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First seizure at 50

Wed, 04/01/2015 - 10:54

I am 50 and had my first seizure. My wife and I were shopping and I started to feel a little dizzy and the next thing I remember was waking up in the back of an ambulance outside the store. My wife said she saw me fall. She said I quit breathing and turned purple, she thought I was having a heart attack. There was a nurse and EMT shopping in the store that came to assist my wife, they said I had a pulse and my pupils were fully dilated.

I spent the next two days in the hospital having all the tests run under the care of a neuro doctor. He put me on Keppra 1000mg twice a day which makes me very tired and no energy. I have been in a job with the same company for over 30 years. The bad part is my job requires me to drive a lot. My doc said that I can not drive for six months so I have taken off for STD.

I'm not sure what comes next since the doc could not tell what caused the seizure and diagnosed me with seizure disorder. I feel that I just waiting for the next seizure to occur. I do not want to leave the house because do not want to have another seizure in public.

I am thankful that the seizure occurred after we arrived at the store since I was driving. It's crazy how your life can change so quickly. Even if I go seizure free for six months and can drive again, I'm not sure that I will ever feel comfortable driving again knowing that I could hurt or kill someone if I have a seizure behind the wheel.

 

 

Comments

Welcome to the clubMereloaded

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 2015-04-02 - 19:33
Welcome to the clubMereloaded said a lot and I respect her posts a lot. I see more people complaining about not driving and they are only thinking about them without really focusing on what can happen to them and others.As for keppra her son has used it and she posted for the length of time he has. I too use keppra and  have been for 10+ years. Like She said it has become the go to medication. It has fewer side effects. Nost neuro's set up an appoint,emt 3-6 months from th e first appt. That gives your body the time to get used to the medication and the theraputic levels to get where the neuro wants them. In the next appt he will be asking you questions. Have you had any more seizures. Was there any difference that day. and others. He is looking for things that might help him with the dosage change if needed or even another procedure that might help you get seizure free. Oh and yes there are people that get seizure free. Some still take meds but there are others that stop the meds and go back to a regular life that they had driving and working like your next door neighbor.No you do need to take your meds right. If you are to take them 2 times a day as you posted then make those times 12 hours apart. Seizure medicatins are not like asperin where one size fits all and theystop working after a certain period of time. The time you take then are just replenishing the theraputil levels which decreases daily. I hace mine at 8 am and pm. If there is a dealy like 8 am and 11 pm then the delay could cause a braekthru seizure later.  As for knowing the cause many people don't know. The EEG can show normal. I had 20-25 show normal. I also had one that had abnormalities. So I am one of the lucky ones.If you have ever hit your head hard enough to knock you out then that could have been a cause. I said could. I know that is the cause of mine. Doctors had run tests and all had come back normal. That 1 EEG showed then where to look closer at in the neuro-angeogram (MRI of hte 06's) in looking closer they found scared brain tissue. That was from a hemmorage to the brain which was from a blow to my head between 6-8 YOA.I would also suggest you get the MyEpilepsy Diary which can be found on most pages in this site. Watch the video and it can help you if you have a seizure. There is a note pad in it which is on each page note things that happened that day. I hope this helps Joe

First seizure 20 years ago,

Submitted by FlymanJeff on Fri, 2015-04-03 - 14:31
First seizure 20 years ago, then 8 in last 6 months. Neurologist gave up, sent me to epileptologist, based on my description Iof events, then my wife's descriptions, epileptologist nailed it! Focal seizures that turn into generalized tonic clonic. Off Keppra and on Trileptal with minor side effect effects. Did not pick up an event on Veeg. Eegs always normal for me. Hopefully on the way to a normal life. No working or driving here either. Short term disability just ran out. Hopefully returning to normal come September. 49 years old. Let's get through this Grob!

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