Is there an allergy medication that will not trigger a seizure?

I have focal seizures, as well. My Mayo neurologist has told me I could take Allegra, Xyzal, Claritin, or Zyrtec. He said don’t take anything that contains diphenhydramine, pseudoephedrine, or phenylephrine in either allergy meds or cold meds. Hope this helps!

Hi @kariabrown
I don't believe we've connected directly yet. I see you're new to our group—welcome!
Thank you so much for sharing that with @lzbthtyler. Which AED are you currently taking, if you don't mind sharing?
Chris

I take Brivact and Xcopri.

@santosha
I am currently taking Xcopri. I’ve tried and failed many others, as well

@lzbthtyler Good morning
Thank you for sharing!
There is currently an ongoing discussion on Xcopri that might be interesting for you to join.
Is anyone taking Xcopri?
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/is-anyone-taking-xcopri/
Chris

Hi @kariabrown
Thank you for sharing!
I'm seeing more and more people on Xcopri. Is it working well for you?
You mentioned that you've tried other AEDs that didn't work. Which AEDs were those?
Chris

@santosha Xcopri was working wonders for me, besides the fact it made me dead tired during the day, even when I was taking it at night. However, I am on 400mg, which my neuro tells me is the highest dose. But, lately a lot more of my typical focal aware seizures have been creeping in, coupled with increased memory loss. But I couldn’t say if that was a failure of the Xcopri, or other issues related to my prior brain surgery, which my neuro is looking into more. I did Carbatrol for many years, but it honestly never worked well. Keppra, Tegretol, lamictal, I topimax, clonazepam, and I know there were others, but my memory is terrible

Hi @kariabrown
Thank you so much for sharing that! I really appreciate you opening up.
I'm sorry to hear your focal aware seizures have been making a comeback lately. I know how frustrating that can be—I've been through it myself.
Memory struggles are such a common challenge with epilepsy. I deal with them too because of my temporal lobe epilepsy. It's hard to know sometimes whether it's the seizures themselves or the medications, or probably a bit of both. You're definitely not alone in this.
I'm curious about your surgery, if you're comfortable sharing— which area of the brain was involved?
I hope you get some answers soon about why these seizures are returning. Sometimes life changes or stress can play a role. Has anything shifted for you recently, or have things been particularly stressful?
Sending you my encouragements as you work through this with your neurologist! 🙌💜
Chris

My seizure focus was in my right temporal lobe, and they removed a silver dollar sized piece that ended up having cortical dysplasia. Things have actually been more stressful lately, but it’s mostly concerning my memory issues and uptick in seizures. So I’m not sure which came first, the chicken or the egg ( the stress or the seizures)

@kariabrown Good Morning
Thank you for sharing. As I mentioned earlier, I also have temporal lobe epilepsy, though mine is on the left side
I often find myself asking the same question about whether stress is bringing on my seizures or if dealing with seizures is what's making me more stressed.
Honestly, stress has been my hardest seizure trigger to manage. I actually started a discussion about this in our group:
Which Seizure Trigger Is Your Hardest Battle?
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/which-seizure-trigger-is-your-hardest-battle/
Yoga has been my greatest tool for managing stress! The sports I practice help too, especially tennis. It really gets my mind off things for a while since the game requires much focus.
How have you been dealing with this stress? Have you found anything that helps, even a little?
Chris