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Lamictal
A MyEpilepsyTeam Member asked a question 💭

Hi everyone! My epileptologist decided to increase my lamictal to double the dose. Slowly, of course. He's going to to try this and if it doesn't help my seizures, we will discuss surgery as I've tried several medications. I desperately do not want surgery so want to make this med work. I just started my first increase and I hate it. I feel like my head is a balloon, like floating around. It's like when you start to get drunk only not a fun drunk. And I'm emotional, I think more so because of… read more

posted April 29, 2022
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A MyEpilepsyTeam Member

JEick , I have had the Left Temporal Lobe brain surgery, and VNS treatment. My Dr. And I are discussing about the DBS treatment.

posted April 30, 2022
A MyEpilepsyTeam Member

I was going to do surgery but then all of a sudden became sz free when I accidentally had to go to hospital overdose kept 3 day got out and no more sz going on 25 yrs now but still take medicine which is find with me

posted April 29, 2022
A MyEpilepsyTeam Member

While you’re gradually increasing your Lamictal , keep paying attention to your body and mind’s reaction. Does your mind keep getting foggy. You mentioned about feeling drunk. Are you feeling unbalanced at all ? And if that gets worse to where you can barely walk , you may have to get a hold of your Dr. About changing off your meds.

Do know which surgery treatment your Dr. Has Plan? There’s the VNS, RNS , DBS, and Brain surgery.

posted April 29, 2022
A MyEpilepsyTeam Member

@A MyEpilepsyTeam Member Great to hear!

posted April 29, 2022
A MyEpilepsyTeam Member

I never noticed any changes when Lamotrigine (generic Lamictal) was added at least a decade ago. You should mention these details to your neurologist to get confirmation that they are just the result of the increased dosage. This could change the decision about what to do.

Before you consider surgery, ask yourself these questions:

1. How often are you have the seizures? What type of seizures are they?

2. Have you tried any of the alternative treatments to medications?

3. Before deciding on having the brain surgery, talk with friends on here who have had the surgery being discussed or simply go to Q + A and look for whether the question as already been asked with regards to this seizure because if it has, then you should have more responses to reference.

4. Once you have gathered this information (including all of the details about the particular surgery and an estimation on the level of success that those who had the surgery had in the case of reducing their seizures and contrast that with those who were left worse off after the surgery.

Bottom line: There is absolutely no medicine, treatment, surgery, etc. that works the same for everyone (just like everything else), so you have to decide based on all of the information based upon the success of others with the surgery and how things are for those who did not have the surgery, and then you decide whether the surgery is worth the risk.

NOTE: I was not going to have any brain surgery even if I could (but since the origin points of my seizures are in both of my temporal lobes, I am not a candidate for surgery). And considering the level of severe brain damage that I already have to the memory section of my brain, there is no way that I am going to agree to have an RNS or VNS implant (or any others that the neurological committee might suggest) when it is extremely unlikely that it will result in me reaching a long-term seizure free state. And, when I get my anxiety disorder back under control, my full seizures, nocturnal seizures and complex partial seizures are rare. Thus, I am find with living with auras and simple partial seizures and the rare versions of the other seizures rather than risk any further damage to my brain.

posted April 29, 2022
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