My mother is 74 years old and for the past four years she has suffered with dry retching at the same time as her petit mal attacks which last for three to four days every 6 - 8 weeks. This is very distressing for her and the only help is from one or two maxolon injections, the maxolon or stemetil tablets don't take effect. This means a trip into hospital as we live in a small country town and doctors don't do home visits. Also being in a small town it is very embarrassing to be asking around and the doctors and specialist don't really know the answer and why it this new symptom has appeared. Does anyone else suffer from dry retching (the bile comes up to the back of the throat, but she doesn't vomit). She recently had an endoscopy but her stomach is normal, no signs of ulcers, etc. Also do others suffer constipation from taking anti-convulsants. Mum is on Epilim and Phenobarb and has been constipated for decades. She was originally on Dilantin which she was given too high a dose for years, she also now suffers from thrombocytosis, (too many blood platelets) which we believe the Dilantin caused. She has also been on Tegretol which reduced her sodium levels to a critical point. She tried Trileptal which made her feel absolutely revolting and she was on Prominal (methylphenobarbitone) which was OK until they took it off the market and she has to use phenobarb, which since then has I believe has changed the symptoms of her petit mal epilepsy. If you haven't fallen asleep from reading this long winded story I would really appreciate any response. Thank you so much for letting me write this all down.
Hi, still just wondering if anyone does have dry retching during bouts of seizures?. Mum feels she must be the only person out there to suffer from this nasty side effect. This has only started since she turned 70. Thanks for any response.
Thank you so much for your reply ibeeshell. This is my first post and I'm calling from Tasmania, Australia so it was nice to hear from you (assuming most of you members are from the USA). I passed the message onto Mum and she feels better about it all, even though your symptoms aren't quite the same. I am assuming that the epilepsy can affect the nerves of the stomach causing gastric distress. Once again, it's very kind of you to respond and we wish you the very best of health and happiness.
Hi - how nice for your Mom that you are doing all this research for her. My daughter is 20 and has lennox gastaut as well as being developmentall delayed. Her seizures are very complex and are daily. She has reflux which causes her to gag and sometimes retch. It comes and goes but it truly is uncomfortable. We have yet to figure out a way to manage it and have not had any further tests done for her. Try typing in those key words to this site and see if you find anything relevant for Mom's care. Good Luck.......Paula (enjoying summer in Canada)
I forgot to add that the morning after I have had a seizure, I have a hard time brushing my teeth because my gag reflex seems very sensative. So I can only really brush the front ones and only give the backs a quickie!
Thanks Paula, sending warm regards to yourself and your daughter. Mum can sincerely feel for your daughter (as well as great empathy for Shelly) and she hopes that these horrible side effects goes away for both. It is very interesting about the gag reflex, Shelly. Mum has to remove her false teeth as they appear to increase the desire to retch. Both of your replies have given me other avenues to follow and I will continue my investigations with renewed vigour. If I find out anything of value I will let you know via this website. Enjoy your northern summers, both of you and think of us freezing to death, in winter's cold grip, way, way, down south.
Thank you both once more. Vivienne and Betty.
Re: Petit Mal Epilepsy - change of symptoms 
Thanks Paula, sending warm regards to yourself and your daughter. Mum can sincerely feel for your daughter (as well as great empathy for Shelly) and she hopes that these horrible side effects goes away for both. It is very interesting about the gag reflex, Shelly. Mum has to remove her false teeth as they appear to increase the desire to retch. Both of your replies have given me other avenues to follow and I will continue my investigations with renewed vigour. If I find out anything of value I will let you know via this website. Enjoy your northern summers, both of you and think of us freezing to death, in winter's cold grip, way, way, down south.
