Zero seizure day, anti-convulsants, another walk with Kate

Posted on December 1, 2006
Filed Under All, Photos, My Brain, Dawn Community |

Yesterday passed without a single seizure and there were only 2 the day before. I had a very mild seizure early this morining, but the trend is clear, and hopefully will continue. We had a phone conference with Dr. Shih, UCSF seizure specialist late yesterday afternoon, in response to an email I’d sent earlier in the day. The subject was Lyrica, a very new anti-convulsant that I’ve been taking. As the dosage has ramped up, I’ve been having problems with mobility (documented, not unexpected) and some other issues have arisen as well: the Lyrica documentation mentions, besides the drunken walking, that there can be, um, mental problems, as well.

Linda had asked me to leave the Shih note up on the screen so she could add a footnote. Then she asked me, after typing for a few moments, how to spell ‘belligerent.’ Woops. Anyway, Dr. Shih has begun to back off the Lyrica, especially in the morning, when the problems are most apparent. The good news is the Lyrica (and 2 other anti-convulsants I take) have prevented a gran mal seizure, and reduced the once-painful focal-point seizures to relatively minor spasms and twitches.

Dosing anti-convulsants is a trade-off, kind of a Devil’s deal: Dr Shih was up front about that, as have been UCSF’s other neurologists. When you’re taking so many drugs (add steroids and chemotherapy drugs to the anti-convulsant mix) it’s hard to predict what’s going to happen, and what to do about the bad stuff that arises. When Linda hasn’t liked what she’s seeing and hearing lately, she says ‘Yes, Mr. Lyrica’. When I’ve wanted an excuse for something I forgot, I say ‘It’s the Lyrica.’

Anyway dawn community friend Kate joined Linda and I at the beginning of our walk and stayed with me for the mile outbound loop. As always, she greatly amused me with her well-articultaed views on any number of topics including the French, their literature and the Latin language… one of the deciduous oaks that Kate lectured on yesterday is seen above, just after dawn… below is Linda’s snap of Kate, Cassie and me…