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Petit Mal or Absence Seizures Appearing in Adulthood
Sun, 09/10/2006 - 18:47Topic: New to Epilepsy.com
My Name is Anthony Andrew, and recently, at the age of 25, i have been informaly diagnosed with Absence Seizures by my family. doctor. We are still running a few extra "tests" just to make sure. I have been studying the topic of petit mal's and have yet to find anything on the subject of adulthood appearance of petit mals. I started experiencing absences almost two and a half years ago (i was twenty-two). At first it was just once or twice a week, but has now increased to nearly five or six a day. They didn't bother me too much, untill recently. I own my own business, a fledgling seasonal store. i have been working very hard with my staff to prepare for the Hallowe'en and Christmas seasons, our largest. But because of the absences, i am finding myself suddenly standing in front of my staff with no idea what i was just talking about. It returns after a few moments, but it is always another minute or so before i can form words. It is really starting to affect my business and my relationship with my staff.
After all that, i guess what i am trying to find out is whether or not there are other cases of absence seizures appearing for the first time in adulthood. My Doctors have not heard of any other similar cases, but i don't know if they really don't know, or if they just don't read the Medical Journal.
I would really apreciate any information. Thanks for reading my rant!
Comments
Re: Petit Mal or Absence Seizures Appearing in Adulthood
Submitted by Den on Mon, 2007-08-06 - 05:05
Hi there
I have been suffering with absence seizures since the age of 14, I am now 30 and still have yet to be diagnosed by a doctor as the CT scan I had was find as were the EEG's.
I am constantly worried about losing my job and the most scariest moment for me was a week ago when I was driving my friend home who is also my boss and I had a seizure. I knew it was happening as my heart was racing as I tried to fight it and my speed slowed which was actually lucky as I then swerved into the curb! I came out of it and tried to hide what was wrong by saying that I was concentrating on something else. My friend was a bit shaken and I managed to get her home but I then had to go into a car park and park the car and sleep for a bit as I was exhausted. It takes all of my energy to fight it. I have changed jobs numerous times because of it as i couldn't take messages properly as I couldn't remember who was on the phone when I put it down and couldn't read what I had written when I thought I was taking a message. It took all of my strength to serve a customer a pint of beer without dropping it and then I felt I was slurring my words when asking for the money, he must have thought I was drinking the prophets!! I really need help as because my CT scan and EEG have not found anything and the fact of my age then I can't possibly have this (that would seem to be the doctors attitude) but my half brother was diagnosed at 11 and he is on medication and is now 47. I hope someone on here is able to help me or point in the right direction as I am scared that I will lose my job or worse hurt someone in an accident whilst driving as until I am diagnosed and have the right medication I can't tell my boss but still have to get to work.
Thank you Denise
Re: Re: Petit Mal or Absence Seizures Appearing in Adulthood
Submitted by pollyanna on Sat, 2006-12-23 - 16:22
Hey Renee, Just wanted to mention to you that I had a very similar experience as your daughter, but was diagnosed with complex partial seizures. I drove home, negotiating one traffic light (I pray it was green), and several turns, etc. When I "came to" had no idea where I was, just green trees on both sides of the road. I kept driving straight and and finally came upon a recognizable street, which told me I was going home. Very scary. When the neuro asked me about "lost time" this episode immediately came to mind. Sorry to jump on your thread AA! Hugs, Pollyanna