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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Suggest Remedy For Extreme Side Effects After Being On Medication For Seizures

My husband had surgery for a non-cancerous meningioma in Sept 2015. He had one seizure pre surgery - staring off into space kind of seizure. Post surgery, he had 2 more (under extreme stress, no sleep, and following an MRI where the machine broke and he was in it for more than 50 mins - complained it was painful and heard something pop). My husband is not your average person. Doctors never expected him to live let alone do so miraculous afterwards. He is doing fabulous in his recovery but he was placed on phenytoin at first and then in Feb switched to Lamatrogine. Our concern at the time was we didn t want to try any seizure meds. The neurologist insisted because of the seizures she wanted him on this medication and be treated as someone with epilepsy. My husband wanted to see if he would even have seizures first rather than being co-dependent on drugs that he may or may not need. Regardless we lost our battle and he has been taking the lamotrogine since Feb 2016. Ever since that appointment in February, I have witnessed a steady decline in his recovery. He has: lost energy to exercise; gets slightly dizzy; has trouble sleeping and has frequent nightmares or sleep riddled with disturbing dreams; has increasingly got more irritable - not him at all, flying off the handle at the slightest bit of stress; his memory loss is coming back - forgot our dogs names - he has to think about that a few minutes before recalling; his scores on luminosity have slowly declined; he is more emotional; he gets this excruitiating stabbing headaches that he didn t experience before (headaches were different); his coordination is slightly off as well. My concern is he is reacting to either the dosage or the medication in general. We see his neurosurgeon and neurologist in 4 weeks and follow up MRI. He really doesn t want to be on drug therapy and wants to get his life back on track. He believes that he would be far better off taking his changes with being weened off these meds and trying to go drug free to determine if he is susceptible to seizures rather than being treated for the worst case scenario. He doesn t want his body to become dependent on drug therapy and increase his changes of having other side effects as a result of taking medications. He is not your average person like I said. He is extremely intelligent - very high IQ; has a very high pain tolerance; believes in exercise, eating well, and positive energy. He doesn t complain and he has a very strong mindset. Why is he being treated for worst case and is this a typical course of action in treatment? Are there any alternatives? What kind of damage or consequence of a seizure should we be aware of should he have one? Are the risks of seizure so great that ruling on cause to the extreme is our only option? Is it realistic for us to even think he can be drug free?
Wed, 10 Mar 2021
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General & Family Physician 's  Response
Hi,

Definitely, most of the side effects he is having like feeling of less energy, feeling dizzy, trouble sleeping, irritability, decreased concentration, nervousness, day dreaming, decreased co-ordination, headaches etc., may be due to Lamotrigine. But still, he cannot be advised to stop the medicine abruptly, which can make his condition worse.

In such conditions, you are advised to consult your doctor regarding change of medicine or adjusting the dose accordingly. In my opinion, the dose reduction may be started after a seizure free interval of at least 3 years. This dose reduction will be in a gradual taper off manner after every 6 months till completely weaned off the medicine. Any increase, decrease of doses or change of drug should be strictly under the guidance of treating physician.

Take care. Hope I have answered your question. Let me know if I can assist you further.

Regards,
Dr. Satnarain Bansal, General & Family Physician
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Suggest Remedy For Extreme Side Effects After Being On Medication For Seizures

Hi, Definitely, most of the side effects he is having like feeling of less energy, feeling dizzy, trouble sleeping, irritability, decreased concentration, nervousness, day dreaming, decreased co-ordination, headaches etc., may be due to Lamotrigine. But still, he cannot be advised to stop the medicine abruptly, which can make his condition worse. In such conditions, you are advised to consult your doctor regarding change of medicine or adjusting the dose accordingly. In my opinion, the dose reduction may be started after a seizure free interval of at least 3 years. This dose reduction will be in a gradual taper off manner after every 6 months till completely weaned off the medicine. Any increase, decrease of doses or change of drug should be strictly under the guidance of treating physician. Take care. Hope I have answered your question. Let me know if I can assist you further. Regards, Dr. Satnarain Bansal, General & Family Physician