Community Forum Archive

The Epilepsy Community Forums are closed, and the information is archived. The content in this section may not be current or apply to all situations. In addition, forum questions and responses include information and content that has been generated by epilepsy community members. This content is not moderated. The information on these pages should not be substituted for medical advice from a healthcare provider. Experiences with epilepsy can vary greatly on an individual basis. Please contact your doctor or medical team if you have any questions about your situation. For more information, learn about epilepsy or visit our resources section.

Epilepsy and Assault (warning adult topics)

Fri, 01/05/2007 - 12:30
So I've had to build myself up to asking this question, but I feel like it's okay to do so now. Hopefully you all can offer me some advice and answers. In July, three months before my diagnoses, I was going through a very stressful time. I hadn't slept in several days, and I went over to a friends house to talk about what was going on in my life. He wasn't up yet, so I decided to sit and wait downstairs. Stupid mistake number one, I'm on anxiety medication, and it wasn't working, I wanted to stint the panic attack I was about to have, so I drank a little bit...which turned into a decent amount over the next hour or so. That being said, remember this, I had no idea at the time that I had epilepsy, so the idea of drinking wasn't a no no to me at the time. Said friend was also going through some issues, and his way of helping me was to go ahead and help himself. The next WEEK of my life is a blur. Things I do know for sure, are quickly followed by periods of totally memory loss. There are two days I cannot remember at all. At one point I was brought to the hospital in full tonic clonic siezures. The time that they lasted, and the back to back nature, was later seen as "status epilepticus." At the time however, I wasn't even told I was having seizures. The nurses said I was, but when the doctor came to see me several hours later he said no...even though he'd never seen me before, and he didn't even ask me what had happened. Two days later I returned to the hospital with severely high blood pressure, and low blood sugar. I hadn't been eating, and I was very sick to my stomach. I can't really even remember talking to the doctors and nurses, but I know that they kept me for the night, and gave me a bunch of xanax. The day they released me from the hospital isn't clear, but I do know I was assaulted that night. This adds in the new trauma factor of general shock and dissasociation. Sometime in that following day I drove to a clinic for EC, but I refused an exam, and didn't report the assault. At the time I wasn't even accepting that I had been assaulted. The scary thing is that I don't remember driving to the clinic, or driving back to my assailant's place to get my stuff. The next thing I remember is that night, coming to concoiusness with my assailaint on top of me yet again. I locked myself in a bathroom after that, and he left for two days. Within those two days my head completely cleared, and I was realizing what had happened, but I remained obviously confused. He'd taken my keys and my phone so I was essentially stuck until he returned when I took all of my stuff and fled. By the time I reported it to police the evidence wasn't enough to pursue a trial or anything like that. What DID happen was that I insisted my sleeping medication be changed. I was missing seven or so of my Ambien CR pills, and assailaint had asked prior to all of this what would happen if the pills were crushed and taken. (The result can lead to unconciousness, memory loss, etc. since it's technically an OD of controlled release). They changed me to seroquel, which can lower your seizure threshold, and within two months I was having enough myoclonic seizures to result in a neuro visit and an EEG. MY QUESTIONS ARE AS FOLLOWS: I haven't talked to the guy who assaulted me since all of this ended. He denies everything, of course, and even contacted my husband the day the restraining order was lifted to ask us what we were going to do now. This man has talked about wanting to drug his wife...so it's not a far stretch that he was somehow drugging me, but I don't know what he was giving me aside from (most likely) my ambien. He was on atavin, and some anti-depressant. He also had connections to other substances, since he later tested positive for cocaine and pot and was kicked from the service. Should I worry that something he gave me could cause more frequent seizures and try and find out what he gave me? Secondly, I'm not going to press more charges because there was no physical evidence to definitively prove that he was the one who assaulted me, although he admitted to having relations with me, but insisted they were consentual. Anyways, could my diagnoses have made a difference in my ability TO consent? I had been drinking, but not directly prior to both assaults, so I don't know. Still, I've heard of cases where the victim isn't compitent to consent because of various forms of mental state...I'm just wondering if repetive seizure activity could have been one of them. Thank you for your support on this in advance to all who respond.

