Melonie,

I am sorry to hear what happened, but thank God you all survived. I too had a car accident in June, 2006. At this time, my doctors had diagnosed me with hypoglycemia and told me to eat more protein (especially almonds...I can't tell you how many almonds I ate this summer)and to eat glucose tablets if I start to feel "funny". Well, I was on my way to get my hair cut when I started to feel "funny" (which I now know is an "aura"). I gobbled down a bunch of glucose tablets, tried to pull over and then passed out. I am lucky to be alive. God was looking out for me on multiple levels:

1) My children were not with me (I am 36 yrs. old and have a 7 year old girl and a 4 year old boy).
2) Two weeks prior, my husband showed me a short cut to my hair stylist. Instead of being on the interstate going 75-80 mph, I was on back roads going 45 mph.
3) I side swiped a car (no one hurt and minimal damage), ran a red light and just missed a telephone pole(says eye witnesses). I landed in a retention pond and thank God it had not been raining lately so I was in no danger of drowning. There was just enough water to ruin my engine and total my car.
4) The only injury I suffered was a sprained ankle.

I have no recollection of any of this. That is terrifying!! I didn't come to until I was being taken away in the ambulance. With lots of false diagnosis, I eventually got to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville and was just recently diagnosed with epilepsy. Needless to say, I am not driving. In Florida it is not required for your doctor to report your condition to the DMV, but I am not going to drive for a very long time. My neurologist told me I cannot drive until I am 6 months seizure free. I just had another seizure last week, so my count down has begun again (ugh!!).

I am also on lamictal. I have been on it for 3 weeks. When I had my most recent seizure I was on the lowest dosage (50 mg per day). My neuro. has upped it to 100 mg per day and in 2 weeks I will be at 200 mg per day.

It really stinks losing your independence. Simple things such as taking your kids to the park, having your nails done or shopping have suddenly come to an abrupt end. Thank goodness my husband and I work together and I have very supportive family and friends who help me get around. I also like to cycle and my doctor told me not to do that until I get a handle on this. We usually go snow skiing every winter break but my neoro. told me "no" this year (unless I want to take a chance and ski off the mountain)...also, no more scuba diving.

Now that I have thoroughly cheered you up!! Just wanted to let you know there is someone else who can relate and feel free to talk with me about it anytime.

Take care and GO GATORS!!,

Kristin

So sorry to hear what happened. Thanks very much for sharing this with everyone. Losing a driver's license is so hard, but the consequences can be enormous is a seizure occurs while driving. Glad you are okay and hope things continue to get better.

Welcome to my.epilepsy.com!

Epi_help

I am a high school student who unfortunately suffers from seizures. I have only had two but the doctors say I do not have epilepsy.  I have an appointment coming up next week with a specialist to see what exactly is the problem. Anyway the whole "no driving because of seizures" has been killing me. I feel as though I have completely lost my independence.  I can not come and go as i please. Im 18 and I feel like someone came and took 6 years aways from my life. Leaving me to be a young dependent 12 year old. But I have been reading the stories that you all have put on here and it is definitely showing me that this is more serious than I thought. I could never imagine waking up from a seizure and finding out that some one was injured or even killed because I had a seizure behind the wheel.  Or the possibility of not waking up from it at all. I thank God that my seizures have been in places where I could not hurt anyone or myself (too much). I really felt like I was the only one dealing with this. But fortunately Im not. Thanks all!

I thank God also that I wasn't killed when I had a blackout while driving.  I drove for 5 years while all I had was simple partial seizures and I didn't blackout.  But for some reason the Tegretol stopped keeping them away in 2000, so after 2 blackouts I was switched to Depakote and didn't drive for about a month.  I thought I was better, so I started driving again, and I had a head-on collision.  Thankfully I was on a 2 lane road at rush hour, so I and the other driver were only going about 15 mph and neither of us were hurt.  My sister was driving right behind me, and when I came to she told me that I just slumped over and my truck veered into the oncoming lane, so I am very fortunate and thankful that it didn't happen on a big highway going much faster.  The cop who was there said he wouldn't give me a ticket as long as I didn't drive again, and I haven't because since then I have never even gone for than a few days without having at least partial seizures.  I am very lucky that I have a wonderful wife who is willing to drive me to and from work in addition to all of the driving she needs to do, and although I do wish I could drive sometimes, we have always kept this working with few problems.  I wish everyone with epilepsy can have a great partner like her, since she does extra to make sure that I can live mostly normal. 

I now take Lamictal and Keppra, and although they have big side effects, I haven't had a blackout or grand mal since 2004, so I am very thankful for that.  My doctors are wanting to do tests to see if I am eligible for brain surgery, but I won't do it if there are huge risks involved since I can deal with the partial seizures that I have now.  If there is anyone reading this who has had any kind of brain surgery, I would be interested to know if it has helped you much. 

I wish everyone with epilepsy well, and like Kristin said, Go Gators!