start having seizures during perimenopause
 

Hi There
I started having GM seizures in 2007 and been having it on and off every year or two. My neuro doctor never draw any connection between my hormone changes and epilepsy. He doesn't know what caused them after various tests and scans.

I am on Keppra 750Mg twice a day. Every time I tried to lower the meds for a few months, I had a seizure. I'm sure something else might have triggered it as well (like less sleep, time change, ...). After a seizure, I need at least 16-20 hours of sleep. Then my body aches all over, and it seems I had some respiratory issue for 1-2 weeks afterward.

I read in 'NeuroTalk' and other sources that women with epilepsy can go through changes (epilepsy frequency, etc.) during menopause. I have not found anyone start having epilepsy during menopause in these forums though.

Do you know of someone out there starting seizures later in her life like me?

Hi m_jip,

Welcome to the forum! I've had epilepsy for 39 yrs. I started having seizures when I was 10 yrs. old. Often a person will start having seizures when hormones are changing in their body. When a woman starts to go through her change it can either increase or decrease seizures for the person and that's because the estrogen level is going up and estrogen causes more excitment in the human body and the progesterone level is going down and it's progesterone that helps calm the nervous system. This type of seizure is known as "cateminal seizures" (sp?)

You mentioned that you have been having respitory problems this can be something that can trigger seizures. Drs. have found a connection between heart problems triggering seizure, also if you haven't had a sleep study done yet you might want to consider it sleeping as long as you do after a seizure is longer than usual and I wonder if you have sleep apnea or another sleep disorder. Lack of sleep and stress are the 2 main things that can trigger seizures.
My advice to you is to get a calendar and write down what time you have any seizures along with a discription of the seizure. Also be sure to write down when you start and stop your monthly cycle. By doing this your Dr. may see a pattern in your seizures and they may be happening 1 wk. to 10 before your monthly cycle and then again after your montly cycle if this is what your Dr. sees then you can tell it's all do to hormones changing in your body. The best thing for you to do is to see a Epileptologist (Dr. specializing in Epilepsy) at a Epilepsy Center which are usually at University or very big hospitals. You will have to have your family Dr. refer you to one.
To find out what's causing your epilepsy you should have a wada test done that can pinpoint the exact cause of your seizures. When I took Keppra the drug increased my seizures and made them worse so I went on vimpat and I had a lot fewer seizures than when I was taking keppra. Once you get in to see an Epileptologist request a DNA test that will show what seizure meds will work the best for you with the least side effects. In the mean time take vitamin B12 1000 mcg. once a day, and eat almonds or low salted peanuts. I know this sounds wierd but nuts have progesterone in them and when I went through my change in reduced my seizures greatly. Stay away from nutra sweet and cut back on the carbs and starch foods because they can lead to seizures. Sorry to carry on so long. Wishing You the best of luck and May God Bless You!

Sue

Welcome aboard!!
 

darlene i am hysterical. i have always had seizures prementral and know that hormones do affect them. i hope this support helps you. my problem is that they are taking my med off the market. they stopped making it last year and no one told my doctor or pharmacist. i called the company and they confirmed it. this is the only med that worked with dilantin mysolin with it. it is mebaral . i called the company and they said it is true . they stopped production in january 2011. the medication may still be good but if so only until march. this is why i started having seizures again. no other company makes it. i picked you because you seem so involved. what can i do?

Seizure
 

I started menopause on and off about 2 years ago right before when I turn 50. I had my first seizure 8 months ago and at the time I thought it was due to the the hot flashes. I experienced the exact same symtoms you described. They ran tests (MRI, CATSCANS, and EEG) all were normal. I had my second seizure last week during a particularly stressful time at work. They put me on Keppra 500mg twice a day. Now I hope the medication work but I'm worried about the side effects.

Hi Cejay,

Welcome to the forum! Stress is the number one thing that can trigger seizures for a person along with lack of sleep and hormone changes.
If I may ask does anyone in your family have epilepsy? If they do this could be a genetic thing that is triggering seizures for you.
Often a person can have tests done to find out what's triggering the seizures and the tests won't show any problems and that's because brain damage is deep in the brain. I was on keppra for a yr. to help control my seizures and it increased them but everyone is different. Tell your Dr. to do an DNA test on you and they will be able to find what AED's (seizure med) will help you the most with the least side effects. Also read my first post and follow through with that it will help you out a lot. Here's wishing you only the best of luck and May God Bless You!

