Epilepsy and Pain Meds

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valeriedl

valeriedl

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I have back problems and I often get horrible migraine headaches after my seizures.

The dr for my back has tried many different pain meds and my neuro has tried many different meds for the headaches, but none that I take seem to do anything for either.

The only thing that seems to help my back a little are muscle relaxers but I get so tired when I take them and I'll sleep for hours, I hate taking them. For the headaches I just lay there with a bag of ice on my head and that helps some.

Could this be because of some of the medicines that I'm on or just because of the epilepsy in general?

I take:

Depakote
Tegretol
Keppra
Lamictal

And have a VNS implant
 
I've been on all those AEDs at one time or another and they all have can make you tired.

I don't think having epilepsy can make you tired unless you've just had a seizure and are feeling its post-ictal effects.
 
I know that the epilepsy meds make me tired, that's always been true. And alot of times after I have a seizure I'll pass out and sleep for the rest of the day plus the next, if it's a bad one that is. I generaly always get tired after I have a seizure, little or big, reguardless.

For the pain though the muscle relaxers, which are for the back pain, help but I think it's only because they make me sleep and I don't know my back is hurting then.

I'm just wondering about the other types of pain meds, vicodon is the one that I'm on now for my back and there have been others but I can't think of them off hand. I only take it when my back is pretty bad because I know that it's a medicine that if you take alot of and frequently then it doesn't work unless you keep taking more. My back usually acts up bad about once a month.

When I have a migraine I take butural or a Sumatriptan Succinate Injection, which neither have ever seemed to really help.

I just didn't know if the epilepsy wasn't letting the medicine up to the right part of my brain that the medicine sould get to inorder for it to work, or if one of the epilepsy medicines that I'm on is causing the pain medicine not to work.
 
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I can't see how the epilepsy itself can effect the painkillers but have you looked up whether any of your AEDs interact with your pain killers?
 
epileric said:
I can't see how the epilepsy itself can effect the painkillers but have you looked up whether any of your AEDs interact with your pain killers?
Click to expand...

Do you know where I could do this at?
 
i dont know what the science on it all is , but i do know that the few times i've been given pain killers i couldnt take them because they made me have awful seizures one after another ! and left me exhausted ! even the tylenol 3 ?? ( i think thats what theyre called ) really messed me up , i had to have minor surgery on my foot and the doc tried to give me something a little stronger but i told him it would be a bad idea so he give me those and i had 3 seizures within 12 hrs of taking one , needless to say I refuse to take anything , i'd rather just be in pain , and im hoping that i wont have anything more serious happen to where i just cant take the pain
 
I seem to stay tired all the time. My neur. said was that my B-12 was low due to being in dilantin for so many years.

I can not take any pain killers eigther.

I just bought some of those medicate back pads, going to give these a try.
 
I have had alot of back issues in the past, still do but have gotten to the point that it doesn't bother me much, just taking ibuprofen and tylenol for it.

The doctors have given me muscle relaxants for it, mainly flexeril, and at one time another muscle relaxant that 1 is supposed to last 24 hours, it made me drowsy but I just took it before bed and I was fine the next day.

As far as painkillers go, my epileptologist always tells the doctors that if they are prescribing painkillers to prescribe Lortabs as they seem to be better tolerated by epileptics. One time the doctors did not pay attention and gave me Tramadol. A few hours later I was in the ER for a status seizure.
 
Short term I think ok. Very short term. But After that we should start looking for natural pain relievers.
 
s10sleeper said:
As far as painkillers go, my epileptologist always tells the doctors that if they are prescribing painkillers to prescribe Lortabs as they seem to be better tolerated by epileptics. .
Click to expand...


I'll talk to him about that, thanks. I don't think I've ever had a seizure due to taking pain meds.


The patches do help some, but it's just been too hot to have one on my back lately. I've found an Icy/Hot cream that seems to work really good.

I'm going to check out those web sites.

My neuro gives me Butal for my migranes after seizures and they also don't seem to help much, I just lay there with a bag of ice on my head.


Also I'm planning on having a hysteractmy in a few months and I know that's going to hurt like crazy so I hope I can find something that will work.

Thanks alot everyone!
 
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That's funny, cause I didn't think about it until I got this book. I do use Icy Hot to. On my neck mostly. But it mostly came along when one of Alex's Dr. says she goes to a naturopathic Dr. and she was giving me all these great ideas so I just went out and found this great book and blah blah. kidding.lol Then that's when I found stuff on pain killers and how much they are used and how much we pay.
 
I use Icce Hot also.

I when to the dollar tree, and p/u some kitchen spatulas, the flat ones with rubber end, so that I reach my back. (got this tip off one of those Dr. shows)
 
valeriedl said:
I have back problems and I often get horrible migraine headaches after my seizures.

The dr for my back has tried many different pain meds and my neuro has tried many different meds for the headaches, but none that I take seem to do anything for either.

The only thing that seems to help my back a little are muscle relaxers but I get so tired when I take them and I'll sleep for hours, I hate taking them. For the headaches I just lay there with a bag of ice on my head and that helps some.

Could this be because of some of the medicines that I'm on or just because of the epilepsy in general?

I take:

Depakote
Tegretol
Keppra
Lamictal

And have a VNS implant
Click to expand...
I just shoved a couple pea-sized jalapeno pieces up each nostril today because of my migraine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsaicin

there are more clinical ways of administering this than shoving veggies up your nose - but this worked for me within five minutes

I was at a diner and a jalapeno was available
I'd never done it before so I opened up one of those dairy creamer coffee packets in case I had to snort some up my nose to get rid of the spicy
but I just kept a couple pieces of jalapeno up each nostril for a couple minutes

the result was surprising, enlightening, exciting, and mucus and sneeze inspiring - but well worth it
very very much so

I posted a new thread topic about it just a minute ago
 
epileric said:
I also posted how that is a dangerous thing to do.
Click to expand...

indeed
but not as dangerous as considering lethality as a pain remedy

drinking alcohol is also a dangerous thing to do

at least jalapenos are fruits
but I won't count shoving them up my nose as 1 of the recommended 6 to 8 servings per day
:banana:
 
If fruits can make changes in the body to help cure something then that means they can also change things in the body enough to be just as dangerous.
 
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Considering how my nose is connected to my brain, I am just going to say.....oooooooo. I'm all for the natural. But that goes a little to far for me.
 
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