Complex Migraines and Seizures
 

Hi Everyone
I am new here, but not new to the pain of migraines. I was diagnosed with them at the age of seven and they have continuesly gotten worse over the years until I finally had a TIA and now on disability Severe Chronic Migraines with Disassociations/ Altered Mental Status. This also means that I have Complex Migraines which means that I already have vision loss, weakness and or paralysis of one side, inablity to talk and sometimes find words, as well as memory loss. The altered status usually appearce at this point, and even though I seem functional, I look spacey, drunk, stumbling, and often obnoxious, or have the mental status of a young child. I have come to learn to live with these severe migraines, but this last weekend, I had a seizure with one of my migraines. :Hum:Has anyone else this? I would love any info that anyone has.:Bang-Head:

Welcome to our headache forum Denise and welcome to Neurotalk.

Migraines are strange disorders, I will admit that. I have suffered from them since I was in my early twenties and have had all sorts of symptoms but can't say I have had a TIA. I do have MS and have had one bout of seizures associated with this wonderful disease so can relate to the seizure issue.

I have been through every medication, therapy and combinations of both to try to get a handle on them and after giving up and learning to just deal with them, my neurologist put me on Topamax. It doesn't work for everyone, but it certainly has for me.

I hope someone else in the forum can answer your TIA/Migraine question but in the meantime, check out the sticky at the top of the forum for some related links with information. Maybe there is something useful.

If you come across some helpful information, please pass it along so I (or one of the other moderators) can add it to the list.

Would you mind sharing what type of medication you are currently taking to control your migraines? Any dietary controls?

Nice to meet you and I hope you find some relief. :hug:

Hi Denise :) "Complex" is certainly the correct word to describe migraines .... maybe "Miserable" would be just as good?
I didn't have a headache in my life until sometime in my mid 40s when I started having nasty, hideous pains in my left temple and above/behind my left eye. And I started having funny "spells" ..... oh, well, too long to describe.

Finally in 1991 I had a massive grand mal seizure and was diagnosed as having epilepsy (and later migraine headaches) with partial complex seizures.
In 2005 it was finally discovered that the seizures were caused by a brain tumor (!) and it was removed in 2006 - another surgery 2007 stopped the seizures but not the migraines.

I've seen a lot of neuros, a lot of all sorts of doctors and not one has had anything to say about migraines or offered any hope of stopping them.

A brain tumor is no big deal but a migraine is.

Medication that is current - past ones too
 

I hope that the list doesn't scare any one....
AM - 2/Welbutrine, 1/thyroxine,2/Ridilin(40 mg), Concerta, and Kelp.
PM - 1/Welbutrine, 3/Ultram, 1/2Citaplopram,Ridilin(10mg), Serequil, & Prazosin.

My PRN's are Ultram, Midrin, Promethazine, Stadol, Tordol, Viseral,( the last two are IM), Indomicine, Chyl Hydr., Oxicontin, Baclophen, and a standing order at the ER for 200mg Demeral.

I think that is it, but I don't promise it every thing today.
In the past everything from asprine and No Doze, Beta Blockers, Calcium inhibitors, Ant seizure meds, Blood pressure meds, and the list goes on!

I would appreciate any ideas that have work or alternative medicine as well.

You don't feel like you live with migraines, you are dying with them.

Thank you for any suggestions you have.

Look at this site
 

I get very tired of being looked like I'm a drug user and there is nothing I can do to change it...:thud:

Denise

You should see the list of meds I am on...your's doesn't scare me at all!

I started taking Topamax for my migraines in 2002 and it has been a life saver for me. Nothing else has ever worked. It's bad when you walk into the ER and the entire staff knows you by your first name and immediately puts you in a room! I discovered that vomit gets their attention quicker than blood!! LOL!

I actually drove myself to the ER once from school and they drugged me up, let me sleep for about 2 hours and then wouldn't let me drive myself home! How uncool was that! My husband was an airline pilot and on a 3-day trip...now how was I supposed to get home? I figured it out but it took me 2 more days to get my car home...silly people...geez, it was just a bunch of drugs!