Sue

hormones and seizures
 

Hi Sue and everyone here. I started having seizures when I was 12 about 6 months before my first period. Well, that is when grand mal seizures started. i wonder if I had petit mal or absence seizures before that as there were times in school where everyone had already learned something and knew what to do and I had no idea what they were talking about. i was too afraid at that time to tell anyone about this because I thought they would think I was crazy(even at the age of 8 I thought this). lucky for me I was able to pick up things in school relatively easily so no one knew I was having problems. Not until I had one and was unconscious for at least several minutes when I was 12. At first i don't think i convulsed and then put me in the hospital and did all the tests that they did back then to discover what was wrong and found nothing but I continued to have these "spells" They mostly happened at school where I was usually stressed out. I was a very serious kid and worried all the time about everything.

These "spells" started to become grand mal seizures and they put me on dilantin. The only time anything ever showed up on an EEG was when I was 13 and they showed abnormal spikes and told me I definitely had epilepsy and I continued on this med. i was also on phenobarbital at the time as I had a headached for four years that never went away and it was determined to be a tension headache so my regular doc had me on the phenobarb for that. I also went to biofeedback for the headaches and saw Psychiatrists etc. the headache finally left me when I was near the end of the 10th grade but the seizures continued, usually at school. They especially happened in stressful classes like Frech class when I would have an oral exam in front of the class. boom I would have a seizure. i was so terrified of dong that in front of everyone it caused the seizures. My French teacher finally started taking me out in the hall to do the oral exams alone with her so I wasn't so scared.

Over the years I did notice that the seizures usually would happen the week before my period or just after it. sometimes the first day into it. I had long periods lasting at least ten days and heavy ones too. I also started getting migraines at this time.

One thing i wanted to say though is that I have gone through pretty much every test including several VEEGS and of course they never see anything wrong to the point where Mayo Clinic says I have seizures of undetermined cause. Of course I had problems with the neurologists there as some only listened to parts of my story or what my boyfriend said would happen as I lose consciousness. and the residents wrote things down that I never said etc. It got to be quite a mess there and I have to say that there was one good neurologist there but i ended up seeing other ones for seizures and they were all too busy to listen.

but Sue you said something about asking for a WADA test to determine where tor what was causing the seizures? I had thought that this test was only done for surgical candidates to determine where their speech and language areas where in their brain as everyone's isn't the same. Is this a test that most people have even if surgery hasn't ever been talked about?

sorry for the long intro i just wanted to explain where I was coming from.

thanks,
Sara

Hi Sara,

The wada test will show what side of the brain is used for memory as Darlene metioned and it also will show what area of the brain you are using for speech. Most of the time it's done before brain surgery but if you have this test done your neuro will be able to tell what's causing your seizures.
For yrs. they always thought the my seizures came from lack of oxygen at birth but the wada test showed that what really caused my seizures was trauma that my mom went through when she was 4 months pregnant for me and my grandfather passed away. That trauma caused to many brain cells on the right temporal lobe and in turn I had a scar from it and by the age of 10 the seizures started. The only other test you could have done is a veeg where they do surgery and put the depth electrodes directly on the brain by doing this they may be able to pick up and pinpoint the area of your brain that's triggering your seizures.
I wish you the best of luck and May God Bless You!

Sue

thanks Darlene and Sue for the explanation of the Wada test.

i don't have insurance so I'm sure they son't do that. Sue, that is amazing that they could pinpoint the exact reason why you have seizures. i would be happy if they could figure out where in the brain mine are starting and actually have some proof of them. No doctors have ever seen them but in November of 2011 I had a status episode from not being able to get one of my meds. I had over 26 seizures in a little over an hour and had to be airlifted to UMC in Tucson. Needless to say the ER docs did bloodwork and a chest xray to rule out pneumonia or infection I guess. and it all came back fine so they decided it was from no having the med for a week and two nights of not sleeping before the seizures started. they had given me two shots of valium and the helicopter crew gave me some ativan all in my IV. They sent me home after 6 hours. Home is one and a half hours SW of Tucson in a tiny town near the border which is why they had to airlift me out.

