Journey Towards Less Medication!
Zombie No More!
I have been taking various anti-seizure meds for most of my life; none of which ever controlled my seizures. By the time I was in my early 30's I was taking 17 pills of medication a day! I continued to take seizures the only thing that did change over the years was the increased dosage of my anti-seizure medications.
Fewer Pills feel Better
I am not a doctor but I knew how I felt at the time and it wasn't good. The Neurologist that I had at the time seemed to rush me in and out of his practice only to up my dosage once again. It was when I was taking 17 pills a day I made a decision to slowly start to down dose myself. This was a process that I slowly did over the course of many years. At 48 yrs of age, I was down to 2 pills a day. I was not having any fewer seizures or any more but I feel much better taking 2 pills a day compared to 17! By age 50 I was completely drug-free, I then managed to go 3 years drug-free and seizure-free!
Toxic Levels
I remember when I was down to 7 pills a day I had gone to see my family doctor who I am blessed to still have to this day. I told her that I felt like my blood was poisoned and that my arms felt extra sensitive. I was lacking the correct medical terminology to express myself better but my doctor had some blood work done to check things out. Well, she called me at home it was about 7 in the evening to tell me that I was right that in a way my blood was poisoned because the anti-seizure meds I was taking were at toxic levels!
No More 17 pills a Day
What really freaked me out was that this blood work was done when I was taking 7 pills a day. I wondered what it would have been classed under at 17 a day! But on a lighter note, I am so happy that I managed to get to a point in my life where I was drug-free and seizure-free for an amazing 3-years!
Water Pill gave me 2yrs Seizure Free
I normally would have a seizure in or around my menstrual cycle; other things that triggered seizures for me were lack of sleep or too much stress. Over the years I have kept track of my seizures information I passed over to my Neurologist. He noticed that there was a pattern in which the majority of my seizures happened during my menstrual cycle. He thought that the extra water on my brain during this time could be what was triggering my seizures. He suggested trying an experiment in which he would put me on a water pill. Well, I gladly was willing to try it and alas he gave me 2 years seizure-free which I am eternally grateful to him for giving me that. When I started to have seizures again he decided to take me off the water pills as it is not good to stay on these for an extended length of time. This doctor unfortunately moved his practice out to B.C. so I decided not to find another Neurologist at that point in fact I have never had another one until many years later--at age 56. After being drug-free for so many years I was very reluctant to go back onto a synthetic medication. However, I started having seizures on a weekly basis, normally I used to get 1 a month in the past. I am taking 4 pills a day now, which have helped to reduce the number of seizures I am having--still having them just not once a week--every few weeks or so.
Not a Zombie Anymore
I felt so much more alive off the drugs, compared to the time when I was a Zombie. It had been a long journey to get to that point but it had been well worth it. Who knows maybe I will become totally drug-free once again, but if not that is okay too. I am making the best of my life carrying on down the road but at least now I am a more active participant instead of the Zombie I once was! Medications are not bad when we find one that helps us to live with our ailments. Medications can totally heal us or they may just make living with a disease or ailment more bearable. Sometimes we have to try many different medications before we find one that suits our personal needs with little to no serious side effects. We have to keep track of our own health - keeping notes perhaps of certain symptoms or side effects we are experiencing when taking certain medications. These notes we can take to our doctors so they have a better idea on how we are reacting to the medications that they are trying us on. If we can give our doctors more information on how we are functioning on a day to day level it will help them in finding a suitable medication that will suit our personal needs.
We can't leave everything for our doctors to figure out but we are bound to have a more successful outcome if we choose to work with our doctors instead of against them. One thing we can do for ourselves is to try and live a healthy lifestyle- one of the big changes I made was quitting smoking. I now also make what I call "health drinks" made from various fruit and vegetables blended together to make a smoothie. I drink one of these almost everyday for breakfast; I have noticed feeling more energized since adding these drinks to my diet. We all must try and do what we can to improve our health. If that means making some changes in our lifestyle then we must be prepared to make those changes that will lead us to a happier healthier way of living!
