do I really need to treat partial complex?

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Hi, I am looking for some opinions as my neuro evaded this question. I was diagnosed with partial complex seizures, fronto-temporal lobe epilepsy. I have only had 2 seizures during the daytime in the last year. I may have had a few at night because I woke up biting my tongue. My neuro says I may not know when I am having a seizure. Is that right? Do I need to treat it if it doesn't bother me? I miss driving but it's not a huge factor. I have tried 2 meds and been allergic. I am honestly afraid to try more as they affected my breathing. I also have memory problems. Forgetting words, call my kids the wrong names, even forget I am cooking lately. Will this get better with meds? Can it get worse if I don't use meds? Does anyone know if having epilepsy is common? I am wondering how much experience my neuro has with this as he never answers a single question. I am wondering if maybe he may not have many patients with it, although from what I read, epilepsy is not that uncommon. Any answers would be great. Plus, if I take the meds, how do they know when you can drive safely again? Thanks a lot for your help! Wendy

Comments

Re: Hi Wendy, I'm one of the

Submitted by tate on Mon, 2006-10-02 - 03:03

Hi Everyone, Very interesting comments sounds like I could have wrote a few of what happens to you all myself, I am now almost 28 years old I have epilepsy since I was 16 after a hosre accident, I have TLE and complex partial, I used to always have my SZ in my sleep never aware, fell out of bed one time and was hitting my head on my dresser and along the carpet made a pretty good mess of my face and head and dad heard and found me so thats how we realised, so i wasnt just sore from sport. Then came along my absentee moments,,,, glimm ( special moment) as my partner calls them....... they can range from just a stare to standing and jolting.... these have gotten worse and more frequent and my clonic tonic less frequent........ Here is a situation of my friend.. sorry this is long....... but its important my friend on suffers absentees and didnt think it was a big deal... in the last 6 months two things has changed his mind he was walking across a green walking light on a hwy.... he stopped half way across luckily enough for a lady walking the other way noticed he was cathching the train and had one and nearly fell off the platform and the train was arriving... he belived he was walking on to it someting to think about he sure has.......... I cant tell any of you to follw what I do and everyone is so so different....... but if you can monitor your self.... after you have think back DID i get a warning write it down date time anything look back over it take it to your neuro, some people get no wanrings ever some people always get them and some people arnt yet aware of their warnings..... sorry so long most of all take care of your self smiles & hugs

Hi Tate. I'm sorry to hear

Submitted by happycat2 on Tue, 2006-10-03 - 00:03

Hi Tate. I'm sorry to hear about your friend and hope he gets the help he needs. It sure sounds like he needs to. Forgive me if I say you sound a lot older, and seem familiar. Just I once read a similar story about some person in the same situation as you. They had a friend who was their tutor, and had seizures. They helped cover up he had, so he could keep his job. Scared the life out of me, as I thought back then, a pretty risky thing to do. I often wondered why they didn't ask that friend to go seek help, get his med adjusted or something. Could have been because they to were having those absentee moments, and deciding if better to risk telling, or keep looking up in their library just what the symptoms are they had. Some people just don't realize talking helps, even to a friend and asking them go see their doctor, or neuro. Instead of sitting down and reading about it, to learn about it, they don't, they forget that the gold standard advice after all is go see your doctor or neuro, talk to them. I wouldn't for all the coffee in the world like to put a friend in a situation were they were at risk of harm, or could loose their job. I wouldn't like that friend to put themselves in all kinds of situations were they could get hurt. Could you be different from them I wonder, you talked to your friend, and your friend saw sense. Your dad did the same for you when you must have talked to him about your own TLE symptoms, and at a time you needed help the most. Being diagnosed with a seizure disorder while still a teen brings it's own complications. I know, as you know. I also know a shoulder to lean on is very handy, and there is a lot of information to know about epilepsy, for everyone is different as you realized. That applies even if if you're new to epilepsy, or have known it for twenty years. You found your way here, maybe you could think about sending some of the information to your friend, so he can print it out and read it. Better still, if he joined he would find out the people here are here to help, and to share their stories, alongside offering support. People on here offer great support, they share the good and bad times to. There's always someone around to offer a helping a hand, or a word, or share their experience. Cat. "Many false prophets are gone out into the world." 1 John 4:1

Re: do I really need to treat partial complex?

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2006-10-03 - 00:29

Hope you have had a chance to browse around and find some answers to your questikons. Lots of good support from people here too! If you haven't done so, here's a link to basic info on understanding seizures - then go from there!

www.epilepsy.com/101/101_epilepsy.html

www.epilepsy.com/web/animation.php?swf=what_is

People who are having trouble knowing what may be a seizure or how many are happening, should write down what they think is happening and take into appointments. It can help the doctor see what is going on and think about if other tests or treatments may help. Here's a link to info that may help. While written for teens, info and resources can help people of any age.

www.epilepsy.com/pdfs/Except_parent_art2.pdf

www.epilepsy.com/pdfs/instructions_seizure_calendar.pdf

www.epilepsy.com/pdfs/tips_seizure_observation.pdf

www.epilepsy.com/pdfs/event_calendar.pdf

Welcome aboard!

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