Posted by headachequeen on June 20, 2005, at 20:48:16
In reply to Re: Kat and everyone » ed_uk, posted by rainy on June 20, 2005, at 18:30:17
> Ed, is Topamax approved for use as a mood stabilizer in the U.K? I'm using it for that but it didn't work consistenly well untl I got
> up to 400 mgs. Now it's seems to be doing a good job and many of the earlier cognitive problems I experienced are fading.
> People keep reminding me it's off label, including my pdoc. He would rather have me on lithium. I'm hanging on to Topamax as long as it works. It does make me clumsy--there's a rumor going around town that I have a problem with alcohol because of my gait which worsens in the heat.
> rainy
>Oh, rainy,
a problem with alcohol because of your gait????
people need to find something to occupy their minds...
or maybe they need to find minds to occupy...I have a gait problem frequently and it is nothing to do with alcohol or topomax... to my amazement it is not even related to the epilepsy...
I figured for the past few years that the epilepsy was causing it and the severe pain in my leg so didn't even ask about it..
turns out it is related to a back injury from my teens...
a part of my lower spine was injured and the nerves to my right leg are compressed and this means there is a blockage or something and the muscles in my leg are atrophying... if I sit for any length of time, say long enough for a light lunch then stand up I limp and cannot turn when I walk... so I walk into a straight line, perhaps into a wall if I cannot turn in time...
horrid pains waken me if I manage to sleep, and when I am walking; I can not walk with an even gait on most days... and I am sure I look like a sailor who just made shore after eighteen months on a sailing ship in rough seas or one heading back to ship after three days' shore leave but the muscles have atrophied because the nerves are clamped so badly...
let them come and talk to me about gait and alcohol problems...
I'll send them for a nerve conductivity test and make sure the specialist tests a part of them that has nerves that are not blocked or pinched...People who have nothing better to do than imagine the worst of others should do it somewhere else...
kat
poster:headachequeen
thread:5053
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050617/msgs/516256.html