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living with it
Tue, 12/07/2004 - 14:43At first i thought that i was crazy, but i came to this site and i almost cried because everything is true. But is it possible to have both absence and complex partial epilepsy? Is it possible to have several types at once?
I just stare, and sometimes i almost drool. but with me, i am sort of aware of everything that goes on. i hear things, but i can't respond, like my whole being does'nt have the energy to respond, so i sort of can't move. but on a few occassions, i started to rock back and forth. I thought that i was crazy because my doctors gave me an EEG, but nothing was abnormal. But they said that it may have been that i just wasn't having a seizure at that time. My head tips most times rolls to my left and my eyes roll up and to the left also. If i'm standing, i do feel weak, but i haven't fell yet. I mostly just stand there until it passes. But the bad ones, fortunatley, have only happened while sitting. But mostly i feel that i will have one soon, usually in the morning, I feel wierd. I can;t concentrate. my thoughts are sometimes confused. I rememeber one time all of a sudden my brain felt like every neruon was turned on and on fire. It was like i was thinking of everything and nothing at the same time. my thoughts were at hyper-drive, and then i had this irresistable urge to take off running as fast as i could. i don't know what that was, but it was before my diagnosis. i am so glad that i found this site, because i have longed to just talk to people who understand what i go through, and it is also very reassuring that i am not crazy.
Comments
RE: living with it
Submitted by Simpson_Jr on Thu, 2004-11-18 - 17:36
Hi,
At age 12 I noticed that I sometimes completely forgot the books which I was reading. I asked my mom, she told me everyone forgets, so I thought it was normal and didn't pay an attention...
At age 25 I got my first grandmal, I lost about 3 months of memory and it was the first time that was diagnosed with epilepsy. In the years after that I paid much more attention to my memoryloss and I started noticing the smaller memorylosses without noticeable seizures (they're both nocturnal in my case...)
My first neurologist didn't want to believe I also had smaller seizures, but after switching neuros and a night in the hospital I had the "luck" to have a small seizure while being EEG-monitored.
Best wishes, Bart
Hi,
At age 12 I noticed that I sometimes completely forgot the books which I was reading. I asked my mom, she told me everyone forgets, so I thought it was normal and didn't pay an attention...
At age 25 I got my first grandmal, I lost about 3 months of memory and it was the first time that was diagnosed with epilepsy. In the years after that I paid much more attention to my memoryloss and I started noticing the smaller memorylosses without noticeable seizures (they're both nocturnal in my case...)
My first neurologist didn't want to believe I also had smaller seizures, but after switching neuros and a night in the hospital I had the "luck" to have a small seizure while being EEG-monitored.
Best wishes, Bart
RE: living with it
Submitted by Karolwf on Fri, 2004-11-19 - 02:17
It is possible and true to have a number of types of seizures. I usually have Simple Partial and Complex Partial. Sometimes I have one or the other and then sometimes I have both at the same time. Sometimes I will stare and other times not.. just depends what my brain feels like doing at the time. I find that if I can get enough sleep and rest I am less likely to have them. I also find that if I can keep my stress level at an even keel that I will have less of them and less severe. Our brains are all different and they act differently and then sometimes quite simular to each other. One thing you must remember that the doctors really do not know everything and they do not know what causes them most of the time. They quess just like we do. God knows our brains he created them and only he knows how they really work. Learning to live with the illness is the biggest challenge and teaching others that you are not crazy or doing things on purpose is another challenge. Epilespy is not who I am but it does play a part in my life -- it is my choice on whether I let it control me and my life or I work around it. Get a good neurologist and stick with him-- that may take time and going through quite a few of them. You have to shop for your care and find out what is right to for you. Doctors and health care providers are like supermarkets and the drugs and therapy you take are the products sold on the shelves. You have to shop for which ones are best for you and then live your life to the fullest inspite of the glinches in the brain.
Karol
It is possible and true to have a number of types of seizures. I usually have Simple Partial and Complex Partial. Sometimes I have one or the other and then sometimes I have both at the same time. Sometimes I will stare and other times not.. just depends what my brain feels like doing at the time. I find that if I can get enough sleep and rest I am less likely to have them. I also find that if I can keep my stress level at an even keel that I will have less of them and less severe. Our brains are all different and they act differently and then sometimes quite simular to each other. One thing you must remember that the doctors really do not know everything and they do not know what causes them most of the time. They quess just like we do. God knows our brains he created them and only he knows how they really work. Learning to live with the illness is the biggest challenge and teaching others that you are not crazy or doing things on purpose is another challenge. Epilespy is not who I am but it does play a part in my life -- it is my choice on whether I let it control me and my life or I work around it. Get a good neurologist and stick with him-- that may take time and going through quite a few of them. You have to shop for your care and find out what is right to for you. Doctors and health care providers are like supermarkets and the drugs and therapy you take are the products sold on the shelves. You have to shop for which ones are best for you and then live your life to the fullest inspite of the glinches in the brain.
Karol
RE: RE: living with it
Submitted by Karolwf on Fri, 2004-11-19 - 02:31
Gosh -- you too!! I did have a head injury when I was 14 but I had my first sps when I was about 8 or 9 in Browny Camp. Anyway it is nice to know you are not alone. Do you get frightened when you are having a seizure? I usually end up crying and I am so afraid when I have them? I once pushed a dear friend of mine (jn her late 60's) across a room in a bank during one of the seizures and did not even know I had done it.. I was in this fog and there were people touching me and pulling at me and I had fallen and I got up and just pushed the nearest arm and it was her.. I still have a hard time getting over that-- I could have killed her and it really scares me. She loves me to death and I love her too and I try not to worry about it but I do sometimes. After that I had people try to take my job from me and it was a mess. But I try to remain optomistic and live with it. Does anyone know of counselors that deal with epileptic people and their fears???