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Seeking Advice

Tue, 12/04/2018 - 11:25
Hi everyone, I was diagnosed with epilepsy for 17 years. My seizures were controlled for the longest time then I just recently starting having them in August and last week. Medication wise I take zonisamide 100mg at bedtime and that is the biggest tablet they make. I think I may need to change my dosage now. I'm 32 years old and am having them every 3 months which is probably my own fault because I am skipping days on my medication but even an alarm won't help because I have a day of the week container so I'm only hurting myself. My old neurologist that is based in California where I used to live is NO help will not send me or my new neuro my medical records. Well they are just taking forever to do it and I can't be waiting around my whole life lol I'm not sure what to do. I really want to look into surgery but it's hard when you don't have a doctor. Any advice would be helpful.

Comments

Hello "Thebrunette:"So my

Submitted by Jazz101 on Thu, 2018-12-06 - 19:36
Hello "Thebrunette:"So my best advice to you is to find a hospital with good neurological ratings in neurology and neurosurgery. A great source is US News and World Report. If you are in California, here are how hospitals in that state are rated in that area. Just click on the link below.https://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/search?city=california &specialty_id=IHQNEURIf you are in some other state, just click on this governing link below and sift thru the hospitals from number 1 going on.https://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/rankings/neurology-and-neurosurgeryI hope you are able to get your records from your former neurologists' office, if it still exists. This is why I usually advise individuals not to seek out a neurologist with his or her own private practice. A hospital won't lose your records as much as a private office might.  So seek out a hospital that may have what's called a "Comprehensive Epilepsy Center." In my former hospital it was referred to as a "Comprehensive Epilepsy and Sleep Center." Amazing people who did/do their homework. Surgery requires finding a hospital with very good ratings in that area, not because they can guarantee you'll be seizure-free, or that surgery is possible, but because they do their homework to figure out as much specifics as they could about your seizures, the mapping etc. By the way, the links I sent you? You'll see the contact number to the hospital. Just buzz them, and find out if any of their neurologist who deals with Epilepsy is taking new patients. Make sure you say "Epilepsy" because not every neurologist deals with Epilepsy. So there you have it. Take that first step and call and tell them what I wrote in the last paragraph. Let us know how it went.Best Regards

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