Epilepsy Support and Information

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Please leave Questions HERE!!!

Thank You so much for your Input!!

Thank you so much for leaving a question we will put it in on the message board for you hun, and see what the answers are. God Bless you CherokeeRedbird!!

Hugs, withangels21

Have I been doing the wrong thing by putting my questions on the main board? I should have looked at the entire board before posting anything. Patti

Awsome question. Most depression meds are not good for people with epilepsy there is just a very few that we can take. When you see your Dr. remind them that you have epilepsy, I know I have been through that, and it was not good at all. Your Drs. should know this but dugh, most of them DON'T, it is a shame. I am on Celexa and this one is ok, for I was given this from my epilepsy specilest, that did my brain surgery, I know there is porbley just a couple more, but not too many. I hope this helps I will also look up the area abot drepression for you and epilepsy so you can read it, I will have that for you by the end of the day.

Hi Werwolf, I know that my depression stems from the fact that i have seizures. I use to be able to do anything, drive, work, stay up till 4 in the morning with friends, then 5yrs ago allthat stoped. I can no longer drive (had to sell my car) I cant work (had seizures at my last job and was let go), the latest I stay up is 11:pm. All that leads to my depression. Im on disability now. I hardly leave the house. I use to be a very active person; I can't do my favorite things anymore. If it wasn't for my computer, I'd hate to think what I would do to myself. It's my only outlet to the outside world.

I am an epileptic. And I have several friends who are.

We all have one thing in common. We all have anxiety in addition to epilepsy.

We all found increased anxiety triggers seizures. So we each take one medicine.

It is both anti-anxiety & anti-convulsant. It seems to work for all of us.

So it is why I am curious. Where is depression linked to epilepsy?

I can see where anxiety is. It is from my experience & that of close friends.

It is with any of us. One thing that induces seizures for us is anti-depressants.

So it is why I ask where that comes from. I am interested in learning.

Depression

About Epilepsy & Seizures > Psychiatric and Behavioral Aspects > Psychiatric symptoms > Depression

Author: JC Holzer and DM Bear

Depression is the psychiatric condition most frequently identified in people with epilepsy. Nevertheless, it is very often unrecognized and untreated. It should be considered a serious problem because of its significant negative impact on the patient's quality of life and increased potential for self-injury or suicide. An important tool in understanding the variety of depressive syndromes in epilepsy is the timing of the mood symptoms in relation to the ictus:

Preictal symptoms of depression can appear hours to days before a seizure. This phenomenon has been well documented in studies utilizing rating scales for depression and associated symptoms before and after seizures. Patients typically report feelings of irritability, inability to experience any pleasure in activities, problems with concentration, and feelings of hopelessness. The intensity of these symptoms worsens over time. Symptoms usually remit after seizures, though in some patients symptoms may persist into the postictal period.

During the ictal phase, the mood may suddenly change to sadness, suicidal ideation or feeling of helplessness or hopelessness with no environmental precipitant. Symptoms of depression and fear are the two most common ictal expressions of psychiatric symptoms. Often they may be the only symptoms of the ictus, hence presenting as simple partial seizures. More often than not, however, these symptoms last less than 30 seconds and are followed by alteration of consciousness leading to a complex partial or secondarily generalized tonic-clonic seizure. Some investigators have suggested that the presence of psychiatric "auras" may be associated with a higher occurrence of interictal depressive disorders in patients with epilepsy.

Ictal crying (dacrystic seizures) is rare, despite the prevalence of unpleasant or dysphoric mood auras. Ictal laughing (gelastic seizures) is more common, yet the experience of euphoria during an ictus (a "Dostoyevskian seizure") is extremely rare. The divergence may represent an uncoupling of emotional experience from the expression of affect during the ictal phase.

During the postictal phase, symptoms of depression are common but often overlooked. In a recent study, 43% of 100 consecutive patients with intractable partial epilepsy experienced symptoms of depression after more than half of their seizures. The average duration of these symptoms was 24 hours, with a range from several minutes to up to a week. Of these 43 patients, 18 reported clusters of at least five symptoms of depression that lasted at least 24 hours and mimicked the symptoms of a major depressive episode, and 13 experienced suicidal thoughts. Most of the patients who reported symptoms of depression also reported symptoms of anxiety and disturbances in their sleep and appetite. Clearly, these symptoms have a greater impact in the life of patients than the actual seizure.

During the interictal phase, depression is the most frequent comorbid psychiatric disorder. Interictal depressive disorders result from a variety of factors including:

chemical and electrophysiological changes in the brain resulting from the epileptic disorder itself
a genetic predisposition to experience depression
a reaction to the multiple obstacles faced by people with epilepsy
an adverse effect of medications used to treat the seizures

The depressive disorders in people with epilepsy may be identical to those of people in the general population, but in up to 50% of people with epilepsy, interictal depressive episodes present features considered "atypical." Symptoms of irritability, poor frustration tolerance, and mood lability may be more prevalent and obvious than other symptoms typical of "classic" depression, such as inability to find pleasure in activities, problems with sleep and appetite, or feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. Their symptoms tend to last between a few hours and several days and may remit spontaneously for several days before recurring without any apparent reason. This on-off course of symptoms can persist for a very long time, to the point that patients and their families often consider these "mood changes" to be normal and "a part of the epilepsy." Thus, they fail to report them to the physician and the depressive episodes go untreated while having a significant taxing effect on the quality of life of the patients and their families.

Treatment of pre-ictal, ictal, and postictal symptoms of depression depends largely on seizure control. The efficacy of antidepressant drugs in treating postictal depressive episodes has not yet been evaluated.

On the other hand, patients with sustained episodes of interictal depression may benefit from antidepressants. These drugs seldom compromise seizure control in clinical practice.

Adapted from: Holzer JC and Bear DM. Psychiatric considerations in patients with epilepsy. In: Schachter SC, Schomer DL, eds. The comprehensive evaluation and treatment of epilepsy. San Diego, CA: Academic Press; 1997. p. 131-148.
With permission from Elsevier (www.elsevier.com)
Reviewed and extensively revised April 2004 by Andres M. Kanner, M.D., epilepsy.com Editorial Board

Depression If you hit depression it will take you to this area and tell you even more that you would like to know. I hope this helps you all.

Why is it no matter how much you talk try to explain people when you are at a job or applying for a job they just don't want to take they time to learn something about seizures?(I've been down that road many times that is why I am on disability)

Milinda is so right, also many, many years ago people were called witches (who had epilepsy) and were killed. Thank God we have passed that just a little, they don't kill us anymore, but with some people if they had a chance they would still today.

For most don't know anything about epilepsy and everything about diabecty. I was at a diabetes meeting with my husband (diabetec) and one of the teachers there told me that diabetec are the most important. Right at that time I started to cry and asked my husband to leave, for I wanted to say something to that woman

she is lucky I am a Christian.

What people don't know, is a shame, and their mouths should stay shut. Respect people for who they are, and not what they think or have heard!!!!

I was at work and we did a sample of seizures so people could understand more. Afterwards one of the gals I have worked with for about 5yrs said to me. "I could not talk to or be friends with anyone with epilepsy" I said to her you have to stop taking to me, she said what are you talking about, I said I have epilepsy, she said you are lying, I said no I am not. She stopped taking to me that day.

Her Loss not mine.

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