Taking Stock: Asking About Side Effects

Depression

There are many types of depressed mood, some much more disabling than others. Everyone feels sad or unhappy sometimes; however, deep feelings of sadness or hopelessness for no apparent reason require treatment.

Depression is, unfortunately, quite common in people with epilepsy. Feeling depressed may be associated with certain medications, or may in some cases be related to the effects of seizures on the brain. Depression may also be related to quality of life and the impact on a person’s life of having this condition. The important thing to remember is: depression can be treated! If you feel overwhelmed, anxious and unhappy much of the time, don’t wait. Let your doctor know as soon as possible about how you are feeling and find out about how mood disorders can be treated. Sometimes seeing a counselor can help. Sometimes medications are needed to treat the problem.

Some questions that might be asked of your physician include:

• Is my depression being caused by my medication?
• Am I taking an inappropriate amount of medication? Or could I be taking it incorrectly?
• Could my medication's generic version eliminate this side effect?
• Is it dangerous to mix epilepsy and depression medications? Are there any drugs that can treat both at the same time?
• Is there another form of treatment for depression in people with epilepsy other than medication?
• Can you recommend a counselor?

Depression, despite its high rate of occurrence in people with epilepsy, is still thought to be wildly under diagnosed – in particular, for people who have complex partial seizures. The lifetime-to-date major depression rate in epilepsy, according to a study that was published in the medical journal Epilepsia in 1998, has been reported to be nearly 60 percent for patients with complex partial seizures. For all types of seizures, the rate was reported to be nearly 40 percent.

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