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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 Sylvie on Tue, 2009-03-10 - 15:01
I have noticed trouble keeping my train of thought at times and my short term memory not being as good as it used to. I was prescribed the generic form of Keppra, which caused me to be extremely mood, low energy, rash and depression. After that experience I am reluctant to take anymore AED's. I'm feeling good and taking better care of myself. Making sure I'm hydrated, taking my vitamins, eating healthy and getting my sleep and exercise. I realize I am taking a risk by not taking the drugs. I'm also looking into getting a second opinion as well as other sources of treatment.
I hope we all continue to search for anwsers and find out how to manage the situation we are all in. Good luck with everything. Syl
I have noticed trouble keeping my train of thought at times and my short term memory not being as good as it used to. I was prescribed the generic form of Keppra, which caused me to be extremely mood, low energy, rash and depression. After that experience I am reluctant to take anymore AED's. I'm feeling good and taking better care of myself. Making sure I'm hydrated, taking my vitamins, eating healthy and getting my sleep and exercise. I realize I am taking a risk by not taking the drugs. I'm also looking into getting a second opinion as well as other sources of treatment.
I hope we all continue to search for anwsers and find out how to manage the situation we are all in. Good luck with everything. Syl
Re: New Here: First Seizure Questions: Adult onset?
Submitted by surfpunk84 on Mon, 2009-01-05 - 11:49
My name is Jason, im 24 years old, I have kind of a long story but i will make it short, most of my life i have been a very healthy and fit guy. I went through phases of drinking heavily, being in a hard rock band , smoking pot for a while but never to extreme ammounts. Through most of my years as a teenager i can remember rarely i would have these moments where i would almost "Lose time" in my head. Like a split second or two and kinda jerk slightly. Nobody ever noticed and i never thought it was an issue, i figured it was normal. A few years later i moved out on my own and did not eat well and drank heavily. one day going to work after a night of drinking wine with my girlfriend i blacked out at 8am driving 50mph and crossed over into oncoming traffic luckily hitting a palm tree in the median before hitting the other lane. The only thing i remember is waking up in the ER with a neck brace and a backboard with my parents next to me. The woman who called 911 told my parents she was holding me as i was having a seizure with a red froth bubbling from my mouth! My Liscense was suspended for 6months and i was put through an EEG for 3 days, and diagnosed with JME. 1000mg of Depakote a day they put me on these god for saken horse pills and i felt like i was never going to be the same
I moved back in with my parents and eventually recovered, and decided to make a change and become an EMT \ Fire Fighter. I went through the program, eating and sleeping relatively well and getting plenty of exercise. Never had a dizzy spell that i can remember, even standing outside working hard in 95 degree heat in full fire gear for 5-6hrs. (I live in Florida) I took myself off the medication before i even went in the program, i have not taken it since. But over a longer period of time i have seemed to pick up anxiety problems and its almost like my anxiety works against me with my JME.
The most natural way to battle JME that I have found is to be the penacle of health. Eat right, Sleep well, dont drink, and take care of your body. The only time i truely felt like i was back to normal was when i was going through the fire accademy. My thoughts were stronger, I could FOCUS on reading material and taking tests, (not ALL the time, but far better than most). I took myself off the medication about 2yrs ago and havent done any since, but i feel like it is starting to creep up on me again, i started smoking again and i dont sleep and eat as well as i used to, im just scared my JME and Anxiety will group up on me at a bad time being a fire fighter. Im not on the job yet but am about to be. Anyone experience anything similar at all??? My girl saw my eyes roll not too long ago and she started crying, she didnt know what it was and it happened just for a split second so i had to tell her.....im just really scared right now and i dont know what the hell to do about this, i hate medication, and i feel like i can beat this without it. Has anyone done it? Or Experienced this? I am very concerned. I know it was long, but it at least makes me feel better venting this out :)
-Jason
My name is Jason, im 24 years old, I have kind of a long story but i will make it short, most of my life i have been a very healthy and fit guy. I went through phases of drinking heavily, being in a hard rock band , smoking pot for a while but never to extreme ammounts. Through most of my years as a teenager i can remember rarely i would have these moments where i would almost "Lose time" in my head. Like a split second or two and kinda jerk slightly. Nobody ever noticed and i never thought it was an issue, i figured it was normal. A few years later i moved out on my own and did not eat well and drank heavily. one day going to work after a night of drinking wine with my girlfriend i blacked out at 8am driving 50mph and crossed over into oncoming traffic luckily hitting a palm tree in the median before hitting the other lane. The only thing i remember is waking up in the ER with a neck brace and a backboard with my parents next to me. The woman who called 911 told my parents she was holding me as i was having a seizure with a red froth bubbling from my mouth! My Liscense was suspended for 6months and i was put through an EEG for 3 days, and diagnosed with JME. 1000mg of Depakote a day they put me on these god for saken horse pills and i felt like i was never going to be the same
I moved back in with my parents and eventually recovered, and decided to make a change and become an EMT \ Fire Fighter. I went through the program, eating and sleeping relatively well and getting plenty of exercise. Never had a dizzy spell that i can remember, even standing outside working hard in 95 degree heat in full fire gear for 5-6hrs. (I live in Florida) I took myself off the medication before i even went in the program, i have not taken it since. But over a longer period of time i have seemed to pick up anxiety problems and its almost like my anxiety works against me with my JME.
The most natural way to battle JME that I have found is to be the penacle of health. Eat right, Sleep well, dont drink, and take care of your body. The only time i truely felt like i was back to normal was when i was going through the fire accademy. My thoughts were stronger, I could FOCUS on reading material and taking tests, (not ALL the time, but far better than most). I took myself off the medication about 2yrs ago and havent done any since, but i feel like it is starting to creep up on me again, i started smoking again and i dont sleep and eat as well as i used to, im just scared my JME and Anxiety will group up on me at a bad time being a fire fighter. Im not on the job yet but am about to be. Anyone experience anything similar at all??? My girl saw my eyes roll not too long ago and she started crying, she didnt know what it was and it happened just for a split second so i had to tell her.....im just really scared right now and i dont know what the hell to do about this, i hate medication, and i feel like i can beat this without it. Has anyone done it? Or Experienced this? I am very concerned. I know it was long, but it at least makes me feel better venting this out :)
-Jason
Re: New Here: First Seizure Questions: Adult onset?
Submitted by chahanpe on Thu, 2009-02-19 - 11:56
I thnk it is the cold virus itself, because my husband, who rarely gets sick, also had gotten a cold just before both of his seizures. It just started with a runny nose & the sniffles, but after a couple of days of that he had the two grand mal seizures at night. The rest of us just got a regular cold. I happened to mention it to a couple of friends, and it turns out that one of them also knows someone who only has seizures when she gets a cold. Given that viruses can lodge themselves in the human body for long periods of time, sometimes indefinitely, and can be triggered by other health issues, I wonder if there is not a combination of facotrs at work here to lead up to a seizure. Is the cold an indicator of an impending seizure or part of the cause? If it is an indicator that the immune system in under stress, it would seem like there would be other indicators as well. I do know one person who has herpes and only has outbreaks when she is getting a cold, maybe the same thing is going on with the seizures. Or, if the cold is the cause of the seizures, what kind of virus is really causing the cold symtoms? How could it be idenified? I don't know the answers to these questions, but noticing that the seizures were preceeded by a cold is, I think, very important. BTW, my husband does not generally take cold medicines, and had not taken any before his two seizures. Let us know if you find any more info, and maybe you could post the websites where you found something.