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"Post-ictal" confusion
Wed, 01/07/2009 - 00:06Hey all,
Most of you don't know me, but, as I stated in my introductory thread, I'm new to all of this (Holy pleonasm, Batman!).
The first time I ever witnessed a seizure was during my video EEG in November. Naturally, I saw quite a number of them over the next few nights.
What has stuck with me wasn't necessarily the seizures themselves. It was the period afterwards. The doctors and nurses would begin asking a series of question to the teenager in the bed next to me. I'm sure some of you are familiar with the routine:
"What's your name?"
"David." He got that one right.
"Do you know where you are?"
"September...19th. Or 20th. I think."
So David was capable of responding to verbal cues, but he wasn't actually able to comprehend them. He knew he was being asked general questions, but he didn't know what he was being asked.
Essentially -- I think -- his brain wasn't really functioning, at least not at anything resembling a normal level for him. While it was in the process of recovering, David's brain had created a limited level of awareness. He wasn't in a seizure state, he wasn't back to normal, he was sort of in the middle somewhere, almost as if it was a survivalistic instinct. His brain had developed a third state.
The mere fact that some of you have gone through this so many times that your brain reacts this way is heart breaking. It was by far the most devastating realization of my four day stay in the hospital.
I hope this is not a breach of etiqutte as, again, I'm new to this and only suffer from absence seizures, but is this what it's really like for a lot of you? What is that recovery period like? How does all of that compare to the seizures themselves?
Comments
Re: "Post-ictal" confusion
Submitted by wakela on Sun, 2009-01-11 - 11:30
My post-ictal stage tends to be anywhere from 5-30 minutes depending on the severity of the seizure. I am usually really good at hiding my seizures since they are generally just left sided facial and sometimes left arm.
I tend to have right sided headaches where it feels like someone is standing there stabbing me in the head with a knife and twisting it.
Then there is the confusion and slurring of the speech. My coworkers can usually tell I have had a seizure after the fact. One of the girls was asking me to come to her desk to help a person on her phone. I ended up going to someone else's desk completely. So there was some understanding of what I was supposed to do, but not completely. And that was already at least 10 minutes after my seizure.
I know that some of the patients I have dealt with at work have actually gotten upset because I mix up my words. When my coworkers see this happening, they tend to try to step in.
My post-ictal stage tends to be anywhere from 5-30 minutes depending on the severity of the seizure. I am usually really good at hiding my seizures since they are generally just left sided facial and sometimes left arm.
I tend to have right sided headaches where it feels like someone is standing there stabbing me in the head with a knife and twisting it.
Then there is the confusion and slurring of the speech. My coworkers can usually tell I have had a seizure after the fact. One of the girls was asking me to come to her desk to help a person on her phone. I ended up going to someone else's desk completely. So there was some understanding of what I was supposed to do, but not completely. And that was already at least 10 minutes after my seizure.
I know that some of the patients I have dealt with at work have actually gotten upset because I mix up my words. When my coworkers see this happening, they tend to try to step in.
Re: "Post-ictal" confusion
Submitted by meeshell1001 on Wed, 2009-01-21 - 10:02
I am 27 and have been suffering from both peni-mal and grand-mal seizures since I was 8. I am now left disabled and having 3-9 seizures a week. The post-dictal state for me is the worst part especially if I only had a peni-mal seizure. The best way I can describe it is as if I was sleep walking. It seems like I am all there and ok, but during this time I do weird things and when I finally come to the mess I make sometimes baffles me. I am right now in the middle of a law suit with the police dept, as I suffered a seizure in public and during my post-ictal state the police thought I was faking and wound up moving me from my position on the ground which cause bruising to me face that was scrapping on the ground as well as a fractured rib from when they dropped meon the ground. The post-ictal state is not understood by most and is the hardest thing to get people to understand
I am 27 and have been suffering from both peni-mal and grand-mal seizures since I was 8. I am now left disabled and having 3-9 seizures a week. The post-dictal state for me is the worst part especially if I only had a peni-mal seizure. The best way I can describe it is as if I was sleep walking. It seems like I am all there and ok, but during this time I do weird things and when I finally come to the mess I make sometimes baffles me. I am right now in the middle of a law suit with the police dept, as I suffered a seizure in public and during my post-ictal state the police thought I was faking and wound up moving me from my position on the ground which cause bruising to me face that was scrapping on the ground as well as a fractured rib from when they dropped meon the ground. The post-ictal state is not understood by most and is the hardest thing to get people to understand
Re: "Post-ictal" confusion
Submitted by Lindsay Duso on Thu, 2010-06-17 - 12:22
I have had epilepsy since I was 17 - I am now 31. I used to do the same thing and not tell my doctor or my friends about my seizures because I didn't want to lose my license. Then I got into a car accident and I was lucky there was a car in front of me to stop me from going through a very busy intersection. I haven't driven in 9 years. I wasn't having them often, but often enough.
Please don't drive. You may not only hurt yourself but others. I learned that the hard way.
I have had epilepsy since I was 17 - I am now 31. I used to do the same thing and not tell my doctor or my friends about my seizures because I didn't want to lose my license. Then I got into a car accident and I was lucky there was a car in front of me to stop me from going through a very busy intersection. I haven't driven in 9 years. I wasn't having them often, but often enough.
Please don't drive. You may not only hurt yourself but others. I learned that the hard way.