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Undiagnosed newbie

Fri, 04/21/2006 - 07:37
Hi there. I am brand new to this forum. I found epilepsy.com yesterday while looking up some information. I was diagnosed with depression 2 1/2 weeks ago. I was also diagnosed with an acute anxiety disorder and given some material to read. After going through a self-screening, my next question to my doctor was going to be about a full blown panic disorder. ...and then I saw it. Chapter 2 of the book I was given listed a whole bunch of medical causes for anxiety. Listed there, halfway down the list, was "Temporal Lobe Epilepsy". My oldest sister is epileptic. I have always associated epilepsy with the grand mal seizures she had. I got curious after that term played itself over and over and over again in my mind. I just wanted to know what it was, so I looked it up and found this site. You could have knocked me over with a feather. Simple partial seizures..... I recognized that description so thoroughly I almost started to cry. That happens to me at a minimum of once a week. I've always just thought I go a little spacey and that it's just a personality tick. I never made any sort of connection to epilepsy. I'm currently being medicated for the depression and my dosage goes up tomorrow. I have another doctor's appointment in three weeks. Right now, I'm struggling over whether I should call the doctor today with this information or wait for three weeks. It is, of course, totally possible that I just happen to go a little spacey, but the familiarity of the descriptions of "simple partial seizures" is going to drive me crazy till I talk to him. Especially considering the last one happened last night. The other thing that just killed me was the mood and behaviour 101 page, where it describes the long-term effects of seizures on the brain (ie forgetting words, using the wrong word, and not being able to recall the thing you just watched/read). Again...I thought that was just a personality tick, since it happens to my oldest sister (the one who is epileptic), too. Advice would be useful. I'm absolutely itching for as much information as I can get my hands on. I've never felt so free in a potential explanation for what is wrong with me. I'm not big on self-diagnosis, generally.... it's just that this is such an accurate description of what happens to me.

Comments

Re: Hi. Thanks. I've spent

Submitted by missy_b on Sat, 2006-04-22 - 10:49
Isn't this amazing! I read all these posts and I feel I could have written these. There are so many of us that have very similar experiences. I still am so frustrated with all the doctors that just don't listen or have no explanations. I can't begin to tell all of you how many times I have heard from them "tell me what your seizures are like" or "What happens before a seizure" and you tell them and they don't say anything. I feel like telling them anymore is useless because they don't have any real answers. Everytime I find a new doctor they say we will get to the bottom of this and all they end up doing is giving us more drugs!! When I found out that my so called "anxiety disorder" was seizures I wanted to just go off! I felt like calling every Dr. I've seen and saying to them I told you so! It is a shame that we almost have diagnose ourselves. I am going to give my neuro. this website and ask him to just take a few moments of his precious time and read it! This may even educate them more. I'm sure they didn't hear all this in med. school. This is the real deal. I need to stop blabbing! Hang in there everyone!

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