EmmieEmmie

Hello all, I'm so glad I found you.

I'm Emily and I'm 20.

I had a TC when I was 14. However, I was exercising in a hot room and it was my first, so it was written off as one of *those things*.

I had a lot of depersonalization and deja vu in my early teen years, which I only JUST recently realised may have been epilepsy related. However I also have Bipolar I (diagnosed at 17, declined meds) and had anorexia (no longer, recovered at 15) so who knows?!

ANYWAY.... When I was 18, I had 3 TCs in a year, unprovoked, approx every 4 months.

I went on Lamictal July 2007. I had racing thoughts and extreme anxiety as intial side effects but it settled. Everything was ok. I have had NO TCs since, touchwood, so thats good.

December 2007..my Dr and I talk about the deja vus I have, several a week, and wants to up my dose to 150mgs/day from 100mg. On HER ADVICE (gosh, I should have researched) I went up 50mg overnight. Bad bad idea. I got intrusive/rushing thoughts, gained 7lbs in a week. Dropped back down to 100mgs again promptly, vowed to try again in 2008.

March 2008...I increase it to 125mg/day in another anti-deja-vu attempt. I can't cope with the same side effects as ^, so keep it to 125mg/alternate days, 100mg alternate days. Seems good, okay.

April 2008...find out I shouldn't be taking TWO Yasmin BC Pills a day as advised by another doctor, because it interferes with Lamictal, not other way round, as was previously told. So I take 1 pill a day.

May 2008 (sorry for length)...have bleeding as hormones iron themselves out, yuk (tmi, apologies). HOWEVER..the big issue is that as soon as Yasmin levels even out, Lamictal in bloodstream appears to rise, because I now have the *thought side effects* again.

The real problem...is this a side effect, a variation on what happened the previous times I increased the dosages, or is it seizure activity? My Dr doesn't know, and if it doesn't resolve in 2 wks its back to the neuro for me.

What happens is this:

Usually when I'm tired or anxous in the evenings, most days right now, I'll be going along happily/normally enough, then a scene from my childhood memory store (always my childhood, 90% time, childhood holidays, mostly neutral/happyish memories) will flash through my brain for a couple of seconds. It freaks me out. It is totally random. Sometimes I panic about it which does me no good, because then its like my brain fishes for more. When I get a few in quick succession I think its because I subconsiously trigger it by worrying about it.

But when I'm not worrying about it, they crop up anyway. This is not great. Its sort of disturbing. Sometimes my thoughts race but I'm used to that, this is new. I don't have any emotional flashbacks, its just pictures. I get worried afterwards though, I'm a major hypochondriac.

I'm dropping my Lamictal back to 100mg/day again which was fine before. Hopefully thatll do something?

Any anecdotal input? Simple Partial or side effect? or ..?

I had a EEG last year and an MRI...latter was clear, EEG showed photosensitivity/activity.

Thankyou so much for anything you can give me

x x x