Hello! about
a year ago or so I started getting what I call "spells." They start out by getting this strange "feeling" that is hard to put into words, then I get a VERY strong sense of deja vu...maybe there is another word for it? I see something around me and I suddenly feel like I saw this same thing happen in a dream, but slightly different, like an alternate universe type of thing. I literally "see" this dream happening on top of what is really happening. After the deja vu, I get a hot flash and get really sick to my stomach, and I feel like I'm on a roller coaster. I can talk through them if I really try, but usually the most I can do is just sit there and wait for it to get over. These come on suddenly and last anywhere from a couple seconds to a minute or two. Afterward, sometimes I can pick up and go on like nothing happened. Other times I have severe confusion for up to the rest of the day, but especially the first hour or so after I have a hard time remembering things and my short term memory is shot. I can never remember what exactly the deja vu was, what happened to set it off, or what I was seeing in my head when it happened. Also, on about
half of them my eyes shake back and forth, like my head is in a paint mixer. lol
I've been keeping track of these "spells" since early December and I've had about
30 of them between then and now. The only pattern I've seen to them is that they tend to happen at the beginning of each month, though I'm not sure why. My menstrual cycle isn't regular so they don't correlate with that. The last batch of these spells I had was at the beginning of March, and it was the worst set yet. I had one in the afternoon on the 4th, one in the middle of that night that woke me up, two the morning of the 5th, one at 1:30am on the 6th (while I was still awake) and then 10-15 of them while I was asleep that night. I didn't have any more until this evening I had a mild one.
My primary doctor referred me to a Neurologist and I saw him on Monday. He thought I may be having complex partial seizures. I had a sleep deprived EEG and an MRI on Wed, then I saw him again today. Both were normal, but he said that doesn't mean I'm not having seizures. He put me on a low dose of Tegretol, 200mg (I think) twice a day. He said he put me on a low dose to start with b/c he didn't "want to get me completely stoned right away". lol I'm not sure how I'm going to like being out of it all the time. Will that eventually go away? Do all AED do that to you? I even refuse to take cold medication b/c I hate the way it makes me feel, so I'm not too happy about
this.
Do these sound like CPS to you? about
how long should I expect for the meds to help, if they will? Should I ask for any further testing?
Also, I have Addison's Disease and have to take hydrocortisone and fludrocortisone every day, and the pharmacist said that Tegretol can decrease the effectiveness of my current medications. That is NOT good. Should I ask for a different drug? Thanks!!
Post Edited (kara_leigh) : 4/2/2010 7:42:10 PM (GMT-6)