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21 years between two seizures

Wed, 08/22/2018 - 23:39
My wife is 46 and just had a 2nd seizure 21 years after her 1st. Dr wants to go strait to meds but after reading about PNES and her current levels of stress/anxiety I’m not convinced it’s true epilepsy related.

Comments

Stress is a common seizure

Submitted by Amy Jo on Thu, 2018-08-23 - 04:46
Stress is a common seizure trigger so that isn’t an indication of something off in your story. It can be a red flag if a neurologist diagnosed PNES, that’s only something a more specialized doc should handle and, for what it’s worth, two seizures 21 years apart does not fit a PNES diagnosis. 

PNES is often inappropriately

Submitted by Amy Jo on Thu, 2018-08-23 - 04:52
PNES is often inappropriately suggested by docs so being skeptical of anyone but an epileptologist diagnosing such is reasonable. A spouse not believing a diagnosis of Epilepsy sounds more like denial or fear of stigma. 

Stress is a common seizure

Submitted by Amy Jo on Thu, 2018-08-23 - 04:52
Stress is a common seizure trigger so that isn’t an indication of something off in your story. It can be a red flag if a neurologist diagnosed PNES, that’s only something a more specialized doc should handle and, for what it’s worth, two seizures 21 years apart does not fit a PNES diagnosis. 

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