Decision making time. Medication or not

[meckford]

Now I'm 60yrs and getting older with nocturnal seizures for 25yrs, approx 2 per month. No cause, triggers, in fact no one knows why and never found anything to stop them. 7yrs ago got fed up with meds. not working & side-effects so stopped them and concentrated on deep relaxation, yoga and meditation. Resulted in a clear head, body recovered in 24hrs, instead of 3 days and self-esteem improved. However, memory has got worse. What would you do, take the risk of more brain damage and hope for the best as I get older or go back on path of finding a med. that might work? Tks Michele

[UnwelcomeVisitor]

Michele,

I would definitely seek another opinion. Ask your GP to get you reassessed with a neurologist.

What causes a bad memory? With people who do not have epilepsy basically the answer is age or something a bit worse such as the onset of Alzheimer's.

With people with epilepsy it is the epilepsy itself. Likewise anti epilepsy drugs AEDs can also cause memory problems.

As I suggested to you reassessment is definitely a must and they check you out for the Alzheimer's at the same time.

All the best.

Richard

Author of Epilepsy the Unwelcome Visitor

epilepsy-theunwelcomevisito...

[Luckystay]

These memory issues seem to happen more and more the older we get. I am leaving my job because I just can't stand the stress of trying to remember all the "little" things that go in to it.....and my boss is not particularly helpful or kind..... I will have to look for something else! I'm still not taking the medication, probably because I'm still not totally convinced that I have epilepsy! Still think it could be the psychogenic stress seizures. Best of luck to you anyway, I hope you can find something to help. Take care