Side Effects

All medications Michelle has been prescribed in the month of May

        In the past month Michelle has been prescribed four different medications to control her seizures. She has been hospitalized, monitored, regulated and now we believe we found the right combination. No seizures of any type in 9 days but there are side effects that we're now dealing with. Here is a list of what medications she's been on:

Phenobarbitol- The first medication that actually showed any promise. A barbiturate used originally as  a sedative that has anti-convulsive properties. In the low doses she's prescribed there are No side effects but the seizures aren't under much control. The higher "loaded" doses of 400mg or higher can knock her out for days. After a time, her body seemed to burn through the regular and loaded doses far too quickly which caused the most recent rash of seizures that landed her in the hospital.

Topamax - This anti-convulsive drug was originally added to her Phenobarbitol to stop her seizures. However in the first couple of days it appeared to make the seizures worse to which after one specific dosage her seizures occurred ever 45 seconds. In the end, they ended up combining a third drug to manage her seizure activity. Since this drug was prescribed to her, the adverse side effects are slurred speech and  loss of appetite, which ironically is the reason the FDA later approved this drug as a weight loss drug. Her appetite went from wanting food constantly to having to sit by her to make sure she eats something at all. Michelle is currently 5 feet 7 inches (170cm) and weighs 126 lbs. (57.3 kg.)

 Dilantin - This anti-convulsive drug has been the only drug that has worked on her every single time it was administered and was finally added to her daily regiment the day before she was released from the hospital. It is the only drug I know that works well to control her seizures but has the worst side effects out of all the medicines she's currently on. With this drug she exhibits bizarre mood swings of laughter and crying without warning. She also has  fits of hyperactivity where she is all over the place and speaks at a high volume to the point that she loses her voice. These side effects are the most annoying to deal with.

Lorazepam - This drug is used primarily as an anti anxiety drug that has been known to stop seizures. It was administered during her first Emergency Room visit to stop her seizures and later added to her daily regiment by her primary care physician. It only worked once and after the second ER visit it was taken off of her regiment. She was not on this medication long enough to see any side effects.

        I often wonder if the side effects are worth stopping the seizure and every time I say yes. There are obvious concerns and changes to our daily lives because of them but none are worse than watching her seize up over and over again and wondering if their going to get worse each time. Nothing is perfect with this and nothing will cure her of these disorders but now I am managing each action as the lesser of evils.