hi i had the gastic bypass 10 yrs ago and i had a grand mal 8/30/ 07 and have been having episodes now i am very upset b/c the docs seem to push it off as depression ( even though i have sharp wave in left temperal lobe i wonder if it is in relation to the loss of vitamins or is it eplipsy i also have developed very poor eating habits and sometime periods of bulima an anorexia (b/c of fear of getting big) please offer and info would be great i want to work and cannot untill this is settled

Shaynlukesmom, I'm sure there is a connection between your seizures and the gastric bypass surgery.

My husband is epileptic and his seizures were controlled for many years until he had gastric bypass surgery. After doing some research, I discovered that high fat diets are successfully used to treat epileptics. Take away the ability to absorb fat--which gastric bypass surgery does--and you have the opposite of a high-fat diet. It seems fat is necessary for the control of seizures.

My husband began having both petit mal and grand mal seizures several months after having his gastric bypass surgery. The seizures began after he had lost most of his weight.

At first, we thought the surgery was causing a problem with absorption of the medication. But blood work showed therapeutic levels of Trileptal, the medication he had been taking successfully for years. Regardless of the therapeutic levels, he still continued to have seizures. The doctors increased the dosage of Trileptal, but this did not help, and his seizures continued. This is when I began doing research and found the link between fat and seizure control. (If you look up the Ketogenic Diet you can more information on how high fat diets control seizures. )

I feel that it's very important that epileptics be warned about the potential seizures after gastric bypass surgery. Right now, gastric bypass surgeons seem unaware of this situation and are telling epileptics that the surgery is perfectly safe for them.

I subsequently posted information on the Internet and started this Yahoo group. In the past 8 months, I have been contacted by five individuals who began experiencing seizures after gastric bypass surgery. What shocked me is that only one of these people ever had seizures before the surgery! Maybe it's that each person has a tendency toward seizures, and when fat absorption was disrupted in their body, their seizure threshold was lowered and they began having seizures. One woman had such terrible seizures after the surgery (a grand mal every day!), she planned to have the gastric bypass surgery reversed.

You won't find anything published on this topic at the moment. Our doctor contacted the surgeon at my husband's gastric bypass center and warned him to be careful about doing gastric bypass surgery on epileptics.

Please contact me if you have any more questions, would like to help with the research paper, or just need to talk.

started after g/b have grammal and wiuld like more info

seizures did not start until weight was loss and 4 months after an iron infusion. I have had 2 iron infusions in the last 3 years only. I had never had seizures before. I do not know if it is from fat malabsorption, menopause or hypoglycemia when I do not eat right that brings it on but I am working on isolating the cause. I do know I can drink no alcohol whatsoever. I have seizures afterwards so I am sure the glucose has something to do with it, but I also have them more frequently right before I start my period. Go figure.

I started having seizures 1 month after bypass.They have been nocturnal seizures until last week-my first one while awake.My old neurologist has written it off to depression..fortunately,I have a good IM doc who is sending me to a new neurologist.We need a national registry to keep up with all the cases.

I had gastric banding done 3 months ago and have recently had a seizure waiting to see a neuroogist, wish I could find out more information.

I'll keep you posted on how things go with me.I'm seeing a new neurologist in a few weeks.

pls help ppl..my aunt recently had her gall bladder removed due to stones, but after a week or so she seems to have eleipsy lyk symptoms..she faints feels difficulty in breathing,makes noises not undrstood by ne 1 of us,all her tests related 2 the prior operation are ok and doctors are not making a headway, money and time both is bein wasted.....PLS HELP

I Had Gastric banding done 4 yrs ago, and have had two seizures, with no history of any previous seizure hx before. I think it is related to my high level of coco-cola intake as i love coke ( lots of sugar/ caffeine and i really like the taste.
My dr (Neuro) does not know the cause, my dr (endocrine) does not think its coke and my next dr(surgeon re band) flately refuses to consider it may be coke. I'm female in my 50s any suggestions from any banders out there, ive stopped dringing coke, and had my band released to 3 mls.

I had gastric bypass surgery 9 years ago. I had my first seizure 7 years ago, one 2 1/2 years ago and two weeks ago. The ER doc put me on Keppra and it makes me feel awful. I'm also not allowed to drive for six months. I wish there was research being done on this.