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I think I had a seizure!???

Sun, 01/02/2005 - 23:31
Topic: Diagnostic Dilemmas and Testing
I'm 25 years old, college grad, living alone and working professionally. Not long ago I was a competitive Mountain and Road Bike racer competing in many national championship events and riding with some of the same people you see while watching the tour de france. I also played competitive ice hockey for 14 years but finally put down the stick in college to focus on my studies and biking.This Summer and Fall I've been riding before work (53 miles, I have to get up at 4:20am) but with all the snow I've been riding my stationary bike indoors in the morning just like I've done thousands of times before. But 2 days ago something stange happend. I was riding while watching a skiing video (music video put to skiing type of thing) and listening to music and I noticed that the "quick cuts" in the movie were begining to annoy me and I began to just stare at one part of the screen... I tried to look away competely for a few seconds because looking at the TV was causing short breaths. The next thing I remember I got sick and vomitted. Then I guess I went back to bed. Amazingly I awoke before it was time for work and realized that I was a hurtin turkey so I called in sick (first time ever in 2 years working there). After I hung up the phone I noticed the TV was still on. For some reason I had thought that I got sick LAST night while I was riding but the TV was still playing the same movie I was watching while riding so it must have taken place this morning. I turned the TV off and noticed a clay wall-sculpture smashed on the floor with my headphones intertwined amungst the broken pieces. I also realized that I still had my sweaty lycra bike gear on! Gross! I realized that I had lost consciousness at some point. I changed and went back to bed. I had a really really bad head ache and later in the day I realized that I had a few tender spots on my head. I had also managed to bite my tongue as it was quite red and a bit swollen and cut. I thought I had slipped in my very slippery bike shoes while making a mad-dash to the bathroom when my stomach began to protest.The next day at work my muscles were really, really sore. I've been hammered by 6 foot 5 inch hockey goons, fallen off my bike into streams, endured 85 mile races to emurge victorious but never have I been so beat up after a simple trainer ride. It was a coworker who said the word seizure. I didn't think so at first but the next day I was still sore, still having difficulty talking through my swollen tongue, and still perplexed as to what happend.The only medication I am on is generic prozac at 40-60mg/day. Seizures is listed as a side effect but they pretty much list every ailment under the sun to cover all their legal bases. :)My mom is a physical therapist for severly handicapped children and would definately have some input but she also worries too much so I want to check with some other folks first before I freak her out.Thanks guys!!John

Comments

RE: I think I had a seizure!???

Submitted by Willsmom on Sat, 2005-01-01 - 13:21
Sounds like a seizure to me. This could be a once in a lifetime thing and never happen again!Some things may be worth investigating.You should investigate the prozac thing, it could be lowering your seizure threshold. Are you taking any suppliments? They could be causing grief in combination with the prozac.Do you use aspertame as a sweetner? It could be that you are sensitive to it.

RE: RE: I think I had a seizure!???

Submitted by busha on Sun, 2005-01-02 - 03:05

Probably a seizure John.

I had a seizure about 2 1/2 mths. ago and i was unconcious for about an hour and a half, it was amazing what my friends told me what had happened.

I had that same memory lapse thing you were talking about.

Coincidentally John, im a cyclist too, not professionally but i've entered road races across the island as well. Not saying that there is any relationship with what you're talking about but just thought i'd mention it.

You should really consider researching more info on the prozac, or the generic one for that matter to see if you're allergic to it. Many prescriptions have side effects and as the previous reply stated, it might be lowering your seizure threshold. Consider the energy drink you were using at the time on the trainer or roller /  Have you been eating anything differently? / Has your diet changed? ask yourself things like that and im sure you will get an answer.

As they told me when i had my seizure, "This may be the only one you have for the rest of your life", so i tell you..

Don't worry about anything and GOOD LUCK...

 

Probably a seizure John.

I had a seizure about 2 1/2 mths. ago and i was unconcious for about an hour and a half, it was amazing what my friends told me what had happened.

I had that same memory lapse thing you were talking about.

Coincidentally John, im a cyclist too, not professionally but i've entered road races across the island as well. Not saying that there is any relationship with what you're talking about but just thought i'd mention it.

You should really consider researching more info on the prozac, or the generic one for that matter to see if you're allergic to it. Many prescriptions have side effects and as the previous reply stated, it might be lowering your seizure threshold. Consider the energy drink you were using at the time on the trainer or roller /  Have you been eating anything differently? / Has your diet changed? ask yourself things like that and im sure you will get an answer.

As they told me when i had my seizure, "This may be the only one you have for the rest of your life", so i tell you..

Don't worry about anything and GOOD LUCK...

 

RE: I think I had a seizure!???

Submitted by halfstep on Sun, 2005-01-02 - 23:31
Dear John,I went for years, beginning around the time that I was your age, experiencing periodic and brief losses of consciousness. I visited a doctor immediately after it happened to me a second time. The event(s) that my body and brain went through seemed bizarre and frightening, although I must say, what you describe hits me as being possibly even more unsettling. However, that doctor's understanding and assessmnet of my condition was, at best, hit or miss, and he failed to arrive at a conclusive diagnosis. Frightening, too, was the notion of being a young newlywed, working low-paying jobs, and trying to figure out how it was that I would fund any medical attention that my condition obviously required. Long and short of it, my fear of financial burden kept me away from doctors for the next 14 years.No longer a newlywed for the second time, my "fainting spells" or "blackouts" began to increase in frequency over the course of a few years---about four to six times a year, to be a bit more specific---and, along with some urgent but supportive prodding from my second wife, I finally brought myself back in to see a doctor. And I'm going to say to you exactly what he said to me upon my describing to him what it was that I had been experiencing all this time: "Well, sounds like epilepsy to me."There it was: without pause, unflinching and without any sense of dressing up the diagnosis to make it sound any more or any less than what it is. And now you've at least steered yourself in a direction that will be of so much greater benefit to you than the direction I took for all those years. I believe you've been made aware that this may have been a one-off kind of incident. But in case it's not, at least you won't be wandering around in the dark, chronically confused about just what in God's name is wrong with you. As I'm sure you've already discovered, this is an excellent site to get a handle on what this affliction is, but I'm certain most of us out here would agree that, given the variety of different types of seizures---and John, I can't imagine what else to call your experience--- and epilepsy itself, every case is, to some degree, unique. However, there is a wealth of information available, and most of all, you're not alone.So, welcome to the weird world of epilepsy. Find a physician that is comfortable dealing with seizure disorders, research as much as you can about it, know your meds and their effects (good, bad, or whatever) and, if you haven't already, I would suggest you check out the link on this site to the list of famous people with it and get a hoot out of what good company we keep.Fare you well.

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