My 10 Year Misdiagnosis

Hi everyone!

I'm new to the site and new to Epilepsy, so bare with me. I'm a 25 year old female.

Since I was about 15 years old I would have what I refered to as mini-seizures.I wasn't exactly sure what they were or what a seizure felt like, but I felt like that was always the best way to explain the feeling. They were very short, but would come in waves. Usually I'd lose vision for a brief moment and my eyes would flutter. It really became concerning to me when I was able to drive, because I didn't know what they were.

When I saw a DR about the issues I was having, they decided I had anxiety/panic attacks. Nobody ever ran tests, scans, nothing; instead I was handed Prozac.The mini seizures continued on until I was 25 (now) and earlier this year I decided to go see a new DR. This DR said the same thing. Anxiety & panic attacks (of course with no testing or scans). I was given Prozac and Ativan. These two drugs did not help my situation so I was weaned off of the Ativan.

5 days after being completely off of Ativan I had my first Grand Mal seizure. I was at work and was unconcious until waking up in the ER. I was told the withdrawal of Ativan had caused the seizure. No tests were ran and I was sent on my way.

3 weeks later (still off of Ativan) and I was having the normal mini-seizures, and I was driving to work from my lunch break. Woke up in an ambulance after having my 2nd Grand Mal seizure. I was also unconcious for this seizure as well. Upon arriving at the ER for my second seizure, I was given hell about driving after the 1st. I was never instructed not to drive, just that it was cause from the Ativan withdrawal. I was then refered to a neurologist and put on 1000mg of Keppra a day. Within a week the Keppra had eliminated all mini-seizures.

When explaining my symptoms to the neurologist he seemed convinced that these "mini-seizures" I had described were in fact, small seizures. I went on to have a CT scan done in addition to a MRI scan. Both came back normal. For my EEG scan, I was weaned off of the Keppra and was sleep deprived. During the scan, I felt at least 4 mini-seizures break through.

When my results from my EEG came back, the seizures were evident. 2 neurologists studied my results and found I had one area in my brain that had an abnormal amount of electircal acitivity, which they could not explain. My mini-seizures are called Focal Seizures or Partial Seizures. I have Epilepsy. After 2 months of no driving, I have been cleared to drive. My medication has also been bumped up from 1000mg a day to 1500mg a day.

For 10 years, nobody listened. I am really bothered by this, because I knew something didn't feel right. Every time I would explain the mini-seizure feeling to anyone, I wasn't taken seriously. My message to anyone who reads this (if anyone reads this) is to listen to your body and if you feel something is wrong, don't quit pushing for answers and don't settle if you know deep down, there's more to uncover.

God Bless