B12 and other vitamin depletion while taking drugs for epilepsy - Epilepsy Message Board

zeek · 01-26-2007, 08:18 AM

Im taking lamictal for seizures. I recently read that it and other seizure meds could deplete B12 , folic acid, and other vitamins in me. Could you plese tell me what other seizure meds would do this, and why we need these vitamins ? Thanks for your time.......................Zeek

jerrytom · 01-26-2007, 09:02 PM

I don't know why these AEDs deplete vitamins in the B group but I''ve been taking B-1,B-12,B complex , miltivitamin and folic acid for the past 15 years by my epileptologist's orders. I read someplace that folic acid helps build neurons and the connections. I go to a discount store and buy them and they aren't that expensive. When I'm in the hospital for something they don't give me the vitamins so they aren't as important as the Lamictal.

SentenceDoing · 02-08-2007, 08:56 AM

Just a note about B vitamins... if your body is low on B vitamins, you could get Mono and/or Epstein Barr/Chronic Fatigue. I didn't know this, and I was recently having a bout with Epstein Barr. I thought that it was really weird that it hit me all of a sudden, but then I realized that both my seizure meds, and birth control (which I started taking to control my hormone-related seizures) deplete the Vitamin B in your body. So if you don't want to get Epstein-Barr/Mono/Chrinic Fatigue Syndrom outbreaks, take Vitamin B complex.

I'd gotten very bad about taking my vitamins, and that's what I got for it. Oops.

Also, for those who know about Folic Acid, is the amount that's in a multivitamin like Centrum or Women's One A Day enough Folic Acid?