Dilantin is not a silver bullet

After reading some of the experiences over here, I decided that instead of prescribing Dilantin as a catch-all anti-seizure drug, doctors might be well served to present it as less of a silver bullet.  I’ve talked with a few internal medicine doctors who have all told me to take dilantin to prevent seizures, but in addition to the seizure prevention, it has some WICKED side effects.

Sure, if you’re having major seizure issues, the drug sounds like a miracle cure.  People on that same thread describe going from 6-7 major seizures a day to having one or two staring spells, but for the rest of us (see end note) I think prescribing dilantin is almost cruel.  Instead of doing my job, I’ve spent the last week barely able to wake up properly, let alone do my job properly.  I feel like my writing is suffering, my mind is wandering more, I can’t sleep as easily at night and it’s almost impossible for me to wake up in the morning.

Now, I’m done with it.  I’ve been cutting back dosage a little at a time and i’ll be completely off of it soon enough.  I can’t handle the side effects, so I’ll just manage my seizures more effectively.  I can tell when they’re coming on, and it typically has to do with deep thought like programming or editing. I’m going to manage them till a health care provider can give me a better answer than, “sorry, that’s the way it is.”

(for the record, I had a seizure when i was 15, and three neurological events in the last year equating to some sort of seizure)