Hi. My name is Mark and I'm new in this group. I have complex
partial seizures which are pretty well controlled on Dilantin. I
also get viscious migraines which are starting to be controlled by
Cardizem. At this point I still get a migraine almost every day but
they are only moderate, through I still get the nausea, weakness,
numbness, sensetivity to light, sound, and smells, and extra left-
sided weakness in full force. It's only been within the last 3
months that I've had migraines so many days in a row (sometimes a
single one lasts for 4 days), so life is pretty bizarre right now.
When the pain gets to be too much I take Amerge once or twice, but it
really dosen't help that much, only about half as much as I would
like.

I'm interested in possible links between migraines and epilepsy.
I've had both since I was a little kid (5 or 6) and my neurologist
believes that my epilepsy is the result of small areas of brain
damage caused by the vasoconstrictive stage of untreated migraines.
He's apparently seen a number of these kinds of cases. Migraines
definitely run in my family. I can remember my grandmother holding
her head and having to go to her room many times. Some of my aunts
and uncles and my mother get them. (This is all on my mother's side
of the family.) I even remeber my great grandmother acting like I do
when I get them, so who's to say she didn't get them too?

Well, it's nice to be here. I am very interested to find out about
the experiences of other people with these two disorders and how the
disorders might interact in their lives.

Mark