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NEW & LOST...19 Year Old Daughter 2 seizures in 2 months
Wed, 11/15/2017 - 22:53Topic: Parents & Caregivers
My daughter who has a lifelong history of anxiety and had first seizure at 18 yrs old in August 2017 and again 2 months later at 19 yrs old in October.
First seizure diagnosed as Tonic Clonic
Second seizure not witnessed but tongue bite seems to confirm seizure
Both seizures preceded by stressful events
EEG after 2nd seizure showed one spike during hyperventilation possibly contaminated by muscle movement
CT scan clean
MRI clean
Sleep deprived EEG being ordered
Epileptologist’s first guess is JME and suggests Lamictal but is waiting for more testing before prescribing. What about nonsepileptic seizure? Daughter is depressed. Doesn’t want to return to college. My head is spinning.
Any insight or advice for my daughter or myself?
Comments
I'm so sorry to hear about
Submitted by Amy Jo on Fri, 2017-11-17 - 01:45
I'm so sorry to hear about your mom. I know it can seem like life is kicking your family when things are already rough but there are some common seizure triggers and stress is a big factor for many people. The normal lifestyle changes are all about taking better care of oneself but the big ones are enough sleep and avoiding drugs as many lower seizure thresholds - I know young adults tend to push various envelopes but that can result in more seizures with this condition. Better coping/resilience for parents is also important. So it's ok for anyone and everyone to have a therapist (I like to think they are coaches or guides) to help navigate these new realities. I'm sure yoga, regular exercise, support groups and many other things are also good for building resilience.
It's terrific that the
Submitted by Amy Jo on Fri, 2017-11-17 - 01:45
It's terrific that the epileptologist will meet with you so quickly! After our child's 2nd EEG (also sleep deprived), we just did the followup on the phone, discussed a few med options and picked one as getting in to see the regular neurologists takes a few month - our current doc is an epileptologist and we book appts 3-4 months in advance and the calendar is usually mostly full at that point. I loved our first neurologist, was sad when we had to switch to epileptology but, aside from one brief time when we were with an epi who didn't seem like a good fit, I really like our current doc. But yeah, we do a lot on the phone or via secured email.
I'm so sorry to hear about
Submitted by Amy Jo on Fri, 2017-11-17 - 01:28
I'm so sorry to hear about your mom. I know it can seem like life is kicking your family when things are already rough but there are some common seizure triggers and stress is a big factor for many people. The normal lifestyle changes are all about taking better care of oneself but the big ones are enough sleep and avoiding drugs as many lower seizure thresholds - I know young adults tend to push various envelopes but that can result in more seizures with this condition. Better coping/resilience for parents is also important. So it's ok for anyone and everyone to have a therapist (I like to think they are coaches or guides) to help navigate these new realities. I'm sure yoga, regular exercise, support groups and many other things are also good for building resilience.