I haven't actually had a neurologist for years since I moved here from Rochester MN. and then I never had just one neurologist. I went to Mayo and they jumped me around to whoever was available. And I had several bad experiences at Mayo some due to the seizures and some due to the FMS. they are really good at some things and not so good at others. the reason i was there in the first place was because my ex(divorced in 2002) is a surgeon there. He divorced me because of the FMS. Said he didn't believe it was a real illness and that he believed it to be a form of depression. We were married 18&1/2 yrs(actually divorce was final on our 19th anniversary) and we have 3 children who are all adults now the youngest is 20.

I have a referral to see a neurologist from the epilepsy center at UMC. I know of several women in our town who see this one woman neurologist and really like her so I'm hoping I can see her and have her as my neuro. I have had so many neurologists in my life and of all of them only 2 were really good. One was in Mpls. and he is now retired, and one was at Yale university. he was quirky but good at what he did. and they both never doubted for an instance that I have a seizure disorder. i have had so many bad experiences starting as a child.

I have had so many changes since I had the status episode. Many memory problems like of course short term memory stuff which I have had in the past from concussions, and in 2002 I admitted myself to the Psych ward for depression after trying to go off my antidepressant thinking my depression was all caused by my ex:P and when I realized I still needed it it no longer worked and I got very depressed and suicidal. I was there for almost 3 weeks and they kept trying new meds and of course it takes at least 6 weeks for the meds to build up in your body and work for you but I couldn't stay there 6 weeks so they pushed me into getting ECT(Electro convulsive therapy) basically shock treatments. I was not in a state where I should have been even been asked to make that decision but anyway I forgot about the seizures as the depression was so bad and I couldn't think about much of anything, so I had three ECT treatments they wanted me to come back after being discharged for 3 more but they were so horrible I cancelled them. and less than 2 weeks later i began to have more seizures after not having them for several years. These were different at first they happened only when I was laying down and asleep or going to sleep and they escalated to daytime GM seizures. they couldn't find anything on the EEg again and did another VEEG with the electrodes just on top of my head and nothing showed and I didn't have any seizures. Mine have always been pretty sporadic but mainly around my period, usually just before etc.


so my regular doc doesn't want to mess with my seizure meds as he doesn't feel qualified (I don't blame him) so now I will see another neuro and am hoping for a good one this time. I now live alone after an 8 year relationship and after the status episode was so worried about being alone that I was even thinking about maybe trying to get a seizure dog. But I already have a little dog(who actually has seizures in her sleep, kind of ironic) and am not sure if they would get along plus it would be more work for me and with also havig FMS and several other chronic illnesses autoimmune stuff that taking care of one more thing would be difficult for me.

i was going to say that some of the strange things that I forget daily are to eat, sometimes to even drink water and sometimes to bathe. I have never had this problem before. I do need to lose weight and have lost about 15 pounds since Aug. but it's not the best way to do it. and I know my brain needs to heal from the seizures and eating small meals frequently as well as getting enough sleep is important. the other weird thing is that my days and nights are totally mixed up. Which has never happened before.

I'm wondering if any of you have had any of these problems after having seizures, especially if any of you have experienced a status episode?

thanks for being so prompt in explaining the wada test to me. I have done some reading and they are trying to find less invasive tests to get the same results. I hope they do continue to learn more about seizures and the brain in general because it seems to me that they have really only scratched the surface of what there is to know at this point!

Take care,
Sara

P.S. sorry for another long post, I can't seem to get them shorter.

Hi Sara,

I went through status sz. (seizures) when I was put on neurontin for a concussion. Then I later found out that neurontin can cause sz. for some people and that the drug co. making the drug ended up with $240 million in lawsuits. Once I went off the drug the status sz. stopped.

The main thing that can cause epilepsy. are: difficulty at birth, brain injury, lack of oxygen, drug or alcohol abuse, brain tumors, family genetics,trauma or a bad scare. Also MS (mulitple scoloris) sp? and other neurology disorder can lead to sz. as well as diabetes that isn't under control.

I'm sorry to hear about your and your ex my parents were together for almost 42 yrs. and they got a divorce which led to a lot of stress for me and that in turn triggered sz. (seizures) which caused more brain damage.

