can epilepsy make people bad tempered... - Epilepsy Research...
can epilepsy make people bad tempered, not including the drugs
I've been on AED's, since I was 11, for 44 years and believe that Phenytoin and Primidone are responsible for my, sometimes uncontrolled temper which, I feel, is provoked by frustration and anxiety at no longer being able to compete with my contemporaries. When I have three trade skills and am now unable to work I hope you can understand why? I find the frustration is eased by being able to contribute to blogs and forums in the hope that I can help others.
I hope to find more time to bring aware how much damage pharmaceutical drugs cause anyone, with any illness, by depleting their bodies stores of vitamins and minerals.
In March 2012, I was close to a nervous breakdown and sought Chiropractic treatment for damaged vertebrae that were eroding due to Phenytoin's side effect of depleting Calcium. AED's are well documented at depleting the bodies reserves of vitamin D, yet 70% of the UK population is vitamin D deficient.
I was able to replete my vitamin D levels with 5000 IU's a day along with Calmag, (Calcium/Magnesium 500 mgs) daily and my vertebrae have shown 2 mm of new growth over 15 months.
By offering the further information to what you had asked for (the long term side effects) I believe it's self explanatory how anyone's temper can lose control.
Kind regards, Will
Will, you have my total sympathy. I've been on AED's for about half a century. Like you I'm frequently angry, having had no career. I too have seen a psychologist because of my anger, frustration and depression.
When I see a neurology specialist I feel I'm just a specimen on a pill pop in line. My present prescription robbed me of much of my concentration, meaning I could not do a lot of my usual pursuits. When I saw a local doctor about it the specialist was defended. I'm supposed to wait six months before seeing the specialist again. I'm going to either write to the specialist or to the local health board.
Thanks for your kind words but I do feel a lot more luckier than many others. It grieves me that possibly, when I had my first febrile seizure at 18 months old, I might have only required minerals and/or vitamins as opposed to pharmaceutical drugs that deplete our bodies of vital nutrients.
Dr David Tanton offered good advice reminding me that no one is drug deficient.
The internet is full of credited medical citations supporting his advice by seeing examples like;
Wayne was only four years old, but he had been suffering epileptic seizures for 3 1/2 years. Though the seizures were particularly severe during stress periods, he was never completely free of them.
Anticonvulsant drugs were used, but none was successful. The boy's parents were resigned to the probability that he would have a life plagued with severe epilepsy.
At that time Dr. Lewis B. Barnett, head of the Hereford Clinic and Deaf Smith Research Foundation in Hereford, Texas, began a series of experiments. The boy became a subject. He was given, in addition to a normal diet, 450 mg. of magnesium gluconate and a thyroid extract. Within two weeks all signs of epilepsy vanished, and within the past three years there have been no signs of the illness.
Is It Magnesium Deficiency?
In 28 more cases, the same story has been repeated. Children of all ages, stricken with epilepsy failed to respond or responded only slightly to modern drugs and therapy. Placed on high oral doses of magnesium, they experienced stunning improvement.
I believe that many behavioural problems, children and adults, are due to todays foods containing too many additives and preservatives. Also, intense farming has eroded many minerals, like magnesium and selenium, from the soil meaning we're not getting valuable nutrition from foods that our forefathers once enjoyed.
As I previously mentioned my spine was crumbling and my Chiropractor diagnosed Degenerative Disc Disease (Osteoarthritis). My GP queried the diagnosis because I wasn't asking him for any pain relief. My Chiropractor advised me to take Magnesium, use Mg Citrate for better bioavailability, that is a natural pain reliever without any side effects.
We have so much information at hand via the internet, than we ever had only 20 years ago, that we need to use for better health.
Kind regards, Will
My sister had huge mood swings prior to epilepsy breaking through, as was the case with my son so yes I would say epilepsy itself can make you bad tempered. Perfectly understandable when so much is happening in the brain.
My daughter has epilepsy & is on Phenytoin & Tegretol retard...and suffers from moodiness and flashes of temper .But as she has a seizure every week it,makes her lose confidence in herself as it is often at work when it happens. I have epilepsy and take a low dose of Epilim and I am lucky that it controls my condition. But suffering as she does that plus the 24 hour headache that she has after each episode -it is quite understandable,. I do agree with the Will that taking Vitamin D is very essential. Evangeline
I have been on various medications over the years and am certain that some drugs are more likely to lead to moodiness, loss of temper and depression. I won't bore you with all the details but tegretol retard was a contributory factor. Suggestions and attempts to change things did little to improve matters but I did find CBT helped to a certain extent. It wasn't easy at the time but has moved things on considerably and I don't regret it. Might have to a change in medication soon and am not looking forward to it and mood swings is one of the factors that concerns me.
My son is autistic as well as epileptic so we have massive communication problems when finding out why he behaves so very badly at times - this could be the reason why!
It was strange that I should read your question today, as this Thursday it will be 25 years since I took my last Phenytoin & Tegretol.
Like Evangeline's daughter, I had no self-confidence before I had my Temporal Lobe surgery, but within a year I was beginning to find my feet. However, it took me twelve and a half years to find my first job, which was so degrading, four of those years were post-op, but Joe Public would not listen. I think the medication had something to do with my mood swings, but I would say the greater part of it was because Joe Public seemed to have no time for me. Most of my youth was spent doing my own thing, and when I had no confidence to travel at that time, my options were very limited.
My mood swings still come and go. Just today on the way home from work someone cut in front of me as I was exiting the train station, and so this resulted in us swapping remarks in the lift up to street level.
I had an incident at work last year where nobody seemed to want to hear my side of the argument. The frustration from this just seemed to be the limit for me, and I discovered later after visiting the Drop-In Centre at the hospital that a "sensation" I had felt that afternoon was in fact a minor fit, so my 25 years off the other medication is being celebrated by being prescribed Lamotrigine.
I agree with something someone else said, just having epilepsy can be frustrating in itself.
I was interested to read all these stories about mood swings, as my sons suffers them,
not constantly thank goodness, but I noticed he goes to relax in his bedroom, and
when I go to speak to him about something, he will out of the blue be snappy and
awkward, so I am glad to hear I am not imagining it.
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