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must treat partails?
Sat, 11/04/2006 - 12:30Topic: New to Epilepsy.com
My daughter was diagnosed by her neuro as having simple partials. She says that she suddenly has a memory like flashback which is unprovoked and unrelated to what she is doing. It closely resembles deja vu. She does not lose consciousness, does not experience any other motor or other symptom. It lasts 5-10 seconds, but she can walk, talk and do things through it. Mostly, it is unnerving. She had bloodwork (all clear), contrast MRI (all clear) and an EEG (clear). We have scheduled an overnight EEG. Until then, we are keeping a diary of events. We note that, If they do happen, they occur only during the two weeks between ovulation and menstruation.)
These episodes are unnerving and are frequent (they used to be more frequent before I controlled her diet and sleep habits) and are unnerving to her. However, they don't seem to have any other effect.
Do you treat this??? Don't meds have side effect and which can be worse? If we don't treat with meds, will it get worse? What about waiting to see if a new symptom happens or outgrowing it?
She's never had brain trauma, or injuries and is very healthy and athlethic. She is also artistic and eccentric.
Any thoughts to this still-new-to-this mom?
Thanks,
goodmom
Comments
Re: must treat partails?
Submitted by staciem on Thu, 2006-11-16 - 12:32
I too suffer from partial seizures, and they sound very similar to your daughter's. The whole flashback/deja vu thing is a dead ringer for my own.
I will say this, after having only partial seizures for 2 years, I had my first generalized seizure in Sept. I woke up on the floor and had to go the ER. I also lost my driver's license for 90 days.
My neuro told me that with any partial seizure, there is always the slight chance of it generalizing. To me, that is a risk I just can't take without trying to prevent it. It scares me too much!
Good luck!
Re: Re: must treat partails?
Submitted by goodmom on Sun, 2006-11-19 - 15:45
i apologize if I replied twice to this post... I don't know what happened to my most recent reply. I'll try again. Thanks to both of you. I think that there is no question that if the seizures worsen, i will try her on meds. This would be a clear msg the sz need treatment. For StacieM, I'm sorry about what happened this past Sept. Naturally, that frightens me too, and it's this scenario that keeps me worried. She is severely (almost dangerously) sensitive to CNS medications. Therefore I am stuck. Risk of seizure vs. risk of meds. For some reason, the neuro (a good one at that) believes that it is MORE likely that these szs won't generalize (although there is always that chance). StacieM, were you first told to not treat your flashback/deja vu seizures? How did you treat them those two years you had them? When did they start? Were your EEGs clear? Thanks sooo much for helping me out.
goodmom
Re: must treat partails?
Submitted by Colina on Sat, 2006-11-04 - 13:28
Hi goodmom. Hope this site is as helpful to you as it has been to me. I too started out the way your daughter is, my friend says as a child I was always saying dejavu. No other symtoms and perfectly aware. Though when I was about ten I started getting massive headaches and stomach pain. Went through a load of tests and nothing was found. On my 16 birthday I had a horrible one that also came with other symtoms,weakness, a sinking feeling, hot flash, nausea, racing heart and extreme fear. This continued for many years and became worse and more often. I started researching at about 20 years of age and knew what was going on, try to convince a doctor though! Well finaly my obgyn, with my second pregnancy, told me he beleived the episodes were seizures. He then sent me to my first nuero. The process for diagnosis and treatment took forever, all the while my seizures getting worse plus different ones started. I was started on meds but stopped taking them when pregnant with my third child. Then when she was about 4 I had a grand mal. Seizures kept getting worse and much more frequent as time went. After many docs and many aed trials at 42 I am recieving good care, seizures still are'nt perfectly controled but i'm doing much better and looking into surgery. I'm so sorry if I've frightened you but I cannot stop wondering if this would have been discovered and treated earlier would it have gotten this bad? In my epilotologists words, the more seizures you have the more chances other areas of the brain can learn how to seize. I am no doctor but my advice would be yes to treatment before things get worse. I do know also of some children whom with treatment have outgrown it. I sure hope your daughter gets better and you have good doctors. Best wishes and smiles your way!