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hoping123. You know exactly what is going on. Good for you. Many women don't. I was told that this could all end once menopause is over.

The vimpat: I've been on it for around 14 mo. or so. At first it gave me a jittery hand and a small rash but that subsided. I started out at 100 mg and then went to 150 mg and when I was raised to 200 mg I started to get swelling in my left leg. The doctor is trying to tell me that I'm getting the swelling from crossing my leg - yeah, right???!!! No, it's a side effect of the med and I've seen it on the list on different websites. I ended up doing a juicing detox last year to get rid of the swelling. It has slowly crept back in there and is sore and inflammed again. All of these meds cause inflammation, weight gain and have the same side effects as low blood sugars. Dizziness, blurred vision, hunger, anxiety, sleepiness, etc. The estrogen dominance also has those side effects (hypoglycemia).

The vimpat has stopped the seizures where as the keppra doesn't do much. Right now I'm on 200 mg of vimpat, 2000 mg of keppra and 90 mg of phenobarbital. I decided to take the vimpat thinking I'd be able to reduce the keppra and maybe get rid of the joint and muscle pain it causes. Now I'm afraid to reduce it because I'm at a point of being seizure free for 8 mo. and it's a 6 mo. state requirement to get my license back. I have a nice car sitting in my driveway yelling at me to get my license back. I can't get it registered and insured until I get my license back. I went for an EEG yesterday and that seemed o.k.

I've heard stories of people that couldn't tolerate the vimpat but they mostly had grandmal or petit mal seizures. It made them crazier and they had more seizures. I've tried many meds and had bad luck with them. These 3 so far are doable for me even though they make my body ache terribly. Another thing that I know isn't good for me is wheat and sugar but I need to eat and since these meds make you crave this stuff then I'm doomed there. I tried a vegetarian diet and it just didn't work. I found myself too hungry and I needed more protein to help keep me going because these meds just will make you sicker if you don't eat enough.

You don't need your doctor's permission to use the progesterone. You can buy it at any healthfood store or online. I'd just make sure I kept good records of when you're using it so you can see if it's not mixing well with the meds.

I told the doctors 7 years ago that this had something to do with my monthly cycle and they thought I was nuts. Sure enough, I proved them wrong and taught them about it. Right now I see a neuroendocrinologist that deals with both sides of the issue.

I don't know how old you are but I'm moving more towards having no menstrual cycles at all so that is probably helping my hormones settle out to some extent. It's amazing how much I learned about how much hormones control your brain. It was determined back in 2007 that I was having anovulatory cycles and these doctors wouldn't let me try the progesterone instead of the meds. I should have listened to mother nature. Now I have to worry about T2 diabetes because I had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant. This added weight doesn't help matters. My metabolism is stuck in limbo and I know these meds are part of the problem. The one time last year when I got the 50 mg increase in the vimpat, I gained 10 lbs in a week - all fluid!!!!!!! The doctor thinks I'm nuts!!!!!!! I wish I could have a hot flash but I've never really had one. If I had one then I'd say that my estrogen levels are decreasing. I also tried taking this stuff called Lupron several years ago to see if I could get the estrogen levels down. No luck.

Another thing that increases your estrogen levels is xenoestrogens - chemicals - smells, perfume, smoke, gas fumes, cleaning chemicals, etc. Read and learn about them. Take care.