Shan, the reason for consulting with your doctor before taking
anything other than your anti-epilepsy drugs is that other drugs and
other substances can affect the rate of your AEDs uptake into the
bloodstream. Some of these interactions are well known, while others
are not, so not every doctor or nutritionist would be aware of these
issues. For example, Lamictal uptake is restricted by oral
contraceptives, so people on birth control pills need to take much
more Lamictal than would be advisable if they weren't on birth
control. Her doctor knew my daughter was on birth control and had
Megan on a high dose of Lamictal, but we weren't aware of the issue.
My daughter went off of her birth control briefly when she ran out,
and her blood levels of Lamictal spiked into an overdose range. She
ended up passing out face first on concrete, which wasn't very good
for her face. She was lucky that time, but another time just during
the week she was normally off of the pill due to her monthly cycle,
she ended up passing out and breaking off her front teeth.
Herbs and other supplements can and do have interactions with drugs,
so it is just as important to check with the neurologist about them
as it is for medications. Even some foods can cause drug
interactions. Grapefruit juice, for example, interacts in undesirable
ways with a number of medications.
Take care,
Tammy
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