Thursday, August 07, 2008 Merely Me, Health Guide, asks

Q: Can one have a seizure disorder and MS?

I had an EEG today and had an extreme reaction with muscles jerks on the right side of my body in response to the stimuli presented. I am wondering how common this sort of response is if you have MS. They had to give me medicine through a patch to calm my convulsions.

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Answers (5)

Diane J Standiford

11/ 4/08 12:41am

The Dr. giving you the EEG should have an answer for this. I know of no reason one could NOT have both conditions. I must say MS gets blamed for more than ot should; however, since we know so little about our brains STILL---anything is possible. The why should not matter. You need a Dr. to monitor you.

JohnCE

12/25/08 9:56pm

From my experience their can be two different condition going. The cause of the seizures could be totally indepentant of the MS lessions. Only after a through workup with EEG's and MRI's could make a determination for this. I take that they have already done nerve conduction studies, this can cause jerking but also the spaciticy from the MS can be a factor also. Only after very through testing will you know. Stay strong in spirit also...John

RaeRenee

1/ 6/09 8:34pm

I know this is an older post, but I wanted you to know -- You can absolutely have a seizure disorder and MS. I do. The seizure activity matches the footprint of the lesions in my brain. I had to be under constant surveillance for a week (long time to have electrodes on your head!) for them to figure it out, but I'm now being treated for it.

I was told that it is extremely rare for someone to have both MS and a seizure disorder - that MS often causes tremors or spacticity, but rarely a seizure disorder. It's like, you, me, and maybe 25 other people in the US.

I'm currently keeping up a blog on it - In It For The Parking. You can check it out at http://www.initfortheparking.com. I'm also happy to talk with you if you need perspective from someone who was diagnosed with MS in 2007 and w/ Seizure Disorder in July of 2008. It can be a tough road, but there *is* good treatment for it.

I genuinely hope you're doing well.

maryalice

10/12/10 8:36am

I also know this is a very late response but, I had a MRI and had leg tremors

that started in the middle of the mri and then stopped seconds afterwards. This also happened during my evoked pot. last year. but the results from the evoked pot. came back fine, MRI Showed multiple leisions but no inhansment. But on the mri report they did not mention the leg tremors during the mri, just like it didn't happen. Excuse the spelling. I know this is personal but do you have video of the tremors/ seisures that you can post

. The doctors cannot give me diognosis time/space and i'm confused. thanks,

RaeRenee

10/12/10 4:43pm

Unfortunately, I do not have any video of my seizures to post. The way I ended up with a diagnosis of seizure disorder was ending up in the hospital for 12 days with continuous seizures. Short of that happening to you, which I genuinely pray does not happen, I cannot suggest a way to get to my diagnosis.

mstwin

11/ 2/11 8:08am

This just recently happened to me. I am so scared. I felt fine my vision went black, bit my tongue and hit the wall and floor. Tests came back ok. Have had diagnosed ms for 2 yrs. Major symptoms since 08. I currently have relapsing remitting. I will be 50 in Feb.- very scared this will happen more.

RaeRenee

11/ 2/11 11:37am

Don't be scared! You have nothin to fear but fear itself. FIRST of all, YOU WILL HAVE ANOTHER SEIZURE. IT IS GUARANTEED!!! Sneezes are seizures. So is blinking. So are orgasms. So are hiccups.

There's good medicine out there if you start having bigger ones, especially on a regular basis. It takes a while to find the right med sometimes, but for me, it only took a year for me to get to the right med. First we tried Lamictal & Keppra as a combo (no good!) and then we tried Topamax (Good!)

What's helping me the most with my seizures at this stage in the game has been 1.) absolute schedule adherence with taking my medicine 2.) signing up with Patients Like Me (http://www.patientslikeme.com) and tracking them and 3.) changing my diet!

I started the Paleo diet about a month ago: fewer seizures since! I read a ton about how much diet helps kids with Autism stop hitting themselves and both the Paleo Diet and teh Best Bet diet have worked for other folks with MS, and since they recently have discovered that gut flora has a ton to do with why we develop MS in the first place: I wholeheartedly recommend it.

I've recently put together a cookbook of Paleo-friendly recipes in Google Docs, so if you want me to add you to it, send me an email!

Wake Me When It's Over

5/ 5/09 12:51pm

I think the single diagnosis world would be a nice place to live, but I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and MS. You may have another condition causing the seizures. I don't know if it's related to my MS, but I sometimes have weird convulsive spells, whole body, always when I'm sleeping, with no stimuli. It's hard for my husband to wake me when this happens. My entire body violently shivers. Sometimes I smell things that aren't present, and sometimes I lose time. To me twenty minutes has passed, but the clock says an hour has gone by, or the opposite will occur and I feel like I am moving at a faster pace than the rest of the world and time is dragging. All of these things could be attributed to some sort of stroke or seizure event (or maybe even mental illness - haha). Since it's brain and neoro related, I just chalk it up to MS.

Thanks so much for your comments. I've enjoyed reading your postings and feeling less alone in all of this!!!

djax59

5/29/09 4:40pm

when i was diagosed in '76 i said well i've got my disease i won't get any thing else. i was wrong. i'm still young but my body got older @ i'm falling apart. nothing as serious as seizures thank god but ms is not a disease that is exclusive. it covers a lot but not every thing. keep your chin up and stay positive. the best medicine there is.

Q: Can one have a seizure disorder and MS?

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