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New Here: First Seizure Questions: Adult onset?

Thu, 05/22/2008 - 23:46

Hi, New here: A little background 1st:
I had my 1st seizure about a few weeks ago. My husband called 911 when he woke up to hear me making sounds and struggling. He said I was jerking, eyes rolled back, moving everywhere, not responding, no clue he was there. I didn't respond to 4 paramedics, an ambulance ride. When I came around I didn't know where I was and my tongue was bit up. I couldn't hardly talk. My blood sugar was very low and I had a headache on the left side of my head. I did not know where I was which caused hyperventilation. With not one around, not memory of what happened. My husband was still at home waiting to come and have someone stay with the kids. Once we were all settled and my husband could get there and tell what happened, I got the full work up. MRI, EEG you name it they did it. I stayed at the hospital for 2 days. My EEG spiked and I had a seizure with that. So Complex Partial Seizure left frontal lobe with secondary generalization. I did a sleep study, results soon. On Depakote, no driving for 6 months. I have had simple partial seizures after the hospital visit.
My son has seizures as well and on Depakote/Tegretol. He had a stroke at birth so they say my seizure and his seizures are not related. His is due to brain injury at birth. The Dr. feels that I am under stress...well yea stay at home mom to a boy that had a stroke, not to mention other stuff. The Dr. said stress triggers seizures. They said I could be having tiny seizures in my sleep then the big one the other day.
Questions:
Many of my friends are asking me if adult onset seizures are common? I forgot to ask the Dr.
Will this be the last big one? Or more to come? If I have another one the 6 month driving starts over so did some of you not drive for a year?
I am depakote and they will raise it up to the right dose for me gradually. I am bit overweight anyway....I heard it makes you gain??
If my sleep study comes back saying I have sleep apnea which caused the seizure, won't a cpap machine help and I really don't have a seizure disorder??
Thanks for reading!

 

Comments

Re: New Here: First Seizure Questions: Adult onset?

Submitted by Meow on Sun, 2008-06-01 - 02:31

 

sorry to hear about that awful accident and truly hope no serious injuries occurred. still a bit confused about the definition of seizure free and whether that means absolutely no dizzy spells (simple partial) or just the ones that impair consciousness (complex partial and worse)?

 

sorry to hear about that awful accident and truly hope no serious injuries occurred. still a bit confused about the definition of seizure free and whether that means absolutely no dizzy spells (simple partial) or just the ones that impair consciousness (complex partial and worse)?

Re: New Here: First Seizure Questions: Adult onset?

Submitted by jamielai on Sun, 2008-06-01 - 12:06
I seem to only have Grand-Mal seizures, and when I have them, boy do I. I have (of course) been wrote off as being epileptic since I have had no tumors show up or have had any other test come back saying otherwise. But I still wonder how common it is for an adult to wake up one day and just start seizing.

Re: New Here: First Seizure Questions: Adult onset?

Submitted by Meow on Tue, 2008-06-10 - 15:05

1) In my case, the process was probably a bit gradual. Starting about 15 yrs ago, I had really occasional dizzy spells, triggered for example by smell or just randomly hit me. Then the 'fainting' started about 3 years ago, and that was at first many months between, then a couple months apart, until last Nov-Dec. I had 3 in a one month period, so they finally got me started on AEDS (though this is officially a trial since they haven't given me a diagnosis yet).

2) From what I understand, there are many others who just suddenly as an adult experience seizures, even tonic-clonic ones. In the forums, there are many postings by new-to-this adults who have just recently had their first seizure, out of the blue. Some of them have already got neurologists and AEDs, some are still struggling to have their symptoms recognized and taken seriously.

Have you got a friend or family member who supports you in this?

1) In my case, the process was probably a bit gradual. Starting about 15 yrs ago, I had really occasional dizzy spells, triggered for example by smell or just randomly hit me. Then the 'fainting' started about 3 years ago, and that was at first many months between, then a couple months apart, until last Nov-Dec. I had 3 in a one month period, so they finally got me started on AEDS (though this is officially a trial since they haven't given me a diagnosis yet).

2) From what I understand, there are many others who just suddenly as an adult experience seizures, even tonic-clonic ones. In the forums, there are many postings by new-to-this adults who have just recently had their first seizure, out of the blue. Some of them have already got neurologists and AEDs, some are still struggling to have their symptoms recognized and taken seriously.

Have you got a friend or family member who supports you in this?

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