should i have surgery

Hi there, I'd recommend that you read the questions/concerns/experiences in the surgery issues section of this site. It's a little difficult to answer your question, as it is a very personal decision and we have no idea what you are experiencing (past & present). Surgery is a l-o-n-g road, and answering your question (without having any idea of what you've gone through) feels overwhelming to me. I would be happy to share my opinion (and that's all it is), but I need more info. Good luck to you! Heather :)

Hi chelle, :) Heather is a wise person :) and, both she and I have gone though E surgery. Re your question: First, IMO, there are many questions you need to ask yourself re: expectations, meds, surgery tests, etc. Sadly: not all those with temporal lobe E even qualify for surgery. That depends on pre-surgery test results. And, even if you should qualify, before going into it you then MUST understand that even E-surgery is NOT guaranteed to eliminate all seizures. The 'success rate' varies. (For temporal lobe surgery, I was given a 70% guarantee. I believe this US site has a slightly higher guarantee.) "After 1 year, 58% of the patients who had undergone surgery had not experienced a complex partial seizure (a seizure that impairs consciousness), and 38% had not experienced any seizures, including auras. In contrast, only 8% of the patients treated with medication were free of complex partial seizures, and 3% had no seizures. For the patients treated with surgery who continued to have some seizures, they were less frequent than in the other group, but the severity was similar." http://www.epilepsy.com/epilepsy/surgery_results.html Considerable info; re: surgery tests, opinions, & results of E surgery patients, can be found under other comments on this site. best wishes, ~sol