Comments

Re: Epilepsy and Assault (warning adult topics)

Submitted by wldhrt13 on Fri, 2007-01-05 - 17:55
Christina, Sounds like you have been through hell and back with the seizures alone. Add to that, you were raped and I can't imagine what you are going through. I am so sorry you had to suffer this kind of trauma. Please try and be gentle and easy with yourself, don't blame yourself for anything that happened to you. Doesn't matter what clothes you were or weren't wearing, how drunk you are, or whether you flirted or not. No matter what, no woman ever "asks for it". Okay, the first thing that is disturbing is when you say that, "...The next thing I remember is that night, coming to concoiusness with my assailaint on top of me yet again. I locked myself in a bathroom after that, and he left for two days." The mere fact that you were in an unconscious state and found this person "on top" of you, is terrifying. Against her will is against the law. If a person is unconscious, they are not able to give conscent. Period. So that right there, says to me that it is a clearcut case of rape. That being said, what relationship, if any, did you have with the "assailant?" I am assuming it was a friend because you said you had gone to a friends house because you were having trouble and you stated, "Said friend was also going through some issues, and his way of helping me was to go ahead and help himself." Let me preface my next question by saying that I am not at ALL trying to invalidate you, I am merely trying to play devil's advocate and cover all the bases. You said early in your story that, "I wanted to stint the panic attack I was about to have, so I drank a little bit...which turned into a decent amount over the next hour or so." Is it possible that you consented to sex while you were in a drunken state and don't remember? For this reason, it would be important to know whether you were engaged in sexual relationship with this individual prior to this incident. If this was only a platonic relationship, it would add much more weight to a court case. And yes, it is my opinion that you should proceed with a court case. Even without testing being done immediately after the rape, and no DNA evidence recovered, you should still seek justice for what he did for you. I would RUN as fast as I could to the police and press charges. Unless by doing so it could place you in further grave danger. Lastly, I would under no circumstances ever speak to this person again. Forget about the means by which he sedated you, whether he crushed your own medication up, used Flunitrazepam (Rohypnol), of simply waited for you to get too innebriated. Leave that to the police to figure out. The fact that he raped you while you were unconscious is HORRIFIC !!not to mention ILLEGAL, DEBASE, SADISTIC, SOCIOPATHIC!!!! And even more scary is that if he did this to you, he could and probably will do it to other women! There could be other victims. He is a very sick and dangerous man!!! for your own safety, please stay away from him!! I am truly sorry for the hell you've gone through and will do anything I can to help you. Please tell me you will never see this sick sick man again. He is no friend... (((hugs)))) pamela p.s. email me anytime if you need to vent etc..

