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Are my seizures related to chemo? Who can help with this?
Not sure where to begin with this but i'm a regular over in the ovarian cancer group. I began having seizures oh 38 years ago or so but for prob 15-18 years its was ONLY once in blue moon.. and ONLY when i was asleep...neuro at the time said was a sleep disorder and just blew it off....and with no insurance etc i just dealt with it it....then about 20ish years ago i had my first one when i was awake and it was at that point i had another eeg etc still nothing definitive but they put me on dilantin and i did fine...long as i didn't miss meds and kept stress down i did ok.. free health clinics kept me dilantin prescribed etc...then 2.5 years ago i ended up with ovarian cancer and got into a teaching hospital for my care and became cancer free for over a year...when my cancer returned in jan of this year i got in with neuro at the teaching hospital where i get my cancer care and he did an mri with and without contrast (prob due to my previous cancer diagnosis) and changed me to vimpat..
i seemed to do ok til last week when i had my last chemo of this series on thurs...then i think it was Saturday i had 2 seizures, one earlier in the day and then one later in the evening and i just can't seem to recover from them.. i keep having this uneasy feeling in my gut...can't explain it but its like just an edginess...usually after i've had one after 24 hours of sleeping etc i'm fine...this time its not...i'm seriously not sure if this is something related to the chemo, or something else or even which docs do i discuss this with? or what?
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@mommacandy
I believe it is essential you discuss your epilepsy with a Neurologist, Oncologist, and your primary physician may be have some helpful advice. Be completely open and honest. Tell them everything from the first seizure to the last.
I don't know much about cancer treatments being related to epilepsy other than radiation directly applied to the brain which can cause seizures soon after exposure or many years after exposure in some people.
I would have concerns about the possibility of body chemistry like low sodium, blood sugar levels, etc which may trigger seizures. Definitely talk to your doctors to try and get them controlled. There are seizures that are extremely dangerous.
1. Status Epilepticus, seizures that don't stop on their own.
2. S.U.D.E.P. Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy, although these conditions aren't common they may end in death. So it's important to do as much as your comfortable in doing to control your seizure disorder.
Do you primarily have nocturnal seizures?
Take care,
Jake
@louissc this is first time i think after my chemos its happened (and this was the 6th one), and yes the neuro has access to the records, that was reason i got in with a neuro there... tbh its first neuro i had seen in prob 20 years, simply because the dilantin had kept everything under control and wouldn't have even considered changing it except for the fact that dilantin doesn't play nice with one of the drugs they were wanting to put me on for the cancer treatments and vimpat would. Although now its up in the air whether it will be that drug or something else as "maintenance" ...lot will depend on what the followup CT scans show next week... its more of the do i discuss the seizures with the doc or no...and which doc ...IF i do..
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1 ReactionHi,
It seems your cancer is under control, with main worry now being whether past medication/treatments for cancer are now causing the currently experiencing seizures.
Best is to make a list of treatments/medications you used to take, from when-when and show all scans results you used to take to your neurologist if he/she is unable to access your records. It will save you lots of time redoing scans which you may no longer need to do.
Be as detailed as you can. Especially when it comes to duration/time of any treatment and prepare your answers in advance when being asked symptoms. And again, when does one start/frequency will be helpful.
All the best!
Cheers,
Louis
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