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Seizure after 4 years

Wed, 02/02/2005 - 09:28
Topic: Family & Friends
Hello all, I am from Singapore living now in the US. My little brother who is 25 yrs old now had his first seizure when he was about 8 years old and he has been on medication since. The doctor diagnosed him and put him on various medications then and as he grew up the final medication that he was seizure free was Carbamazepine 200mg. The doc also said that his siezures would go away once he's old enough. That stuck in his mind and he stopped taking medication about 3 years ago and was seizure free until last week. In all, he has had 4 seizures in his entire life , last week being the fourth. Is this is common for seizures to go away and come back ? I am very depressed and worried for him .. He's a straight A scholarship student and I thought he got over this but apparently not. We are going to see a neurologist and see what's wrong ..any ideas ? I am very depressed at this point ..not knowing what to do...ThanksUV

Comments

RE: Seizure after 4 years

Submitted by annepooh on Mon, 2005-01-31 - 10:03
Hi I am from Canada & I also was diagnosed with tonic clonic epilepsy 8 years ago , The doctor's put me on Tegeratol. I didn't have a seizure for about 2 years so I just stopped taking them myself. Then I had a cat scan done this past summer & the doctor told me it was normal . So I stopped taking my med's .Then on Jan 20 I had a seizure here while I was home with my two small children.I woke up three hours later !!So now I am vary scared to be home alone with my kids !And my doctor don't seem to know much of anything about Epilepsy !!!I knew nothing more after I seen him !I was just all the more confused about the whole thing !!And feeling depressed about the whole thing. I really don't understand how you can go for so long & be fine and then "bang" outta no where it's back ! ?!?!It's crazy & it drives people crazy trying to think of what caused it to return!If you & your brother fine out any info , Please drop me a line . ~Ann~

RE: Seizure after 4 years

Submitted by lemond on Mon, 2005-01-31 - 21:11
Ann and UV,I've had vaious forms of seizures since age 5. There have been a lot of ups and downs along the way. I was siezure free (generalized tonic clonic) from the age of 13 to 16. At 16 my dad died and I started to have generalized seizures again a month later. It's my opinion that those seizures were stress induced. They stopped after a year or so and I was relatively seizure free for a number of years. Nine years ago I had some simple partial seizures again and a drug change helped everything. I was seizure free then until about 6 months ago. Things are still not quite under control yet. Why do they come back? I have always known that my seizures could return any time for any reason. I've never taken for granted that my seizures are pretty well controlled. I've stayed drug and alcohol free my entire life, though I know that affects different people different ways.My doc says brain cells die everyday as a matter of course. Happens to everyone everyday and something just might happen to change things in such a way that seizures return. The brain, to me anyway, is a very mysterious thing. I don't think neurologists know much about it even, but they'll never say that. The brain still holds a lot of secrets. My seizures coming back after 9 years was a real zinger for me. I lost a lot of the sense of security I've developed and it's taken a while for me to feel safe again.Your brother can still be a straight A student. You have every right to be very proud of him. He can manage seizures as well as he manages his school work. Just stay focused on the goal (seizure control while tolerating the treatment) and he'll do great. I'm sorry for your fear right now. I know you can come through this.Good luck.Lemond

RE: Seizure after 4 years

Submitted by rhilets on Wed, 2005-02-02 - 09:28

 

Hello,

I had a similar experience - I had been seizure-free for 7 years until july this year when I had a simple partial, followed by secondary generalized tc attack while I was 7 months pregnant.  That was a real shock as I had convinced myself that I had probably 'grown out of it' (wishful thinking) and I had become quite lax in taking my medication, going from 600mgs of tegretol to 400mg, wanting to avoid side-effects to my baby.   He was fine, by the way, thank goodness, and survived quite a fall in my tummy without any harm done.  The frustrating thing about Epilepsy is the lack of clarity - of course we all want to feel in control and empowered and it's hard to reach that point with it's unpredictable character.  I had another simple partial attack one month later and nothing since, touch wood, so I live in hope that it was all down to the pregnancy hormones and hte extreme heat etc..

I don't know the likelihood of epilepsy returning - I gain a lot of comfort (or not) from statistics and I try to find reassuring stats on reocurrence but I'm yet to find any.  If anyone knows of any, I'd love to know!

I too worry about being with my small baby alone, esp when out - but ultimately all we can do is try our hardest not to put ourselves in precarious situations and not to live in fear - it mustn't control us!

Rhiannon x 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello,

I had a similar experience - I had been seizure-free for 7 years until july this year when I had a simple partial, followed by secondary generalized tc attack while I was 7 months pregnant.  That was a real shock as I had convinced myself that I had probably 'grown out of it' (wishful thinking) and I had become quite lax in taking my medication, going from 600mgs of tegretol to 400mg, wanting to avoid side-effects to my baby.   He was fine, by the way, thank goodness, and survived quite a fall in my tummy without any harm done.  The frustrating thing about Epilepsy is the lack of clarity - of course we all want to feel in control and empowered and it's hard to reach that point with it's unpredictable character.  I had another simple partial attack one month later and nothing since, touch wood, so I live in hope that it was all down to the pregnancy hormones and hte extreme heat etc..

I don't know the likelihood of epilepsy returning - I gain a lot of comfort (or not) from statistics and I try to find reassuring stats on reocurrence but I'm yet to find any.  If anyone knows of any, I'd love to know!

I too worry about being with my small baby alone, esp when out - but ultimately all we can do is try our hardest not to put ourselves in precarious situations and not to live in fear - it mustn't control us!

Rhiannon x 

 

 

 

 

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