Christina, Sorry for

Submitted by GodivaGirl on Sat, 2007-01-06 - 18:43
Christina, Sorry for everything you have been through. I'll try my best to reply back to your post in stages as someone who is a 32 year-old female from Canada. I did go to university for sociology and criminology though, so that influence may come through here. It's probably going to be easier if I copy parts of your post & comment back, hope that's okay. I'm also going to put this in 2 separate posts. One with thoughts on your whole post, one to address your questions, just 'cause my PC won't post it all together. Overall thoughts...part A is here: It seems to me that you trusted this person previously some how. It's never a mistake to go over to a friend's house to talk - same sex or opposite sex. Some of my closest friends are male (and yes, I'm common law and have been with my boyfriend for 5 years - interestingly enough I've been unemployed since just before Christmas - a guy I'm friends with and I hang out all the time. He'd never hurt me). You can't go back in time, but if you want to look forward & learn, what a court may use against you is that you were drinking & mixing anti-anxiety meds with alcohol. Question to you: Later you say the "friend" / "abuser" has a drug history. Is it possible that he slipped something into a drink unknown to you, and would that be in medical records you could get your hands on? If so, great non-physical evidence. If you were that wrecked at a hospital, I'd think they'd to a blood-alcohol test & drug testing. Get a doctor and go after them if not - explain the situation, find out why that wasn't done. Either way, booze + anti-anxiety, or AED (anti-epileptics) not a good idea. Not to say the jerk had any right to hurt you. Something tells me he would've found a way, and No means No, no matter what, and you should not be at fault. "At the time however, I wasn't even told I was having seizures. The nurses said I was, but when the doctor came to see me several hours later he said no...even though he'd never seen me before, and he didn't even ask me what had happened." This is the part that leads me to say - ummm...medical records they're yours. You deserve to see what the doctor wrote about you. Get a copy & see a lawyer. You deserve to know if you were treated properly. Did they do a rape kit work up? Have you had a PAP test since? Assuming you are totally in a faithful relationship & have been forever, if you have a PAP that looks different than the past 'x' number, well - evidence - especially if they didn't do a rape work up, which in theory they should've. You may not get the "guy" - get the doctor for malpractice, especially if you're American, I understand that's easier. Another question. Is it possible Mr.Abuser was at the hospital to ensure that everything got buried the right way in his favor? I'd get the medical records to find out. After all, if you were not conscious, who signed medical paperwork, not you? Family member? Who's the emergency contact, and why didn't they step up? "At the time I wasn't even accepting that I had been assaulted. The scary thing is that I don't remember driving to the clinic, or driving back to my assailant's place to get my stuff. The next thing I remember is that night, coming to concoiusness with my assailaint on top of me yet again. I locked myself in a bathroom after that, and he left for two days. Within those two days my head completely cleared, and I was realizing what had happened, but I remained obviously confused. He'd taken my keys and my phone so I was essentially stuck until he returned when I took all of my stuff and fled. By the time I reported it to police the evidence wasn't enough to pursue a trial or anything like that." You may not remember the first assault, but it's interesting they won't believe you that there's a second one. Could you point the guy out in a line up? Do you have a picture of him? Take a picture of him to the police, get them to run his criminal record and see what's up. Everything just doesn't add up. Hope this makes sense...and now, the answers to your questions follows ~ Erin

Re: Christina, Sorry for

Submitted by GodivaGirl on Sat, 2007-01-06 - 22:34
Again, sorry this is in 2 parts My computer was driving me NUTS!! Upgrades..and conflicts with Java programming! Now, to answer your questions: Now to answer your questions: A) Ativan - FYI: It's in the same family as valium. I'm on a seizure medication like that called clobazam. That explains why you were so tired. You REALLY can't have any alcohol with that at all. Ativan is a really powerful relaxant. I take clobazam to prevent seizures at night for me because I'm a restless sleeper and all my seizures happen at night. It won't cause more seizures for you probably (should be out of your system by now I'd think). While I am VERY careful with my seizure medications, I read up on the effects just incase. No one has ever gotten their hands on my medications & I'd never give them to anyone, but I take a bus every where & carry them in my purse and knapsack so I always know the effects. Ativan is like clobazam, and that one, would just make someone non-epileptic incredibly tired for a few days. Don't think you'd be prone to more seizures. If anything the mixture of alcohol+medications triggered that. After all, are you aware that people who go into alcohol poisioning can experience almost the same thing as a tonic clonic seizure?? And well, often times people try to commit suicide by OD'ing on a whack of over-the-counter pills - they go into seizures and convulsions, etc., as far as I know. Not that I'm a doctor. Not what you wanna hear probably, but I'd think the multiple seizures back then, and the status epilepticus was maybe due to mixing anxiety meds, alcohol and who knows maybe ativan & who knows what else. Just my input by what you've mentioned here. Consult a neurologist if you're really concerned. B) Epileptic probably makes no difference in your ability to consent to anything. If you were in the state of unconsciousness how can you consent. Really though, you never did consent. I'd reconsider. No, means no. The doctor was wrong, the guy who abused you was wrong and it seems like there are a lot of people who want to just dismiss you and write you off as someone claiming to be a victim. If anything, later on they might come back & say are you sure it's epilepsy & not just "NES" (non-epileptic stress seizures) so they'd want concrete records that you in fact have epilepsy. Something for you to consider as well. You've been through hell & back. Get some solid counseling and don't give in. Best of luck & take care of yourself. ~ EC

Sign Up for Emails

Stay up to date with the latest epilepsy news, stories from the community, and more.