[clare]

My name is Clare and this is my first visit to this forum (or any other for that matter). I am 49 years old and I was diagnosed as bipolar and prescribed lithium nearly 20 years ago. The lithium had a negative effect on my thyroid function, and caused me to be so hypothyroid that I was eventually hospitalized with grand mal seizures. The doctors at the time called them "idiopathic" seizures, That simply means that doctors don't know, and can't be bothered (?) to find out. I was prescribed Dilantin, which didn't help. Since then, I have tried Epival and Tegretol, too, to no avail. (Made me shaky and sick, made me stupid, in that order) Also, I often experienced "deja vu" seizures during the day. With the exception of about 5 instances, my seizures occur in my sleep. A sleep study showed nothing. I am taking 1500 mg of Keppra now and it has helped the most of all of them, although I often wake up with my mouth and tongue chewed. After my neurologist declared emphatically that hormones do not cause seizures, last year my nurse practitioner discovered the term catamenial seizures on the internet, and after all these years I have what seems to be a cause...now all I need is a solution. I understand that estrogen is a seizure enabler and progesterone does the opposite. When I asked my neurologist about this he said that studies had been done in the 60's, but, well, you know....Now I am interested in finding out more about Wild Yam cream. From what I understand it has a balancing effect on one's hormones and is a natural progesterone. Has anyone else heard of this as a treatment? Thanks for listening.

[Rrae]

It's good to have you here!! You've come to a wonderful place full of caring people!
You bring up some VERY good issues !! There are several of the forums here that would embrace what you are sharing.....
I found my way around simply by going thru the main menu and peeking in on the subjects that I felt I could reach out to and in no time made many caring friends.
Just ask if you need help in finding your way around.
Also, I use the 'search' feature located at the top of the page. Type in key words to subjects you want to zero in on and posts will pop up from previous discussions....

Will be great getting to know you!
Rae

[Darlene]

Hello and welcome to NeuroTalk. Happy to see you have come to be with us.

There are great number of fellow members here to assist as possible. Just let us know if we can be of any help. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

We have a forum for you to go into, there is a good number of friends there to help you out. There you will find a Sticky: Types of seizures.

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum11.html

I myself have epilepsy so come on over there. Again welcome, looking forward to seeing you around.

Darlene