. If your wife is able she should have a wada test done to see what area of her brain she is using for speech and memory. I found out that my speech was split on both sides of the brain and my neurosurgeon and Epileptolgist told me that they are finding that a lot in women. Have your wife take note also if certain colors trigger sz. for her or if hot water triggers a sz. those are some of the things that cause me to have sz. I've had many e.e.g's vegg, MRI, CT scan Spect scan, Pet scan and wada test and the test showed scar tissue on the right temporal lobe of my brain but when it came time for surgery the Dr. found brain damage on the frontal lobe and left hemisphere of my brain which never showed on any of the tests because the brain damage was in to deep. This could be what's going on with your wife. Its up to you and your wife but I would stay away from neurontin they are having legal issues with the drug and it has caused many people to have status sz. who never had a sz. in there life. I tried the drug and I ended up with absence status sz. Sorry for carrying on so long. I wish you and your wife the best of luck and May God Bless You and Your Family!

Sue

Thank you so much for the information. We will be discussing some of this things with our neurologist. Thank you again. Jules2

[Porkette]

Hi Jules2,
I hope I've been of some help to your wife and you. In regards to the diet don't be suprised if the Dr. says no because they like to make money from writing out perscription meds and getting money from the pharmacutical company that makes the drugs. If you are interested in the Ketogenic Diet you can buy the book titled: The Epilepsy Diet Treatment by Dr. John Freeman at Hopkins University. The book does a great job describing the diet, how it works, and gives a few recipes.
In regards to hormones possibily causing the sz. When a womans hormones are going through a change the estrogen level goes up which causes more excitment and can lead to sz. while at the same time the progesterone level goes down and it's progesterone that calms the nerves. If your wife isn't allergic to peanuts or wild yams she can get natural progesterone cream to put on her skin twice a day this helps build up the progesterone level and reduce sz. for some women. You don't need a perscription for the cream you can buy it in health food stores.
I wish you and your wife along with the little one only the best of luck. If you don't mind keep us posted on how things are going and May God Bless All of You!

Sue