Peri-menopause and seizures

by Jeanette
(Concrete, WA)

About 2 years ago I started having very strange "disconnect" on my right side. It was really scary. I had an MRI and there was nothing abnormal about it. I started going to a specialist and he put me on anti-seizure and anxiety medication.

I was keeping track of the "disconnect" and started noticing a pattern - it was happening approximately 2 days before my period. I went to my gynecologist and I told her what was going on and she said that when you begin peri-menopause you can actually have seizures. I did blood work to check my progesterone levels but they came back fine, but again two days before my period I had a "disconnect". I am going to give my gynecologist a call, she said that if this continues she would put me on progesterone.

I am hoping this will help. It has been two long years of wondering what in the world is wrong with me. My gynecologist actually got me in contact with a lady in my area that has had contact with a doctor in Boston that has been doing a study about seizures and peri-menopause. It was a relief to find out that I am not crazy. Hope this helps someone else out there! Also, I am only 41 years old and have been told by several people that I am too young to be in the beginning stages of menopause - apparently not.

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Peri-menopause and seizures

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Jul 19, 2008

Peri-menopause and seizures
by: Wray

Hi Jeanette A drop in progesterone levels just before a period can cause seizures, and not necessarily only when starting peri-menopause. More often than not the seizures occur during the pre-menopause years. Although you say your progesterone levels were normal, they could have been 'low normal' and your oestrogen levels 'high normal', in which case this would have caused your problems.

Incidentally the average age for menopause is 51, but symptoms can start 5-10 years before. Do hope this helps. Take care Wray.

The following extract is taken from "Once a Month", one of Dr K Dalton's books available on Amazon:

"In August 1948 I came across my first case of premenstrual asthma, I had found a further case of asthma, two of epilepsy, and two of migraines that all occurred just before menstruation. They also responded successfully to progesterone. Together with Dr. Raymond Greene (brother of author Graham Greene) I continued to find more cases of PMS, and in 1953 we published in the British Medical Journal the first paper in medical literature describing the many bodily premenstrual presentations, as well as tension, and gave it the name "premenstrual syndrome. The duration of PMS varies enormously. It may last a full fourteen days, with deep depression at ovulation lasting until a sudden ending when menstrual bleeding starts, while those prone to epileptic seizures caused by PMS may find that the devastating attack is measured in minutes or hours, not days. But both are deserving of treatment. Symptoms of migraine, psychosis, hallucinations, and alcoholic bouts tend to last only a day or two and come immediately before menstruation. Symptoms are always at their worst immediately before menstruation. One of the most satisfying experiences for a doctor is to be able to diagnose and treat a woman with premenstrual epilepsy. She can be treated with progesterone and taken off all anticonvulsant tablets, with their many unpleasant side effects. Premenstrual epilepsy is often a culminating symptom, which follows gradually increasing tension and headache, so these patients do have a warning that an attack is imminent. There may also be marked weight gain, though this is not always the case. Often the final trigger factor that precipitates the attack is a long interval without food."

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Jul 19, 2008
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Submitted by: Wray

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Hi Jeanette A drop in progesterone levels just before a period can cause seizures, and not necessarily only when starting peri-menopause. More often than not the seizures occur during the pre-menopause years. Although you say your progesterone levels were normal, they could have been 'low normal' and your oestrogen levels 'high normal', in which case this would have caused your problems. Incidentally the average age for menopause is 51, but symptoms can start 5-10 years before. Do hope this helps. Take care Wray. The following extract is taken from "Once a Month", one of Dr K Dalton's books available on Amazon: "In August 1948 I came across my first case of premenstrual asthma, I had found a further case of asthma, two of epilepsy, and two of migraines that all occurred just before menstruation. They also responded successfully to progesterone. Together with Dr. Raymond Greene (brother of author Graham Greene) I continued to find more cases of PMS, and in 1953 we published in the British Medical Journal the first paper in medical literature describing the many bodily premenstrual presentations, as well as tension, and gave it the name "premenstrual syndrome. The duration of PMS varies enormously. It may last a full fourteen days, with deep depression at ovulation lasting until a sudden ending when menstrual bleeding starts, while those prone to epileptic seizures caused by PMS may find that the devastating attack is measured in minutes or hours, not days. But both are deserving of treatment. Symptoms of migraine, psychosis, hallucinations, and alcoholic bouts tend to last only a day or two and come immediately before menstruation. Symptoms are always at their worst immediately before menstruation. One of the most satisfying experiences for a doctor is to be able to diagnose and treat a woman with premenstrual epilepsy. She can be treated with progesterone and taken off all anticonvulsant tablets, with their many unpleasant side effects. Premenstrual epilepsy is often a culminating symptom, which follows gradually increasing tension and headache, so these patients do have a warning that an attack is imminent. There may also be marked weight gain, though this is not always the case. Often the final trigger factor that precipitates the attack is a long interval without food."

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Oct 13, 2009

wow
by: Anonymous

I am almost 44 and had my first seizure this weekend! It scared my husband and family. I woke up to ambulance attendants over me on a stretcher in my hallway. They took me to the hospital emergency and I had a CT and blood work done. All clear. I am booked for a EEG next week. I hope it is from perimenopause and not something more serious ie epilepsy development. I have been very stressed out as I am a nursing student with 3 small children. Your story helped me feel better. I am very tired and feel "disconnected" since the event.