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seizures after brain surgery

Sun, 03/09/2008 - 08:03
Hi....my wife had a brain tumor removed 7 years ago and since then has suffered from seizures.  She has had simple partial as well as at least one episode of Grand Mal seizures.  She takes Topomax and Keppra.  Most of the time she is fine but occassionally she has seizures in her facial muscles that are unseen by me or anyone else.  She says she can feel herself seizing.  Anyway, my questions is:  has anyone else experience seizures after a brain surgery and if so what is the prognosis for living seizure free?  Thanks

Comments

Re: seizures after brain surgery

Submitted by Angie T. on Wed, 2008-03-12 - 16:17

Wow. It was weird to hear about someone else like me. I had a tumor removed in 1/96. I didn't start having seizures until about the summer of '05. I was having multiple absence seizures per day and then had my first Grand Mal at work in 12/06. I have had 2 more Grand Mal seizures since then.

I had my original surgery at the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor, MI and am now going back to them for my treatment. What they have told me is that when there is damage to the brain (from the surgery or the original tumor) the brain will always try and repair itself. This is where the seizures come from, the brain is mis-firing and not repairing properly. They believe that my seizures will probably never go away and I will always have to be on medication. I am taking keppra & lamictal now. I know, not what you wanted to hear. I am sorry. Maybe your case is different. They have been talking to me about considering surgery because I am not responding well to any medication. We'll see how things go.

 I know how you feel. You feel like you have been through it all and everything is done and that is when the seizures start and bring all the bad feelings back. Send my best wishes to your wife. What kind of brain tumor was it?

Take care!

Angela

 

Wow. It was weird to hear about someone else like me. I had a tumor removed in 1/96. I didn't start having seizures until about the summer of '05. I was having multiple absence seizures per day and then had my first Grand Mal at work in 12/06. I have had 2 more Grand Mal seizures since then.

I had my original surgery at the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor, MI and am now going back to them for my treatment. What they have told me is that when there is damage to the brain (from the surgery or the original tumor) the brain will always try and repair itself. This is where the seizures come from, the brain is mis-firing and not repairing properly. They believe that my seizures will probably never go away and I will always have to be on medication. I am taking keppra & lamictal now. I know, not what you wanted to hear. I am sorry. Maybe your case is different. They have been talking to me about considering surgery because I am not responding well to any medication. We'll see how things go.

 I know how you feel. You feel like you have been through it all and everything is done and that is when the seizures start and bring all the bad feelings back. Send my best wishes to your wife. What kind of brain tumor was it?

Take care!

Angela

 

Re: seizures after brain surgery

Submitted by richardmama on Thu, 2008-03-13 - 12:48

Hi Everyone,  I'm new to the list.  My son has a tumor in his right side of brain (size: 3.9cm x 4.6 cm transverse plane, 5.3 cm craniocaudal).  Presumably it is a Dysembryoplastic Neuroepithelizl tumor (DNET).  Since the diagnose three years ago, the tumor has remained unchagned.  He has simple partial seizures approximately once every 10 days and it often happans at night or early in the morning.  We can't make up our mind for surgery to remove the tumor although all the doctors we have seen told us that he has a very good chance to be seizure free after the surgery.  Your cases make us more uncertain about the surgery.  My questions are: did you have seizures before the tumor was removed? How frequent and severe were the seizures during that time?   

Thank you all for your help! 

Mary, a very worried mother 

 

Hi Everyone,  I'm new to the list.  My son has a tumor in his right side of brain (size: 3.9cm x 4.6 cm transverse plane, 5.3 cm craniocaudal).  Presumably it is a Dysembryoplastic Neuroepithelizl tumor (DNET).  Since the diagnose three years ago, the tumor has remained unchagned.  He has simple partial seizures approximately once every 10 days and it often happans at night or early in the morning.  We can't make up our mind for surgery to remove the tumor although all the doctors we have seen told us that he has a very good chance to be seizure free after the surgery.  Your cases make us more uncertain about the surgery.  My questions are: did you have seizures before the tumor was removed? How frequent and severe were the seizures during that time?   

Thank you all for your help! 

Mary, a very worried mother 

 

Re: seizures after brain surgery

Submitted by one4gimp on Thu, 2008-04-10 - 16:36
I had Brain Surgery in 1981 after having a grand-mal seizure they found an Arterial Venus Malformation (AVM) when they did the surgery to remove it they found a suprise an anyurism that hadn't showed up in any of the tests after 25hours of surgery I did continue to have seizures for about another 4 years while they tried different meds to control them they eventually were able to control them until 1997 when they came back and they have not been able to get them under control since

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