Psychosis, epilepsy and Lamotrigine

[Octocon]

Hi,

Its the first time I'm sharing my experience in the hope that someone can give me some insight an maybe make me feel assured that I'm not the only one.

So I was diagnosed at 15 with (classic) grand-mal epilepsy and i changed from one medication, i've forgotten the name, to finally lamotrigine which I have been taking ever since, at first it was 150mg x2 but later after a weird episode i decided to increase it to 200mgx2, i'm not sure of the time but i think it was 2011

I was so stable but up to 2013 I had a seizure in the classic fit style, around 2015 I had another seizure but this time it was very different. Basically somehow i ws semi conscious by that i mean i knew i was having a seizure and i wanted someone to help me and get me up, to wake me up as i thought i would be in danger. During this process in what i think is semi consciousness i knew my surrounding in my head, in a car park of my flat, jumping on a car off it and screaming help me. Residents confirmed this and even the police turned up to a disturbance. I then saw my GP and referred me to a specialist who said i have experienced some sort of psychosis but he couldn't confirm it as it was a one off and I wouldn't be able t reproduce it. I was discharged.

Ok i've been fine for quite a few years, trying to manage my condition until a few days ago, i've been really tired and working hard, and i know sleep deprivation is a trigger but this time it was slightly strange because i was sitting in front of the computer and my mind was slipping, it was wondering and i felt ok maybe been staring at the screen too long, i tried to take some mini naps inbetween meetings. Suddenly i heard through the headphone my colleague who said... "i think he's asleep... r u ok" and immediately i knew i was having a seizure and again i was trying to pull myself up to get up and snap out of it. Like a dream, i can imagine my surroundings, the door, the stairs and like being drunk I was trying to get myself up off the floor. I knew i needed to get attention and I even opened the baby gate the right way and decided to walk down the stairs, disastrously i slipped and ended up sliding down on my back, i should say luckily. once downstairs I thought I opened the front door and closed it again but i can't be sure. I then ended up in the kitchen and I was like somehow still struggling to wake up and trying to get up. Then in my mind I thought... hey i can call someone and ended upstairs when i was looking for my phone and another piece of luck my colleague called me that's when i picked the phone and took the all and finally i snapped out of it... house in a mess, injuries everywhere.

So this is really strange and i'm not kinda anxious and asking myself... what if, what if I killed myself?

on the internet i've been searching for answers and little has come up, I did however read a small article that I this could be side effects of taking drugs for a long period of time, some people hang their dosage, higher or lower, to see the effects or even change medication.

my friends are telling me to seek specialist help again as when i was diagnosed I never had a MRI or other new types of diagnosis, they weren't available when i was 15.

Has anyone experienced similar or even know what the problem is, medication? btw i don't have any mental illness so i'm ruling out that I really am crazy lol

So you guys think i should seek specialist help even though the last one couldn't figure it out?

Really hoping to find some answers.

Thanks

[GillyA]

This sounds as though it’s really frightening, I’ve found from my experience that seizures can vary from the textbook description quite a lot. I had one where I can remember walking down the corridor at work and saying to a colleague ‘I feel really odd’ next thing I can remember is sitting on the sofa at home in tears. I must have driven home some how at some point….

I’ve had various other experiences, including lying on the floor telling people it wasn’t a heart attack but not really knowing anything else, or waking up slumped in a chair in a very senior person’s office in the middle of a video conference….

If you are self dosing without medical advice, and having dangerous experiences it really sounds as though your GP should be referring you to a specialist. Even if your seizures are infrequent, if they are putting you in danger you should have proper help to get things right.

[Octocon in reply to GillyA]

Hi, Thanks for your response, it's helpful for me to know i'm not the only one. yes i'm frightened because i can't control myself, it's like sleep walking except i know i'm sleep walking and can't get out of it whilst my body is doing its own thing waiting for something to snap me out. I'd rather past out and have a grand mal knowing that when i wake up I'll still be in the same place and nothing much has happened.

I didn't self dose, I went to the consultant who recommend I try an increase, nothing happened after it and I didn't have a seizure so we never reduced the dosage either.

I think I will go to see a specialist, maybe a MRI scan will discover something even scarier, I don't want to even think about things like surgery, and maybe they know could reduce my dosage or change medication..

my wife told me that if i come under the same state would it be possible for me to think, 'stay put and everything will be ok' so I don't start looking for something to wake me up, but how can i be sure I can control myself?

i'm so lost.

Thats why reading your story make me at least feel I'm not alone with these experiences.

[happy48]

It looks like you have Focal (partial) seizures where one of the signs on a FIRST AID FOR EPILEPSY leaflet states : A person wanders off without knowing where they are going or what they are doing. I have this type of seizure.

[Octocon in reply to happy48]

Hi,

thanks for replying.

when you have this seizure is it a case of you doing something and your mind wonders and then you carry on what you were doing. Like you're still interacting with people, it's just a case of you noticed you had a seizure, snapped out of it and continue doing what you were doing?

I sustained injuries from it, although I am aware I am having a seizure I cannot control my body apart from I guess thinking I am trying to get up or wake up, in my head everything is abit chaotic.

[happy48]

I get the symptoms similar to what you mention in the first place then I blackout and don't know what I am doing. In old terms the first one is a simple partial seizure leading to a complex partial seizure.

[Octocon in reply to happy48]

Oh I see, in my head everything is chaotic, struggling to get up but on the outside it would probably seem normal that I'm just walking, opening gates etc. if only there were camera's to capture it. Then something snaps me out of it and I wake up very tired.