Oh dear, no more Topiramate

Well 200mg a day didn't help so today we went back to see that nice Dr Lennox, privately again. In fact I seem to be getting better now but anyway this is normal as we're after Christmas and that's the usual time for the Big Winter Cluster™ to start to ease off.

His next port of call is a tricyclic antidepressant which is contraindicated for epileptics so that's out so next on the list is a beta-blocker¹. Possible side effects include: low blood pressure (as if it's not low enough already; "eat more salt he said" - oh OK then, if I must), and soft erections (how lovely) but it's a cakewalk compared to Topirate which had a list of side effects as long as your arm.

The good news in all of this is that my hair loss might stop. The bad news is that the other side effect, weight loss, is going to stop too so I'm going to have to get back to a sensible diet if I don't want to put the pounds back on again.

The other advantage to the beta blocker over Topirate is that I can bounce on and off it. So I can take it for a while if I'm bad. Then come off it for a while. Then go back on. In fact he recommends that as a technique rather than staying on it all the time.

Interesting.

He also talked some more about the MRI scan. There's scarring in my pons from where the cavernoma was, but the cavernoma has definitely gone. Apparently that happens sometimes. There's also something, I can't remember what he called it, elsewhere in my brain which was probably left over from the impact when my head hit the ground when I keeled over.

1. Atenolol I subsequently discovered when he wrote to my GP, although I don't think he told me this at the time.