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I'm a newbie with a "grand mal wake-up-call"

Sun, 04/16/2006 - 09:03
Hey, folks! What a great website! By way of introduction, I am a 32-yr old female engineer who had no idea about E until March 25, when I had a grand mal seizure in front of about 200 people. I woke up in the back of an ambulance with paramedics scolding me for trying to take the oxygen tube out of my nose (apparently I was a little fiesty--oops!). Anyway, they told me I had just had a seizure, and I said "OK", but then internally, I said "a Seizure?? NOT ok!!" So subsequently I had an MRI (normal) and an EEG (not so normal). Because of the EEG, the Doc put me on Keppra "just to make sure." The doc also had told me before the MRI and EEG that technically it wasn't epilepsy until I'd had 2 seizures. Then he handed me a bunch of literature about epilepsy anyway, so it seemed to be merely a matter of semantics. The wierd thing is, I previously always thought that the only thing that is a seizure is a full-up, grand mal, convulsive affair such as the one I just experienced. It was only after much reading that I learned about simple and complex partials, and now that I know what those are, I can tell ya I've been having seizures for a long time without knowing that's what they are! I just thought it was sleep deprivation and stress. So in a way, the grand mal was a good thing, because it got me to a neurologist and now I'm under treatment. I gotta say, this is all a little scary to me, but I find humor to be my friend through this. My husband and I just have to laugh at such things as my saying "suffering succotash" while my poor, badly bitten tongue heals (what a ridiculous thing to do to oneself, lol!). Anybody else have no idea they were having seizures until a "big one" in adulthood? Just curious. Happy Easter! --Juperee

Comments

Re: I'm a newbie with a "grand mal wake-up-call"

Submitted by JScott on Mon, 2006-04-17 - 00:24
I have also had seizures for years without knowing what they were. I thought everyone lost track of time while driving or reading or doing whatever. I just thought it was normal to be walking through a mall towards an exit and then to all of the sudden find myself in the parking lot. Maybe they had invented teletransportation and just not told me :) I just found out last month that I had epilepsy. The best thing about it has been that so many of the episodes in my life that have scared me and made me think that I was losing my mind had now been mostly explained. I don't necessarily like the answer but I do like the fact that they have been explained. Oh, did you know that other people don't get electical zaps in their brains followed by jerking movements in their arms and legs and even feet? I didn't either. I also didn't know that it wasn't normal for your brain to feel like it was being shaken from the inside. Hang in there as you learn more and more about exactly how epilespy effects you. It soesn't effect any two people in the same way.

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