Moose here - again. Following on from my epilepsy thread.

[moosemama]

Hi folks, we were up to 995 posts, so I thought I'd better start a new thread

Couthy, I am so pleased you have finally got some good news. Fantastic news about the gynae - that'll be one in the eye for your GP and the DLA bods.

I think the counselling is also a great idea. I went for some when ds2 was about 10 months old and it was so great, just to be out of the house, without any children and able to talk about whatever I wanted to talk about with someone who wasn't involved. I really enjoyed it and took the opportunity to take some time to actually put on some decent clothes and make-up when I went, as Lord only knows I never got the chance otherwise. It was a welcome break, someone to talk to and helped sort my head out into the bargain. Win/win.

Well, having forced myself to pack ds's case, iron a load more clothes to pack so he has more layers and put in some extra fleeces and thermals - I got to the school to pick him up to be told there was a meeting in the hall because the LEA have cancelled the trip. I could have curled up under a blanket all afternoon after all.

Apparently they have predicted 15-20 inches of snow for the area they are/were going to. Fortunately ds2 was fine about it, because it means he can still go to Pokemon League on Saturday - although they always cancel that if there's bad snow and we're predicted quite a lot here as well.

They've rescheduled for the end of April and it was only by luck that dh and I decided the other weekend not to book Legoland that weekend. In fact it's now booked for the day after ds2's birthday, so he says that makes it even more exciting.

Thank God they didn't do this when ds1 went. Weeks of careful prep and support to enable him to go and then they pull the trip at the last minute. The ensuing meltdown doesn't bear thinking about.

Leonie, that sounds like cognitive fog. I've also suffered from it for years. It feels like a sort of unidentifiable chaos going on inside your head that get's in the way of all your thought patterns. When the latest Levellers album called 'Static on the Airways' came out and I listened to the title track I thought - yes - that's it, that's what's going on in my head!

Unfortunately, for me, it got worse - not better with Topomax, until I reached the point where I couldn't form a thought at all and words were beyond me. It was horrible and my family said they didn't recognise me anymore, because I had lost all my personality and was virtually unable to communicate with them. Sounds like it might suit you better, going on today.

Topamax is also a stimulant (hence the appetite suppressing side effect that helps you to lose weight) - I found that while I was on it I had almost all the symptoms of ADHD!

So yes, it IS normal. It calms down by about halfway through the second week, I found, once your body is more used to it.

Um, snow...?

New Levellers album?! Tell me more - I have money sitting in iTunes and the Levellers are one of my favourite bands (nobody I know has ever heard of them!!)

Ooo Couthy, the Moose household are big Levellers fans. I am going to a festival they're headlining at it May!

I think their album came out last Autumn. Dh bought it for me for Christmas.

... and yes, sorry, snow and lots of it - but we are West Midlands, which has an amber warning, whereas I think your side of the country isn't going to get it so badly.

you can hear the 'static' bit that reminds me of cog fog at the start.

I absolutely bloody love off it. It was the campervan song of choice on our summer holiday last year.

Obviously wasn't the right AED for you, Moose.

Hopefully you fare well on it, Leonie.

As for the 'cognitive fog', I have that all the bloody time too - it's why I'm finding trying to do all these things at once so hard, because I can't focus my thoughts on any one of them, it's all just jumbled in my head!

It has got slightly worse since they upped my dose of Gabapentin, but I'm sure it will clear in a few weeks.

The only time I didn't feel like that was when I was on the Topamax. Which is why it was such a shame I had such severe side effects that meant I had to stop it.

I've just had a thought - I wonder if there are any other AED's in the same 'group' as Topirimate? Maybe they might work better to control my seizures if they are more similar to
Topamax?

Also, I have discovered that another patient at my surgery has put in an official complaint - because the GP misdxd her pneumonia as 'a mild viral infection', and kept sending her home with no treatment. She ended up being blue lighted to hospital.

I don't know if any of you remember that in 2009...the self same thing happened to me and I nearly died from the pneumonia.

I had a massive thread in _Chat at the time, under one of my old names...

So it REALLY wouldn't surprise me if the GP was under supervision. I've also bumped into a friend...and she has just left the surgery too.

Though she does say that my new HV (that I find quite abrupt) has been her HV for 5 years, and she finds her to be ok once you get to know her - so I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.

I know what I'll be downloading later tonight with my remaining iTunes money from Christmas then!!

New toonage!

Saw Mark Chapman doing an impromptu one-man show at the same festival last year - it was cracking!

Couthy, unfortunately not the right AED for me, no. Although despite the horrible side effects it did work. It killed my complex migraines dead. Iirc I was on it for roughly 6 months and they never came back after I was taken off it. I have had a few migraines since, but nothing like the monsters I used to have - until last month, starting the first day of my, early, period.

Leonie, what do you mean by different? Music?

Ha! That's what I said when I found out - and again when I looked it up online.

Ffs, a couple of years ago we had a party for ds1's birthday in the first week of April and the kids got sunburn and needed to be constantly fed ice lollies and cold drinks.

Ah - was just wondering what music you were into.

I don't tend to listen to it very often - mainly when we're in the camper and at festivals!

We have a few bands in common on your list. Love the Eagles, Queen and Dido.

Hopefully the Topomax will allow you to enjoy listening to music again.

Ooo a singer! What sort of stuff did you sing?

Excuse me if I disappear - I have a year 6 SATs meeting to go to any second - if dh ever gets home.

Sounds like great fun Leonie!

I can only sing Irish folk meself and I'm scared of an audience - other than my long suffering kids. My old dad was forever trying to drag me up on stage in Ireland - I learned how to hide at just the right moment.

SATs meeting was a waste of time as predicted, didn't tell me anything I hadn't already read on line and involved being squashed into a classroomroom with two of my least favourite teachers.

There goes my typing again. Honestly I am hopeless today.

Get yerself off to bed woman.

Hoping you have a peaceful night. x