Anyway, I know that "T" has worked very well for me and I've only had one breakthrough migraine and that was my fault thinking I could titrate down on the dose! I am on 200mg x 2. That's my dose...not more, not less. I also take 5 MeQs of Urocit-K to counteract the acidosis it causes and make sure I drink plenty of water (kidney stones is one of the side effects).

I hope you find some relief...if you want to try to "T", make darn sure you follow the titration closely because you will not be happy if you don't. :(
Start at night and up each dose at night.

:Bawling:I was on that for about 4 years, it seemed to help a little, but the side effects were so severe at the end, I almost lost half my foot because I didn't have any feeling in my extremities, and my nose, face, and cheeks....
The lists of what I've tried is endless, I'm depression isn't causing my migraines... Not feeling well is depressing.

According to what I have read, and experienced, with Topamax, acidosis can cause the loss of feeling, tingling etc. That's why I am taking the Urocit-K. Once I started that, the sensations stopped and I got the feeling back in the side of my face. The drug depletes the potassium in your system. Having MS complicates it for me b/c I wasn't sure if it was the MS causing the symptoms or the drug. But once I started on the Urocit-K and started drinking a lot more water, I was ok.

I have a good neuro, thank goodness.

You are right, not feeling good can be depressing.

Like Wren, I started having constant headaches ,then simple and complex seizures (which I might add were misdiagnosed for several years), until I finally had a grand mal seizure (at 6 mos. pregnant) that landed me in the ER.
An MRI told the doctors there was a cyst on my brain that had been there since birth. A year later and hundreds of seizures later (complex partial) with ever increasing headaches that just wouldn't seem to go away, I had another MRI at a different hospital and that 'cyst' turned out to be a brain tumor.
Here I am six years later and deal with constant almost daily migraines. I now take Topamax to help with the migraines (100mg 2x daily) and it helps dramatically. I also take Midrin when I get the breakthrough migraine- which seems to be a lot lately. I try to use Tylenol 8 hour (the only OTC that does ANYTHING at all for me albeit little)and when that doesn't work I crack out the Midrin as a last resort. Have to limit how many of those I take a day/week. What I'm wondering is if my Topamax dose is too low?

Seizurers picking up and No one will help
 

Three months ago I had never had a seizure and now I've had three in as many weeks :eek: . No one will see me and the I'm afraid to be alone. I have a list of twenty three drugs, seeing a chiropractor daily, and still getting worse. :deadhorse:
At what point is all this worth it?:Sinking:
The pain is never ending anymore and what little bit of individual freedom I did have is gone.:Sob:
Depression has taken up residents. I don't know where to turn.:Sigh:

Topamax!
 

Hi there!
I'm on Topamax myself!
It has helped a lot since I've started using it..:)
When I do get an attack I have Imitrex Instant 50 that blocks everything instantly -or should-.
I've been having a lot of problems with hair loss lately..
I fear it's going to get worse soon! I also have other side effects like uncontrolled movements and I can't focus that well anymore, more aggressive, can't sleep, etc. :eek:
So pro's and contra's
Do you have that too?

Hi..am so sorry to hear about your migraines, but something here is raising a flag. As a practitioner in neurology I am a little concerned about the seizure. If you have never had one before, please contact your neurologist right away..this is something that might require a new imaging test such as an MRI or CT of the brain and perhaps an EEG.

Good luck,
Mary Kay

me too
 

I too have complex migraines... I've had every test there is... muscle biopsy, eeg,emg,ekg... I mean everything and there is no other problems or reason. I also have developed asthma recently and seem to trigger a complex migraine from the albuterol so I no longer use it and am confined to my house on humid, warm days.
I become paralysed for up to 5 hours with several short episodes for the next few weeks. I also take 4 months to get over the fatigue and mental "slowness" follows.
It is very scary but after 5 years I'm learning to live with it. I've also tried topamax, depracote and am now on lamictal... at least the last lets me think and talk and keeps me kinda relaxed. i've also taken a disability retirement. Good luck, keep in touch... Trisch

Migraine?
 