Depression is all a part of having epilepsy sometimes people want to end their life and that's part of the depression as well as the sz. med they are taking that's causing this. Often a person will have short term memory problems and that's because the hippocampus has shrunk and gotten harder from yrs. of having sz. When I had my last brain surgery the Dr. removed my right hippocampus because it was very hard and damaged from yrs. of sz.
Sz. med can cause weight loss when I was taking Depakene I lost 75 lbs. in 4 months. The drug can cause anorexia where a person either wants to eat or doesn't feel like eating. I take the drug Diamox, and that drug curbs my appetite now. I also take mysoline and vimpat.

You might want to try the ketogenic diet this diet is for people with epilepsy the diet builds up ketones in a persons system and this helps reduce or stop sz. You can see a dietician about this diet and get the book titled "The Epilepsy Diet Treatment" By Dr. John Freeman. The diet is high in fat but low in carbs and starch foods. It has been a big help to me along with taking vitamin B12 once a day. Stay away from nutra sweet because this can trigger sz. for people and cut back on caffeine.
Wishing You The best of Luck and May God Bless You!

Sue

thank-you again both Sue and Darlene for telling me a little more about your experiences. I have an appt. now set up in March to see a neuro from the epilepsy center at UMC in Tucson. several women I know have said she is good.
My biggest worry is that I have no insurance so I have to pay for the appt, up front. i can do it by March but I have so many bills from my status episode especially the helicopter bill--it's $7,000! they were kind enough to take 2/3's off the first bill but still that is a lot and I will be able to make payments which will help. the lady who made my appt said that any procedure that is done i will be billed for so I will just have to make payments on those as I don't have any money saved. i have had too many hospital bills in the past few years due to my asthma. the reason I don't have a neuro right now is because i am a self pay and just could never afford it. Plus, I was doing pretty well the past several years. it had been 3 years since I had a seizure and I had even just bought a truck and was driving again. sigh. I haven't even been able to get the truck registered because I got sick and then this happened.

I'm hoping that because it was due to not having one of my seizure meds for a week that the neuro will allow me to drive again. i'm sure she will have to do some tests first though to make sure. One thing on my side is that my seizures have only shown up on one EEG in my life and that was back when I was 13 years old. It is difficult for me because i live in a tiny town near the border. i have friends who can drive me to the post office etc. but I hate being such a bother to them. My doc did say I can drive a golf cart so I'm looking into getting a used one. It would of course only be here in town. so I could get to the store or the post office or the gallery where I'm supposed to work 2 days a month but haven't been able to since I had the status episode in Nov. which happened to be at the gallery during a meeting. i am an artist so this has also made painting difficult as I seem to need a lot of sleep since this happened and I moved to a new house less than a month after it happend so i'm slowly trying to get things unpacked and set up. moving causes me stress so i'm flaring with my other illnesses like my FMS so I haven't been able to paint much. But I just got into the studio yesterday9there is a room on this house I can use for a studio so I don't have to go anywhere, which is one reason I moved!

anyway, it is good to know what others are doing for their seizures even if it might not be feasable for me or practical as we are all individuals in what we need to do. but it sure is nice talking to others who have gone through some of the same experiences. So I wanted to thank you guys for responding to my messages.

Take care,
Sara

Hi Sara,

I know how you feel not being able to drive I've had seizures most of my life and I was never able to get my drivers license. I was lucky to have family to take me back and forth to work but I made sure I paid them. If you need help you might want to call the Epilepsy Foundation of America they are located in Maryland and here's their phone number 1-800-332-1000. They may be able to give you info. in regards to getting the financial help that you need to take care of things to see any neuro and they can also give you any advice if you have any questions for them regarding stroke and epilepsy. You might have a local Epilepsy Center or Support group near you and they can tell you if you do.
Wishing you well and May God Bless You!

Sue

Thing of you.
 

