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Peripheral Vision Loss and Other Side Effects of Occipital Lobe Surgery

Sun, 06/30/2013 - 09:47
Topic: Surgery and Devices
I'd like to know if anyone out there can speak from experience to the side effects of occipital lobe surgery for epilepsy. In particular, did you experience peripheral vision loss? If so, what does it look like/feel like? We are considering this option for our son, and would very much appreciate hearing from others who have had this surgery.

Comments

Re: Peripheral Vision Loss and Effects of Occipital Lobe Surgery

Submitted by dcooke570 on Thu, 2013-11-14 - 23:51
Wow! Thank you for your comments. Sounds like a great outcome for your son. Our son stopped seizing for the time being (none since September & no changes with his meds). His seem to be temperature related (startup each year May/June and then taper off late summer). Wish we could live in Alaska April thru September to see if a cooler climate for the summer months would affect him for the better!

Re: Peripheral Vision Loss and Effects of Occipital Lobe Surgery

Submitted by Kayne57 on Sun, 2013-11-17 - 00:08

Oh that is good news. Maybe you are actually getting things under control. With the new medications available now, control seizures in a completely different way, your son has a better chance for seizure control in the future, and hopefully you will not have to go through surgery. Because it is a lot to go through.

Oddly enough tempature change was also a seizure tigger for my son. His was year round, like going from air conditioning to the heat and humidity out doors, or going outside in the winter. He was so sensitive to a change in tempature, that it could be as simple as a little breeze, and he would have a seizure.

I wish your son the best, continued seizure control.

Kayne

 

Oh that is good news. Maybe you are actually getting things under control. With the new medications available now, control seizures in a completely different way, your son has a better chance for seizure control in the future, and hopefully you will not have to go through surgery. Because it is a lot to go through.

Oddly enough tempature change was also a seizure tigger for my son. His was year round, like going from air conditioning to the heat and humidity out doors, or going outside in the winter. He was so sensitive to a change in tempature, that it could be as simple as a little breeze, and he would have a seizure.

I wish your son the best, continued seizure control.

Kayne

 

I had brain surgery in 2010

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 2014-04-13 - 02:12
I had brain surgery in 2010 when I was 16 for a seizure condition that the doctors were unfamiliar with. Apparently it was similar to "complex partial epilepsy". I used to black out (have seizures) around 12 times a day (not including the ones in my sleep). Every medication they tried giving me failed. So, brain surgery it was. It took two weeks and two insertions of electrodes, whatever those are. I finally had a seizure, a strange one, and though the doctors and my mother were scared and a bit panicky, I was still conscious. The seizure was strange because I began to notice my feet moving without me trying. Then my legs started to move, this continued all the way up to my neck. But that's as far as it went. The convulsions were violent, but I was completely fine and coherent from the neck up. I had never actually convulsed before, or been awake for a seizure. That seizure gave the doctored the information that they needed. It turns out the seizures began in my occipital lobe and traveled to my left temporal lobe. I recovered from the surgery pretty well, my hair grew back (no, they didn't cut it all off) and only had one seizure after the surgery during school. It's been 4 years since the surgery, and I'm legally considered "partially blind" and it's not getting any better. I have optical migraines now and there's is a permanent blind spot to the left of my center of vision in both eyes now. But, I'd rather be blind than have seizures ever again. Good luck to anyone else who has to go through brain surgery.

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