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Ear flutters and Depakote

Tue, 02/27/2018 - 10:33
My 13 year old daughter was diagnosed with myoclonic epilepsy about 4 years ago. We have tried numerous medications and she still has sporadic seizures. She has always had a lot of hiccups, but a few months ago, she started having them up to 10 times a day and sometimes lasting up to an hour. Knowing that hiccups are a (supposedly) benign form of myoclonus, I did some research and found that hiccups can also be a manifestation of myoclonic epilepsy. My daughter's doctor changed her meds by lowering her dose of Lamictal and adding in Depakote. Within a couple days, the hiccups stopped completely but the side effects started. I won't list all of them but after some blood work, we found that the levels of both meds were too high in her system and her doctor lowered them to half. Now she seems to be going through some withdrawal because of the dosage lowering. She gets the typical "brain zaps" and the light headed feeling. But she is still getting some of the rare minimal side effects of the Depacote and the hiccups are back. She gets eyelid twitching, constant burping, and others but the newest strange thing to happen is a fluttering feeling in her inner ear. Researching this has produced virtually nothing but a slight reference to Depakote. I am hoping that someone has something they can tell me regarding ear flutters, Depakote, and myoclonic epilepsy. Thank you.

Comments

Yes hiccups can be seizures.

Submitted by just_joe on Tue, 2018-02-27 - 11:05
Yes hiccups can be seizures. Changing dosages does take time and it does take time to get the levels set especially when the patient is her age. If a side effect is like what she in having now then do contact the neurologist and find out what they say.

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