Sue and Darlene thanks you for the information.
I have the info for he epilepsy foundation written down and i will go to the link you provided Darlene. just wanted you guys to know that I did read your posts and wanted to thank you for taking the time to respond to me:)

Sara

I had my first seizure at 51..i thought it was because i cut a wellbutrin in half for two days weaning myself off....but then EEG showed spike and wave pattern of absence seizures that they said was genetic. So they had me on keppra...couldn't drive for six months..then i had another seizure out of nowhere about 2 years later..a week after i left my husband..I think hormones..specifically low progesterone is one culprit, stress, low on magnesium, full moon or last quarter of the moon and dehydration are others so..i drink powerade..they doubled my keppra but i am so tired, so depressed, never want to be alone...my medical bills are huge cause of these two seizures..i have now instructed my 15 year old not to call 911. It makes me not want to deal with things..I just want to lie around and rest.

Hi Ambrteach,

I know how you feel. I have had seizures since i was 12 at least that is the first time that i was unconscious with them. I really think I may have had them since early childhood. I had problems in school where everyone would know what they were supposed to do for a certain thing that was taught and I had never heard of it before. just one example was long division. everyone in my class knew what the teacher was talking about and I had never heard her talking about it. this happened on a fairly regular basis and I was too scared to tell anyone because i thought they would think I was crazy. I didn't know anything about seizures or even the word until I started having grand mal seizures in 6th grade. I was hospitalized for a week while they did all the tests at that time. Back then They did EEG's which were very painful as they didn't "glue" the electrodes to you head like they do now back then they stuck them into you scalp. I would end up with about 35 scabs on my head and they alwasys told me oh we don't pierce the skin-right!
Anyway, I have only had one EEG that showed seizure activity and that was when I was 13 so I was put on dilantin back then and was on it until i was 18 at which time they decided I didn't have epilepsy so i was weaned off the drugs and IO didn't ave any seizures for about 4 years and then had my first complex partial seizure when I was pregnant with my first child. I have three adult kids now and i believe I only had seizures with the first pregnancy. So, i had my babies in the 80's and early 90'slast one was in '91. In '93 I was under a lot of stress. i was trying to take one class at the University(I never finished college) and that didn't work out and I was just all over the place driving my kids to all of their activities and working a job partly from home nd partly from the clinic that was a 45 minute drive away always in rush ohour traffic. then the kicker was my husband who was a Surgical Resident and had promised me he would go into private practice and stay in Mpls. where we lived, decided to take a job at Yale University in New Haven CT. We were having marital problems and I was having seizures by then and also broke out in a rash head to toe and it ended up being from strep and depakote which I was on for the seizures. I had it for more than 6 months and my husband would not touch me. i felt like a leper. if I went out people would stare as it was all over my face and scalp and arms, legs, everywhere. so I covered up as best I could and was finally taken off the seizure med. My neurologist said the rash was worse than the seizures.
this is sort of a synopsis of part of my life and I did get depressed especially when I couldn't drive. I have been on and off driving since I first got my licence when I was 18.

Currently I can't drive and in Nov. had a status seizure where I had over 26 seizures in over an hour and was air lifted to a hospital in Tucson. I now have more medical bills so I can empathize with you as I have no insurance and have racked up the medical bills over the past 3-4 years. It is stressful. i was late paying on one bill by 30 days and only made a partial payment as I can't afford to pay them all at once and I already got a call from a debt collector on that one! It's crazy. It's stressful and yes it can be depressing.

Sorry for the long story. i want you to know you aren't a lone and that there are so many more people out there in similar situations. i was never afraid to be alone and never afraid to go out in public. i have been lucky in that everyone who has witnessed a seizure and I had them in school from 6th grade through senior year and then now in my life everyone has been so good about it and they accept me for me.

After the status incident in Nov. I was afraid to be alone for the first time. I was married for 19 years and my husband divorced me because I have fibromyalgia and he doesn't believe it exists he also thought that I didn't "really" have a seizure disorder and he's a doctor! But then I was with my boyfriend for 8 years and he was very good about the seizures. they increased a lot when I was with him because of some incidents that brought more on. And he accepted them and was just very good about it. he could tell before I had one and usually was able to get me somewhere safe to have it. but, he broke up with me about 2 years ago now so I have been alone. but last year i lived in Mpls. where I have friends and most of my family lives there.

