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My husband had a seizure while driving

Sun, 03/22/2020 - 05:49
I can't sleep! I keep getting flashbacks of what happened yesterday when my husband had a seizure while driving. He was diagnosed with epilepsy, grand mal, at the age of 15 years, but he hasn't had any seizures since 2012. We got married three years ago. Everything was going just fine, no health issues, we both lead a healthy lifestyle, he is a CrossFit athlete... You know everything was ok. He had a recent EEG and a brain MRI; everything looked good, so the neurologist decided to take him off one of his 2 medications. We stopped the Topamax in January and repeated the EEG, again everything was fine. Yesterday we went out for a drive in the car. On our way back home, we were listening to music, suddenly my husband raised his right hand. I honestly thought he was dancing to the beat! He kept his arm hanging in the air, and he was just staring. I called his name, but he did not blink, and the car started to drift. I did not realize that he was seizing. I began to shout his name and scream. The car was accelerating! His foot was still pressing on the gas pedal, we were in the middle of the main street. I thought, is this how we are going to die? Really? I immediately grabbed the steering wheel. I heard him making that awful sound, gasping for air, he was salivating, his eyes rolled back, his head was shaking, his hand was still hanging in the air and shaking. My heart shattered... I was screaming and praying. I could not reach the breaks, so I took out the car key and tried my best to control the wheel. The car eventually stopped. I don't know how it stopped without hitting anyone or anything. I was so grateful to the Corona precaution instructions because people stayed home, there were unusually only a few cars out there. I called 911. His seizure stopped. I think it lasted for a few minutes. His breathing was forceful and not very regular. He was so confused. He wet himself and seemed very uncomfortable. A police officer approached me, he had no idea what epilepsy was! I called my brother who came before the ambulance. I decided to take him home. I couldn't speak, my eyes were pouring. When we got home, I changed his clothes and put him to bed. He then asked me what had happened. I told him he had a seizure and that everything is ok. I sat down, trying to grasp what just happened. I felt grateful that we managed to get home literally in one piece. The following day he asked about what happened in detail. I tried to lighten the story, but it was not light. I tried to act as if everything was ok, but it was not. He asked me if I got scared, and I said yes. For the rest of the day, I felt that he was acting apologetically. It broke my heart. Because it was not his fault, it is no one's fault. We agreed that he wouldn't drive for a few months. Good thing that he is currently working from home because of the Corona situation. He will see his neurologist tomorrow. But I'm scared. I don't know if I'm in shock because I saw him seizing for the first time or because it happened while driving or both! I love him so much, I don’t want to share my fears with him or make him feel bad about it. I’m thinking of talking to his sister, who knows his seizures very well but I don’t think he would appreciate this. He is a very private person. I'm reaching out to you guys to vent. I hope someone could give me advice on how to deal with my husband after this, I'm trying to act normal but I’m not feeling ok. How can I show him support? How can I help? Are there any signs before a seizure? He told me that he felt a bit confused that morning as if his memory/ reality was skipping some parts. Thank you all for reading this. Whoever you are, your support means a lot to me. Love Jada

Comments

Hi Jada,as an "licensed

Submitted by irangel on Thu, 2020-03-26 - 03:29
Hi Jada,as an "licensed clinical social worker and certified rehabilitation counselor as well as a person with epilepsy", whereby you have stated on epliepsy.com that you, "have gone off of my AEDs at times, I always have seizures with and without medication...", so, based on what you stated, what truly triggers your seizures???From an epileptic to another, I know what triggers my seizures.  Take a look at https://atkinsforseizures.com/dietary-chemical-seizure-triggers/    maybe you will be able to recall as to what triggered ALL of your seizures.   Do keep in mind that you need both a chemistry/genealogy background because epilepsy is idiopathic.  Idiopathic, as it relates to epilepsy and allergies comes down to the same thing:   What causes an immediate death to someone who dies from an allergic reaction to Peanuts will trigger a Seizure because the individual has been exposed/digested some innocent item on what is listed on https://atkinsforseizures.com/dietary-chemical-seizure-triggers/Once again, what triggers your seizures?I'm proud to say that I have been AED free because I made a dietary change some 30+ years ago.  And, from what I've been reading on the internet, I believe in the Keto and Modified Atkins Diet (MAD) will provide a homeopathic to some, of course, not all epileptics currently on AEDs.Irma

Hi Irma,I think you meant to

Submitted by Patriotrehab on Thu, 2020-03-26 - 09:55
Hi Irma,I think you meant to direct your post to post to me rather than Jada, so I’m responding to you. (Jada doesn’t have epilepsy, nor is she an LCSW/CRC.) You have directed some highly personal questions questions at me and even suggested treatment options to me. It’s not that I am unwilling to share on this board or even ask questions, but this is a situation where it was unsolicited. In actuality, I’ve shared many times about my experience with epilepsy and how I not only know the cause of my epilepsy, whereas many others don’t, but I also now know why it’s so hard to treat because I’ve done my homework and even my epilepsy specialist now agrees with all the other neurologists and epilepsy specialists that have been treating me for the past twenty years.Your case is very unique and specific and I’ve seen several of your posts. I’m not going to engage in a discussion with you about triggers or share my personal experience because I don’t believe that it will help you. I do think it would be helpful for you to understand the difference between seizures and epilepsy though. There are many times where people have seizures such as seizures caused by food allergies, blood sugar related (diabetes), pregnancy (pre-eclampsia), etc., but they don’t have epilepsy. There are other things that mimic seizures that aren’t even seizures such as psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES), which people who have these often hold a strong belief that they have epilepsy even though they don’t (small numbers have both). Either way, please be careful with the language that you use. Allergy related seizures does not make a person “epileptic” and actually I find that term offensive because it suggests that’s all that I am, so please when you are addressing a person who has epilepsy or talking about epilepsy, be sure to use person first language “person with epilepsy” not “epileptic”.

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