NeuroTalk Support Groups - college student w/epilepsy & memory problems

NeuroTalk Support Groups (https://www.neurotalk.org/)

- Epilepsy (https://www.neurotalk.org/epilepsy/)

- - college student w/epilepsy & memory problems (https://www.neurotalk.org/epilepsy/88973-college-student-epilepsy-memory.html)

I have had epilepsy since I was 10, which was a long time ago. Up until my neuro put me on Lamital my memory was pretty bad. I too went to college and had a hard time but was able to grad.

Also as many others have said medication effects everyone in different ways. Since I have been on Lamital I have not had a GM, and as I said my memory is much better. You and your daughter are in my thoughts and prayers.:hug:

JUst reading to catch up on this thread.

Donna

I had the exact same problem when I went back to college. I attempted to alter my degree to a more epilepsy friendly one however my grades were very...very bad and I had been a A student prior to my seizures. I utimatly ended up dropping out so that my original GPA was still high.:thud:

hi wbwo,

Just like your daughter I am a college student and I am on lamictal. My long term memory isn't the best either. Sometimes my family will talk about things I have done years ago, which I should remember, and I have no memory of ever doing it. It also effects my school work like your daughter. I have biology as my major and it requires a lot of studying and the information you are learning is constantly building on top of each other from class to class. When studying for tests I read the power points, or notes, over and over again until they are like pictures in my brain. When I get to the test it's almost like I can recall the exact slide, or place I wrote it, to answer the question. I study the most the two days leading up to the test and make sure I read thru every single thing right before the test just so it's fresh in my mind. I also have to sometimes review past classes to refresh what I had previously learned, because I have a hard time remembering it. I know everyone is different when it comes to studying, even when they don't have epilepsy, so it's even harder when it's thrown into the loop. These are just the things that work for me. I take hours studying but it pays off in the long run.
I just got done playing 4 years of college water polo so I can't say I've experienced any of the lack of interest you are talking about. You say she wasn't always like that, so like one of the previous people said I would look more into the depression side of things. I know medications can effect people differently, but I also know personally that constantly studying and getting grades back that aren't showing how much time and effort you put into it when you know the material is very defeating and embarrassing. To know that your struggling in your classes because you have to struggle outside of your classes with something no one else has to worry about makes you just ask yourself why it had to happen to you. None of those things are easy to deal with and you may share everything in your relationship but those feelings are a little more difficult to share. I luckily had a team as my family at school and as my backbone to keep me going and to pick me off the pool deck a couple times when I "flopped" haha.
I don't know if any of this helped, but I guess to know someone else has the same problem helps. It helped me to see some other people were having memory problems and it wasn't just me, so thank you for that.
Hope your daughter does well!!

Hello tortor1990, and welcome to NeuroTalk.

I'm not sure if you realise that this thread is an old one from 2009 or not but because of that, the members who did post back then just may not see your reply.

Feel free to make a new thread of your own if you would like to, or maybe introduce yourself on our New members Forum : http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum88.html

Welcome again. Please let us know if we can help you in any way.

Great to meet you!!

http://dl8.glitter-graphics.net/pub/...yecckl7f5w.jpg

tortor1990,

:Wave-Hello: It is great to have you come and be with us. You will fine a great number of dear friends to listen when you are in need of ears. Please, just let us know how we can help you out. You will find out we are supportive and relaxing place.

Please keep us up to date on your condition. Again welcome, looking forward to seeing you around. My thoughts and prayers are with you.:smileypray:

:hug:

From successful college student

I have had likelong epilepsy, which was well-controlled through high school, until my freshman year in college. In the thirty years since then, it has been diagnosed as right temporal lobe, and my frequent (several per week) seizures never been controlled despite a wide range of med, brain surgery, and the VNS.

Despite this, I have always been a very successful student. In college. I was able to double major, complete my BA, and go on to get my MA. I am taking both Lamictal now, although I am unable to remember if I was taking it then.It does not seem to reduce my interest in my hobbies, such as writing both prose and poetry, reading in general, and maritime history.

This problem which you describe should be discussed with her MD. Even if not a direct side effect of the Lamictal, it could also originate in the side effect of the interaction of whatever she may be taking. Good luck, and Happy New Year, Eddie

Quote:

Originally Posted by wbwo (Post 519641)

My daughter is a college student. She takes Lamictal for partial seizures that don't occur often and only last seconds. (Focus on the right side) In her classes, she completes all assignments and usually makes an A or B on them. On the tests, which usually cover multiple chapters, she cannot make over a 50 or 60 in "easy" classes and 30s and 40s in the tough ones. I helped her study for a chapter, quizzed her on it, had her take a multiple choice practice test online, and she did great. This was several weeks before the test, but she again made a 60 on it. It seems like things work well in her short term memory, but it doesn't stay in long term. (or never goes there.) She scored low on a test of verbal memory, and I am having her memorize poetry all summer, and she struggles with it. I am doing this because there is one study that showed that rote learning helped memory. Has anyone else experienced this problem with verbal memory?

I also had a question about Lamictal; I don't notice side effects, but I have noticed that my daughter doesn't have much of an interest in anything. She hangs out in her room daydreaming or listening to music when she isn't at her summer job. When I take her shopping with me, she follows me around and shows no interest in things I think she would, like clothes, makeup, boys, music,etc. She is very even keel but seems to lack motivation. This is in contrast to the way she was in junior high and younger, when she was on Tegretol. The neurologist tells me that Lamictal makes people "happy" and they usually like it because it works in a different way than most anti seizure drugs. Anyone else unmotivated on Lamictal?