i decided to move back to AZ to a little town that I have loved since I first came down here in 2005. i lived here first with my boyfriend but have many friends here and they have all been wonderful. You would be amazed at how many people just accept it and still care and don't care that you have seizures. i am. i have a pretty full life. I do have major fatigue and pain from the fibro., and arthritis, so I have to take a nap everyday but I am an artist and painting feeds my soul. I began painting after my divorce in 2002 as a kind of therapy. I am self taught but have read lots of books. for me this has been the best thing. If you can find some kind of creative outlet that helps you feel better about yourself it might help. Or maybe take a fun class with community education. An art class or writing or whatever you might be interested in. there are so many different things out there that you could try, and then you will meet people too, and make some friends. Maybe join a book club. just something to get you interested and maybe meet some friend and get out of the house. i know you can't drive but do you have a bus system or friends that would be willing to drive you? Or maybe you could call a local church and see if they have volunteers that drive people who can't drive to get out and about.

i'm just trying to give you some suggestions. it sounds like you are depressed and maybe you should talk to your doctor about that. It sounds like you were on an antidepressant before the seizures started so maybe they need to change your meds or change the dose. It might be good to find a support group for epilepsy. I know some of the people here have more suggestions too. just know that you are not alone. i just turned 50 myself and had gone 3 years without any seizures. but i was unable to get one of my seizure meds for a week which led to the status seizures. I try not to dwell on the bad stuff as there will always be obstacles for any of us to overcome. but thee are many things we can do. and there are groups online just like this one where you can meet people just like you and help you in any way we know how. You have come to the right place and I hope you can get the help you need so that you can enjoy your life again.

Take care, there are a lot of people here who care:grouphug:

Sara

Nice to meet you!!
 

Hi ambrteach,

Wecome to the forum! Depression is all part of epilepsy as well as dizziness and feeling tired. I've had epilepsy since I was 10 yrs. old and I'm 49 yrs. old now. You mentioned that you took wellbutrin this drug is an anti depressant which will reverse the effects of your keppra. Also it has been proven that Wellbutrin can cause seizures for some people and you should let your Dr. know about this immediately. If you are having the same type of seizures that others in your family are having then it could be genetic but if you are having a different type of seizure than those in your family then it is not genetic. Years ago my neuro thought my seizures were genetic but all of my family members had grand mal seizures where I only had absence and complex partial seizures. I would get off of the wellbutrin and start taking vitamin B12 1000 mcg. once a day to see if that helps or try taking vitamin B Complex vitamins once a day. Cut back on the caffeine, starch foods and carbs. Hormones changing has a lot ot do with it. If you like peanuts or any type of nuts start eating them because they have progesterone oil in them and it helped me control my sz. when I went through my change. I wish you the best of Luck and May God Bless You!

Sue

Thanks, darlene and sara for welcoming me. My cousin who has MS told me about Neuro talk and said there is an epilepsy forum.

i am a teacher and so i am out and stressed all day...47 kids in one class...when i had had my seizure before, my neuro said after 3 months of no seizures, that if i couldn't get a ride i could drive back and forth to school on the side roads..no highways, not at night, so that is what i do. I guess I am lucky in that if this is something genetic, I have only had two seizures and now i am on 1000 mg of keppra twice a day. My second one, my daughter said was not as long or violent, so the 500 mg twice a day was doing something. Interesting sara, you said you were artistic...don't know if you have done any historical research on epilepsy, but me being the geek i am know that Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Isaac Newton, all had seizures and it was considered divine...lol...in fact people were supposed to be seers who could foretell the future when they went into fits or a trance..lol..anyway.i have a spike and wave brain pattern..the doctor said my brain waves are too active...i am like "duh, i'm a math teacher"...he also said he sees a lot of scarring behind my eyes..can't think of anything other than a metal swing in my face when i was 5..two black eyes and a bloody nose...lol..in those days no mri, ct etc..i am glad to come to this forum and read your posts and advice..thank u for being here

