Epilepsy meds could turn you into an instant poet

Who would have thought medicine for seizures could turn one into a poet?

 

This was apparently the case for a 76-year-old epileptic woman who started writing 10 to 15 poems a day after going on medication, The Daily Beast reported.

 

"The woman’s doctors attribute the poetry, in large part, to a phenomenon called forced normalization, as a result of the anti-seizure drug. Generally put, forced normalization is the appearance of odd psychiatric symptoms, including psychosis, in a patient whose epilepsy has been controlled by medication," it said.

 

Citing a report in the neuroscience journal Neurocase, the Daily Beast said the patient had reported memory troubles and spacing out for a few minutes, and was diagnosed with transient epileptic amnesia.

 

It said this was due to seizures in her left temporal lobe, which helps process sensory information and store new information.

 

When doctors prescribed a low dose of the anticonvulsant lamotrigine, the medicine not only boosted her memory but also calmed her temporal lobe’s activity.

 

The surprise came after a few months when the woman began her poetic streak, writing about topics ranging from housework to "the act of versifying itself.”

 

"Compulsive writing, or hypergraphia, is a well-known, if uncommon, symptom of temporal lobe epilepsy. It affects about 10 percent of patients, though the writing is often disjointed and difficult to read. Our new poet wrote clearly, with both jokes and rhymes," it said.

 

Also, the woman became more interested in wordplay, including finding word patterns in license plates.

 

But this did not last long, as her streak began to end after six months. — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News