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Please Give me Advice.... Just had a seizure

Fri, 09/06/2013 - 10:14

Hey guys,

I'm here because I seriously have no clue what to do and I just completely feel alone. Sitting here balling my eyes out out of complete fear.

I'm a 19 year old guy. I have Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy. I've had seizures since I was born. Ever since 2008, they slowed down tremendously. (JME is a very mild form of epilepsy).

 My last seizure was about a year ago, and judging by how badly my tongue was torn to pieces, it was a pretty serious one. Whenever I have a seizure, it's always grand mal. And it's pretty bad. I had it at about 2 am, and I fell through a wall.

Anyways, I think I just had another seizure. I woke up around 7 with mild twitches and just fell back asleep. I just woke up on the ground in a pool of blood. My body doesn't hurt, but I bit my tongue and I'm 99% sure I just had one.

I took my medication this morning, and I've been drinking water and trying to eat. Here's the thing; I pretty much live on my own. I'm seriously opposed to telling my doctor that I had another seizure. I'm terrified. He said he would take away my license if I had another one. I'm very independant. My license is my LIFELINE. I can't tell my parents or friends because they'll flip out and honestly I don't want to put my mother through that..

What should I do?  I don't know I guess I just want to talk to/hear from people. This is the absolute worst feeling in the world. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

Comments

Re: Please Give me Advice.... Just had a seizure

Submitted by mereloaded on Sun, 2013-09-15 - 15:18
Hi again, great to know that you are feeling better and that you have reflected on the consequences of driving following a seizure. Good for you that you refrained from driving that day, please listen to your body in the days/ weeks to follow. Thank you for writing about your job and your college and your dreams and how JME has pushed you forward. I will tell him about you and how his dreams are totally achievable, and you are that example that we needed. He takes Keppra 500 mg twice a day, so the same dosage as yours minus the extended release. You only take one pill once a day? That would really help in our case as I am constantly reminding him of taking his medication. In his defense, we just started to deal with this 7 months ago. He has been seizure for those same 7 precious months. I have to find a new neuro as we recently moved, I am afraid yet excited to have someone else looking at his records. Previous neuro thinks he can get over it, who knows what the new one will think. As I side note, I am so mad about the mean ex gf of yours. That is why we have not told a soul about my sons condition for fear that people would be stupid like that. I do not want his self esteem to suffer, he is a confident, happy, well adjusted kid, but I can tell he is terrified od epilepsy. We have not touched the subject in a while, but when we do, it is not gloom and doom, more like a cold lol! Anyway, best wishes.

Re: Please Give me Advice.... Just had a seizure

Submitted by pandasteaks on Tue, 2013-09-24 - 11:15
Hi, You've gotten a ton of great advice here, and it looks like you're going to find a way to talk to your family and your doctor. That's both difficult and awesome of you. How scary for you to wake up like that. My experiences aren't the same, thought I can sympathize with the fear of loss of independence. I'm 26 and was diagnosed with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, and Simple Partial seizures last year, which aren't fully under control yet so I had to surrender my license to the Commonwealth of MA. This is better than being forced to surrender it by the Commonwealth, and will fare better for me when I eventually am under control and appeal to reinstate my license (hopefully within the year). I have also begun having nocturnal seizures and have been waking up with severe migraines and a bitten up tongue and cheeks, which is confusing and scary for me. I use public transportation which can be frustrating, I have family and friends that help me get where I'm going, I have cool road bike that I got for free from craigslist and used a how-to guide on Pinterest to fix it up and make it look awesome again, all it took was some spray paint, a bell, a basket, some zip ties, and tools I had at home. If I need groceries, I have help getting them. My husband takes my son to preschool, my mother-in-law picks him up. I take the bus to and from work every day, my bike in the summer. I bike to the park, playground, or the corner store for a treat with my son on weekends. I use the Student Access office a lot at my college as well, which is the disability office. They are basically my liaison for all my student needs, so I don't feel like I'm whining to my professors if something in my life is going wrong. (Boo hoo Professor So-and-So my head hurts, can I have an extension?) It's more like, the Access office submits a formal disability request on the disabled student's behalf due to my special needs. Sounds like a cop-out, only it isn't. Sometimes we struggle and it's hard to admit it. Utilize your resources. Right now things look dark, but when you reach out to your family, your doctor, your friends, and your college you'll find that they are all there to support you and help you out. Yeah, totally sucks about driving. I really hate that I can't drive. I daydream about what kind of car I want to get when I finally can appeal and get accepted for getting my license back. (Volkswagon Jetta, Passat or a new Beetle?) But for now you can concentrate on your health, your happiness at the moment, and the here and now. Take care. -Haley

Re: Please Give me Advice.... Just had a seizure

Submitted by ctoffey1 on Wed, 2013-09-25 - 19:19

You for sure a not alone.

Be thankful it was while you were asleep.

For sure talk to the doctor maybe changing the meds, doses etc. They did that with and finally after about 2 yrs. We got back on track but before that I could not even take a shower. and I know friends and family are f

This seems like a good support group. I just found it myself due to something that happened to me. I can relate and the others here can. Know they love you though it may scare them because its hard for some to see someone they love go thrugh this and some people if they can't fix something they don't know what to do I've learned.

Good luck. 

You for sure a not alone.

Be thankful it was while you were asleep.

For sure talk to the doctor maybe changing the meds, doses etc. They did that with and finally after about 2 yrs. We got back on track but before that I could not even take a shower. and I know friends and family are f

This seems like a good support group. I just found it myself due to something that happened to me. I can relate and the others here can. Know they love you though it may scare them because its hard for some to see someone they love go thrugh this and some people if they can't fix something they don't know what to do I've learned.

Good luck. 

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