Hi ambrteach,

I'm glad to hear that you are a teacher. I also work in public school as a teacher aide in Special Education so I can relate to how school can be stressful. I have noticed in the summer months I have fewer seizures than during the school yr. You mentioned that you had some scarring, the same thing happened to me I have scares on both the right and left temporal lobe and this is what caused my seizures. I had brain surgery twice to help reduce my seizures and it was a big help.
I get into writing poetry and short stories as well as studying history. My Dad was a Science teacher and he taught physics which was way to hard for me. I would take Biology any day over physics.
There are many famous people who have epilepsy like Elton John, Prince, Danny Glover, Edgar Allan Poe, Agatha Christy, Alan Faneca who played professional football for the NY Jets and the Arizonia Cardinals. and many more famous people.
If staff and students use cell phones while at school take note if this triggers seizures for you. I found out that I was cell phone sensitive and when to many people are using cell phones around me I end up having seizures. I saw a pattern with my seizures early in the morning before school started and then again during the lunch breaks at school it was then that my Epileptologist found out that staff and students were using cell phones at this time triggering seizures for me do to the frequency that the cell phones are in. Here's wishing you well and May God Bless You!
I also had an aunt who lived in Florida that had MS.
Sue

Thanks Sue....my friend who has had epilepsy since she went thru puberty told me her seizures were always early morning, so i try to be careful then. The cell phone thing is interesting. I know wellbutrin can cause seizures now, so no antidepressants for me my neuro said..this med is just making the D so low...i think a third tooth has cracked now. Didn't know Prince and Elton John have seizures..we're in good company...no one in my family has had seizures, so who knows? Glad to be here...

first seizures during perimenopause
 

HI,
I started having abscence seizures in June 2011, went to a neuro and they did an EEG, MRI, CT and found nothing to cause them. Unfortunately they did not go ahead and put me on any anti seizure meds either. The abscence seizures, auras, etc continued and I had a GM seizure in Nov. 2011. They did all the same tests again and did not find a cause. Before I got out of the hospital they did suggest that it was due to perimenapause. According to my hormone levels at my previous check ups I had been perimenopausal for about a year. They prescribed 250 mg Keppra twice a day. I started on this but reduced to one per day because I literally did not want to move off the couch. I have had one aura since taking the med, I took another Keppra and it passed fairly quickly. I just turned 50 in Feb, I am hoping that the Keppra continues to work for me.

loridawn,

:Wave-Hello:Hello and welcome to NeuroTalk. Happy to see you have come to be with us. Just let us know if we can be of any help. There are great number and caring fellow members here, you will see we are supportive and relaxing place. Our shoulders are here for support in many ways.

I started having seizures since I was real young. At this time I am on Keppra and it has help some. I feel you did the right thing and ease on to the medicine. At one time in my life I got too much dilantin in my blood stream and I felt just like you did, so I was eased off my dilantin.

Some of the many things to do are, always stay away from flashing lights as in a theater, take Vitamin B complex, nutra sweet (aspartame) which causes more electrical activity.

Hope I have help you out. Again welcome, looking forward to seeing you around. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Darlene :hug:

My Seizure Onset and Continued Seizures Correlate w/ Perimenopause
 

Hi,
I'm brand new, and wrote the following on my profile page, but since it IS why I'm here, I guess it belongs there, too. ;)
My story:
I was in my last college class before obtaining my degree in web development when I started having problems with focus and concentration. As an A student, this was especially frustrating, but I was pulling C's and was determined to get through it. Then, halfway through my last class, I experienced a grand mal seizure. I had never experienced a seizure before and epilepsy does not run in my family :mfr_wha: . Try as they might, two years later, I have been having 2-4 "big ones" and several petit mals a month and they still haven't figured out what is causing the seizures. In the last year or so, I have been experiencing the symptoms of perimenopause and I have a sneaking suspicion that it was somehow the onset of that that is causing my seizures, especially given that my grand mals always occur during my period (which is hard to track - 28 days one month, 23 days the next, 31, or skip...) and at the time I am or would be ovulating. My first grand mal actually occurred at the time I would have been ovulating. Tried Dilantin and it caused a lot of side effects, but did not slow down my seizures. I am now on Lamictal, which has helped with mood, but I am still seizing. My doc blows me off when I bring up the correlation between my cycle and the seizures. I don't know what to do, but I won't give in on what I recognize to be true. I thoroughly believe my seizures began at the onset of perimenopause and that is why I have them, now. I know my temporal lobe is affected by the types of petit mals I have, my short-term memory issues, and my sudden issue with seeing and hearing things that are not there -- thankfully, I do realize these things aren't "real" when they are happening. I am not on HRT, but do wonder if some HRT might help me out -- not thinking of a long-term basis, but something has to give. I need the relief. I want to finish my degree and pursue my career. As it is, I experience vocabulary issues and even the job I have (freelance writing) is suffering. I am here to learn from others and to offer support when and where I can.:mfr_wha::mfr_wha::mfr_wha:

