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Grand-mal seizure
Tue, 08/24/2004 - 14:01Topic: Medication Issues
My brother, 53, is on DepakoteER, 1000mg in am and 1000mg in pm. After missing one pm dose he had a grand-mal about 11am next morning. His neurologist said maybe it was just going to happen anyway and that he should take a double dose if he forgets again. Is this good advice? This is a new neurologist for him. Before he was on a whole cocktail of medicines and not having any grand-mals. Another neurologist weaned him off all those medicines and 8 months later he had a grand-mal. Any suggestions? He has had epilepsy all his life.
Comments
RE: RE: Grand-mal seizure
Submitted by dbcawley on Tue, 2004-08-24 - 14:01
I think he is happier on the lighter dose of medication, but possibly it is because we moved him to a new apartment, new job and have him at my house every weekend. What I'm really wondering is if this neurologist is giving me good advice and really doing all he can for my brother.
RE: RE: RE: Grand-mal seizure
Submitted by angel_lts on Fri, 2005-03-25 - 09:02
Well if he has all that changed new job...it is possible the seizure is from that. If he went that long eight months without a seizure then I would not want to be on that higher dose either.I would find a new neuro.http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/EpilepsyApproach/Lisa
RE: Grand-mal seizure
Submitted by tibet2 on Tue, 2004-08-24 - 10:49
hi, sorry your brother paid so dearly for forgetting. it's almost impossible not to forget once in awhile. the advice i have seen time and again about forgetting doses is that you should NOT double up on the dose. if it is reasonably far from your next dose when you realize you forgot it, then take it. if it is close, then don't double up. the first "FAQ" on this site about treatment is: "what if i forget a dose?""I forgot to take my seizure medicine this morning. What should I do? Even though you know that it's important to take every single dose of your seizure medicine on time, now and then you might forget. What you should do about it depends on when the next dose is due. If you are supposed to take your medicine just once a day, take the pill as soon as you remember. But if you don't remember until it's time to take the next day's dose, just take one. Don't double up on it.If you are supposed to take your medicine two to four times per day, you should adjust the times for the doses so they are evenly spaced. For example, Mary usually took her Tegretol-XR with breakfast and dinner. One day she realized that she had not taken her morning dose. She took the forgotten morning dose at 11 AM, a few hours late, so she delayed the dinner dose until bedtime. If it was dinnertime when Mary remembered her morning dose, however, she should just take one dose (the dinner dose) and skip the forgotten one. As a general rule, never take a double dose unless your doctor or nurse tells you to."but it does end by saying to double up if your doc tells you to... some people, like your brother, who have been dealing with E for a long time talk about a "rescue dose".... and that's a half dose of your med taken sometime "off schedule" due to some extenuating circumstance, such as: forgetting a med the day before, feeling like it is a "seizurey" day, dealing with a high load of environmental seizure triggers, any combination of the above.... but it depends on the med you take (you couldn't do it with the med in the article above because you shouldn't halve an extended release med) how it affects you... i know that's not a "kosher" approach, but i know several people who do that once in a blue moon. maybe the seizure would have happened... but maybe if your brother hadn't forgotten it wouldn't have happened... is your brother happier on the lighter med load?