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My Seizure and my friends death

Thu, 07/12/2007 - 00:27
I had a grand mal seizure two years ago which resulted in a serious head injury and a week's stay in the hospital. I have since been on Lamictal and have none none since. Around the same time I had my seizure a good college friend of mine had one as well. He had several in the past and we spoke often about our experiences. Several months later he had another seizure while he was home alone, hit his head and later passed away. He was drinking heavily at the time and there was a good chance he was also using drugs. He had not been taking care of himself and had recently gotten in a bar fight in which he had been hit in the head with a flashlight, possible causing trauma to his brain. This was all very hard for me and I still have trouble dealing with it. Because of his death and my head injury I seem to associate seizures always being traumatic. My Neuro has told me time and time again that If I have another aura, as I did before, to find a safe place and things will be fine when the seizure ends. I also read things in the news that are hard to take in. For example a few days ago a lady had a seizure and supposedly she "would have died" if her 5 year old daughter didn't call 911. Sometimes when I read stuff like this I think the news makes things more dramatic to make for a better story. I know it's possible that she could die, people do, but I wonder if they are making more out of it than it is. I wonder if it's more about a 5 year old that can call 911 than the actual problem at hand. Anyway, because of my experiences every time I get a simple headache or a little lightheaded I start to panic. I associate seizures with long stays in the hospital and even death. I ultimately make myself physically sick over this. I no longer know anyone who has seizures and sometimes wish I had another so I know that I will regain consciousness and things will be ok. I guess I'm not really asking any questions here, but wanted to see is anyone had any thoughts for comfort or reassurance that one can have a seizure that doesn't result in a traumatic experience.

Comments

Re: My Seizure and my friends death

Submitted by banffgirl on Fri, 2007-07-13 - 05:26
ok #1 stop panicing. i have uncontolable epilepsy and if i start feeling funny, i sit down, its better then falling bumping your head against a counter or whatever. #2 i have had epilepsy for 40 something yrs and i am still hear. #3 it is scarey, you need to come in and chat with us in the evenings and get to know people with the same prpoblems. we help each other. #5. yes some seizures do end in death, drugs and alchol do not mix with epilespy, its called playing russain roulle cuz one day it will kill you, hitting your head badly on a hard surface also cancause death thats why you sit down on the floor as soon as you feel funny. i hope this helps \, you have to learn to live with it, not let it take over your life. God bless, banffgirl

Re: My Seizure and my friends death

Submitted by very_scared on Fri, 2007-07-13 - 07:47
I'm so sorry about your friend! What a loss for you! But I'm glad you have this site so you can connect with other people and not feel so scared. Although my handle is very_scared that's b/c I am now pregnant and going off meds quickly. I normally don't feel scared about having seizures. Without medicine, yeah! When you read things on line, it can be terrifying. I personally know a lot of highly functioning professionals who have it under control. Panic doesn't help. I had that too where I felt everything was a seizure and I literally created fake seizures which resulted in my license getting taken away - for what later turned out to be panic. Once you learn to let it happen, you won't be resisting and the panic won't have its hold on you. That's what I learned and eventually it worked. When it starts, get in a safe place just in case and then say to yourself, okay bring it on, if you're going to. If it's panic, nothing will happen and your relationship to it will shift. If it's a seizure, you'll be in a safe place. Try to relax and breath and not fight whatever it is. That was my problem. As I go off my meds, I'll be dealing with the same issues again. email me if you want. And best of luck to you! Yes, the news does sensationalize stories. Talk to other people on this site to get a good understanding of your situation!

Re: My Seizure and my friends death

Submitted by gwen48 on Fri, 2007-07-13 - 09:14
Dear Hersh: Your story made me smile because I can associate with your thoughts and fears. I have had seizures for about forty years now. Always grand mals in my sleep, and every few years. About four years ago I ended up in the emergency room with big fat headache and went into grand mals, was intubated and spent 10 days in ICU. Long story short, I was dehydrated as hell and my electrolytes were in the basement. After that I was a walking panic attack, suspicious of every headache, and to this day I avoid the heat. After some therapy, and time I came to terms with the situation and try to take care of myself now. The aftermath of that experience was harrowing to say the least. I had a seizure sometime after that and it did not alleviate my fears but sent relief to me that I would not be walking death after every seizure. The mind is powerful and with seizures we can blow a situation up. Flip that and make it a positive instead of a negative. Thanks for sharing your story, you are not alone! Gwen

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