Hi Karla,

Welcome to the forum! I have been seeing an Epileptologist for yrs. instead of a neuro and they have helped me a lot. I have right temporal lobe epilepsy where I have absence, complex partial and simple partial (aura) sz. I know that when I went through my change my sz. decreased. I would skip a month of my cycle then it would start up then I would skip 2 months until it was over. This in turn affected my hormones and calmed them down because the estrogen level dropped and it's estrogen that will cause more excitement in a womans body and trigger a sz. My Epileptologist told me that women who have temporal lobe epilepsy often go through their change earlier in life and this can lead to either a decrease or increase of sz.
I had to have a wada test done to pinpoint the exact cause of my sz. which was trauma before my birth which caused to many brain cells to go to the right temporal lobe causing scar tissue on my brain.
My advice to you is to start taking vitamin B12 1000 mcg. once a day this will calm your nerves down and help decrease the sz. also if you like almonds or nuts start eating a few of them each day because they have progesterone in them which will also calm the nerves down. This is what I did and it worked great.
I'm glad to hear that you are a writer I've been writing poems and short stories since I was a kid. I find writing along with listening to music helps calm the nerves.
Try using scents like lavender or vanilla with lotions or candles this will also help you. I wish you the best of luck and May God Bless You!
Sue

Nice to meet you!!
 

Hello:)
 

I have recently started having seizures too! I had my first one last month and just had a second two nights ago. NO history of seizures and I am starting menopause. I am 45 so I am going through menopause slightly early also. I seem to have had my 2 seizures when I am supposed to be having my period and am late. This cannot be a coincidence! I just started taking Keppra XR yesterday. I am supposed to be taking 1000mg a day (2 500mg pills a day - my doctors office cannot tell me whether that is 2 pills at bedtime or one in the morning and one at night). I hope these help - it is very scary for myself and my family. So far I am only taking 500mg. Trying to get my body used to the medication. I am insanely tired today. Hope that goes away. I am hoping to see a doctor who can tell me if this is just hormonal and whether I need hormone replacement therapy. The doctors look at my like I'm a freak having my first seizure at 45. My MRI was normal, but my EEG was not.

Seizures in menopause
 

Hello,

I am a 45 year old woman who has just had my first seizure last month and had another one this month. I have started to go through menopause (confirmed with blood tests). I feel like this cannot be a coincidence. I have started taking Keppra XR. I am only taking 500 mg at the moment. The doctor prescribed 1000mg (2 pills a day), but I am having a rough time with it making me extremely tired and not able to focus, so I am easing into it gradually. I feel like this is all tied to my hormones going crazy. I have been late with my period for the last 2 months and have been under a lot of stress. My neurologist kind of sucks - who exactly should I see for this? I'm looking for a neuroendocrinologist but I am finding one hard to find. It's nice to hear of another person starting to have seizures later in life. They are very scary for myself and my husband and children :(

Menopause & epilepsy
 

I started symptoms of the menopause - severe hot flushes etc and within 2 months had started having seizures for the first time in my life at the age of 57.

Nice to meet you!!
 

My seizure-like symptoms (limb jerking, slurred speech, lack of coordination, brain fog, etc.) began post-menopause. I'm presently age 55, went through menopause at age 49, and actual limb jerking, etc. began around age 53. However, the rapid blood pressure extremes (100 points in either direction - spikes and falls) since age 44. It's been a very long, expensive, and difficult road, only to find myself back to square one.

Great to meet you!!
 

:Wave-Hello: Hello and welcome, happy to see you have come to be with us, it a great place to be. As you can see we have a great number and caring fellow members here, where you have find a supportive and relaxing place. Have fun looking into the different forums. Our shoulders are here for support in many ways.

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:

Darlene :hug:

Perimenopause
 

xc

I had my first seizure at age 46 while still having regular menstrual cycle but believe it is perimenopause related since never had any before. Have you found another dr. and have they agreed that this can be due to perimenopause? Thanks for your help!