Hello I am new to NeuroTalk...I have had migraines as long as I can remember, my grandmother had them as well, now my youngest son has them as well...anyways. I wanted to know if any of you have had symtoms like this...out of the blue feels like someone has hit you in the head with a bat in the head, searing pain, burning sensation in the head, blurred vision,nausea, have to hang on to something so you dont hit the floor, slurred speech, and meomory loss, according to my husband and family. Went to see the doctor has ordered a CT of my brain without contrast..I worried...anyone have ideas? Not even sure if I am posting in the right spot! Thanks

Migraines, siezures, strokes
 

I have been dealing with migraines since as long as I can remember, it wasn't until I was older that I was diagnosed as a severe migraine suffer. The sound of my own heart beating, can be sheer torture. From Talking with other migraine suffers, I have learn a few things.
1. some migraine suffers may have heart disease, I had open heart surgery at 30.
2. there are more left handed people than right handed, that suffer with migraines.
3. Migraines are hereditary, both of my children get them, my daughter more than my son.
4 Women get them more than men, especially around the time of their cycle.
5. Migraines can turn into seizures, I was diagnosed 3 years ago to be suffering migraine seizures, my left side is affected much more than my right. I never lose consciousness.
6. I have had 2 what were described as a migraine strokes, one I was hospitalized over night, the second which was a year later. I was hospitalized for three days. There was talk of sending me to a rehabilitation center. I regained all my functions, except for one numb spot right in the middle of my top lip.
&. Thee days before Christmas this year, I ended up in the hospital because of a migraine seizure, plus two panic attacks. The ER doctor told me I was not having a seizure, my husband said I was. But I was also having a panic attack. The doctor gave me zanax and sent me home. It didn't matter that I didn't know where I was, how I got there, who my husband was, what day or month it was. I saw my primary care doctor and explained what had happened, I will be seeing my numerologist in a couple of weeks and will fill him in on what had happened.
Mirgaines are not just headaches as so many people believe they are.

Migraines
 

My first migraine with aura happened when I was 10 years old and in class when it happened, naturally I thought I was dying.

Since then, other than the yearly allergy issues, those migraines were not a problem in that they were always the same and I knew how to live with them.

I am not 42 and in the last 2 years my migraines have progressively gotten worse. In Oct. 2008 I was hospitalized for 3 days on a DHE drip to break the cycle and it worked, I went just over a year with no migraine, just an occasional headache dispensed of with an OTC drug. Since Dec. 2009 my migraines have gotten progressively worse and suddenly. I can only describe the worst attack as a "funny" feeling, unbalanced feeling like a magnet is trying to pull me over and I have to fight to stand upright, visual disturbances-flashbulbs, strings of very bright light points, loss of peripheral vision, sensation that my eyeballs can't move in their sockets or that my eyes have crossed blurring my vision, the ever present pressure, ache, pounding in my head, ringing in my ears, slight confusion, loss of mental acuity, trouble finding words to speak, tingling and loss of sensation on left side of my face and left hand (this happened the other night).

I am currently taking Neurontin x3, B-Complex, Naproxen (PRN), Esgic Plus (PRN), Clonazepam, Depakote, Lortab (PRN). I am not big on narcotics and would rather not go down that path if at all possible. When driving I stay right in case an episode hits and I have to pull over quickly.

Sorry so long and thanks for reading if you got this far.

presuming you are female (your screen name, lol) i would guess you are perimenapausal, see if you can get your hormones checked....good luck

I realize you posted this quite awhile ago. But that's exactly what i do down to throwing the temper tantrums - when I have a complex migraine. Only I have NO head pain with these migraines. I do have an "aura" I guess (hubby says he can tell when their coming) where I get super .. almost a manic state both in mind and body. I cannot stay still and flutter from one activity to another.
Though I did see in a later post that they have you taking Ultram.. thats a medication well known for lowering the seizure threshold ... I didn't have my first grand mal seizure until after my pain management doc put me on ultram and robaxin at the same time. They thought it might be due to the two meds being given together, but even with just the ultram I still had grand mal seizures.
I am curious as to how you are doing now?

Basilar Migraines
 

Does anyone suffer from these?

occipital nerve stimulation
 

As I browsed over the Dayton Interventional Radiology website, I saw that they have a treatment option, called occipital nerve stimulation, available for people with chronic migraine. I had my spinal cord stimulator implanted there with Dr. Morar. The doctors and staffs were very friendly. So, you may want to give them a call. I hope this help.