Life is Beautiful!

When I was on the carbamazepine, I knew that it was affecting my moods. I knew it was making me sad, and I described it as having my emotional baseline lowered. But until I stopped taking it, I didn't realize how much it was affecting my moods.

I took my last dose of that on the Thursday evening that I got the rash. By the following Monday, I felt incredibly happy and positive and energetic... more than I had since starting the med. I was a bit shocked at the difference, to be honest. Suddenly life was good again.

I'm now one week into the new med, Keppra (levetiracetam). The first week was at half dose, and now I'm at 3/4 dose. Will go up to the full amount this coming weekend.

The only side effect I've noticed so far from the Keppra is that I'm often sleepy and my eyes feel tired. That's manageable, and the pharmacist said it will go away after about a month. No dizziness or drowsiness. Overall I feel pretty good.

The neuro said this med can make me irritable and grouchy, but I haven't noticed that yet (I'm relying on my friends to tell me if I become more bitchy than usual! ;).

I haven't had any episodes in the past couple of weeks but that doesn't necessarily mean anything since I have had weeks of episode-free time even without the meds. So we'll see how it goes.

Also, I picked up my CD from the hospital with my MRI and CT scans on it.

My brain!

The ones with the eyes creep me out:

The CD has over 1000 images on it, in various sets from different angles and depths. It's pretty cool and I'm passing it to a friend who does 3D printing, in hopes he can print my brain for me!

Also, the reports said:
"The brain is normal. No evidence of mesial temporal sclerosis, migrational abnormality, mass, or scar is identified. The ventricles are normal. No areas of restricted diffusion are present."

"Noncontrast CT head was performed. No intracranial mass, hemorrhage or infarction is present. The ventricles and sulci are normal for age."

 And yet there's still something wrong, which isn't showing on the scans. :/