By auras do you mean visual disturbances ? Like the kind many people get ssociated with migraines?? If not please explain.

If they are visual then they could be associated with migraines &/or stress as stress & migraines go hand in hand.

Some other possibilities I would look into are, allergies (the auras could be a reaction), hormonal ups & downs & yes men do have hormonal levels which can vary, blood pressure (high/low). Did they start after he went on any medication (including vitamins etc) or do they occur in relation to anything like sport, exercise, driving (especially at night), staff meeting at work any links at all to anything or any group of things.

Tegretol and dilantin are the 2 epilepsy drugs they almost always start you off with. I'm on 300 mg of tegretol for several years now. When I was first diagnosed though, I was on 900: 600 in the morning, and 300 at night. It pretty much destroyed my life. At the point I became aware of it, and the 3 week adjustment period had ended, I contacted my doctor and we began playing with dosages. Ultimately, I got to 300 in the morning and 300 at night. I found the slow release stuff worked better and insist on getting the brand name stuff rather than generic.

By destroying my life, I mean that I got vertigo so bad I could hardly stand up. I was tired all the time, even after lots of sleep. I spaced out a lot and had trouble concentrating.

The lower dose helped but i, like your boyfriend, had many auras each day... And I just lived with it. I kept a diary once and noted an average of 8 per day. My auras were involuntary jaw, tongue, and mouth spasms that made it sound like I was stuttering when I talked. The auras would last for minutes. Sometimes, my lungs would spasm as well. I decided I would rather cope with that than vertigo, spaciness, and fatigue.

One day, after some things had happened, my neurologist decided to try a new drug in addition to the tegretol. So, we added keppra. I hardly ever have those auras now. I have different auras. but, at the same time, my life is much much better. I still have the odd seizure, but it's a quality of life that works for me. Since adding keppra, I have reduced tegretol to only 300 mg per day in the morning. I hope to stop taking tegretol entirely if I can have about 6 months with no seizures at all.

Some suggestions... If your boyfriend has been on tegretol longer than a several months,
- try experimenting with different and lower doses. My blood level is on the low end. They look for 4 - 10 for treatment, and i'm usually 5.1. At a lower dose, he might have exactly the same level of auras... And if that's the case, why bother increasing the dose if it causes such bad effects?
- once comfortable that things are not out of control, talk about adding a new drug with your doctor. Don't be shy to contact him either.
- your doctor's goal is to make all the auras go away and all the seizures go away. But, our medical practices advocate drugs... Which often cause side effects... Which are then treated with other drugs. I suggest a minimalist approach and finding something that works for him. Be patient with him. Epilepsy is not fun and you should be patient with yourself. To be honest, he should be pursuing his own treatment, not you.

Lastly, some people have problems with partial seizures in their sleep. Because they are sleeping, they aren't aware and don't remember, but it affects the overall quality and quantity of sleep. My wife notes that many times in my sleep, i'll stop breathing and then startle myself awake. Over time, this alone will tend to make you tired and lead to massive 2 or 3 day crashes.

Thanks to both of you for your replies, I probably wasn't that helpful purple - his auras are the deja-vu kind where he spins out for about 5 mins, goes white and hot and has to sit down. He says it actually feels quite nice while it's happening (?) but then can't remember words afterwards or how to speak and can't remember anything that happened just before it. Also, like I said, he is so tired it's like his body won't operate. They can happen just about anytime of the day. We've tried to keep a record of circumstances, and cut things out to test like caffeine, alcohol, late nights etc but they vary so much it's impossible to pinpoint a trigger! So that's the type he has (medial lobe possibly ?) anyway, I will definitely suggest all of your advice so he is armed when he next goes to his gp.

The reason I am getting info for him is because he doesn't have internet access and he is the only person he knows who has seizures which I think is tough for him sometimes as he feels quite isolated. I also want to be as knowledgable as possible so I am in a position to care for him if he needs it.

Funny you should mention the sleeping thing, sometimes he will suddenly jolt himself awake and it panics me a bit as I was there when he had his last big seizure, so I always seem to be on guard now. The dosage thing might make sense, and also like yourself, he is extemely sluggish with this medication and his concentration and memory is shot to bits at the mo !

Thank you so much both of you for all of your advice, I will print this up and give it to him this weekend to have a read. Kim x