THOU SHALL NOT MISS YOUR MEDICATION

I missed my medication yesterday morning and had a seizure by night. My husband found me lying on the floor of the study room. I had fallen from my husband's armchair during the seizure. I had no symptoms forewarning me of an impending seizure. I only felt very tired seconds before the seizure occurred.

Sigh! Because of my own forgetfulness in taking my medication yesterday morning, I had broken my good and long seizure free record of 4 years and 2 months. I visited my neurologist last week to discuss the effects of my medication. I am on 6 X 30mg of phenobarbital daily. The worrisome factor about phenobarbital is the addictiveness of the drug. I had been on phenobarbital for 30 years. Because of it's addictiveness that my body has grown to depend on, any attempts to lower the dosage would very likely cause a bad withdrawal in the form of more uncontrollable seizures.

Phenobarbital also depletes calcium in the body's bone density. Because of my long term intake of phenobarbital, I have annual tests done for my bone density. Fortunately, the readings for my bone density are still reasonably good. People who have poor level of calcium in their bone density are subject and prone to fractures during falls.

It is high time I change my drug. My neurologist had suggested Epilim Chrono to be a better substitute. Any change in drugs or dosage of drugs must be done and closely monitored by a neurologist. I will be changing my drug to Epilim Chrono in the next 6 months to come.

For anyone who is on constant medication, it is imperative to have a good and regular habit of medication intake and changes in intake can only happen after proper consultations with doctors.