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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,please go to https:/

Submitted by irangel on Sun, 2020-03-22 - 17:44
Hi Jada,please go to https://atkinsforseizures.com/dietary-chemical-seizure-triggers/  for it may provide answers to what triggers your husband's seizures.   For me, it is calcium carbonate........which contradicts with what we need to remain healthy.     We all need calcium to keep your  bones strong.     We all need carbs because our body burns energyOn https://atkinsforseizures.com/dietary-chemical-seizure-triggers/ do scroll down and you'll see 'antacid' listed as a seizure trigger.  'Antacid' is calcium carbonate......aka TUMS.Here's my list of  seizure triggers::    Mortar mix, which as a home owner for the last 3 decades, I have touched/worked with mortar mix in 1989, 2001, 2012 & 2017.  Mortar mix is  1 part calcium carbonate (aka, lime/limestone), 1 part  Portland cement, 6 parts sand}   Latex Paint (all latex paint contains calcium carbonate because it's the calcium carbonate that clings the latex liquid to the wall).  I had a very bad/epileptic incident with latex paint that lasted 6-months, essentially, a very bad roller coaster ride which my husband of 22 years can describe from his point of view of what I was experiencing.   Nitrile Gloves (in fact all latex, nitrile and vinyl gloves contain calcium carbonate)  Here's a website on how gloves are made:   (https://blog.ammex.com/how-nitrile-and-vinyl-gloves-are-made/) and https://blog.ammex.com/how-latex-gloves-are-made/As an epileptic, I'm not on any AEDs.  I've been very fortunate to have had made dietary changes to prevent seizures from my early teens.   And when I dis just that, it was long before the Keto diet and MAD (Modified Atkins Diet) became a common term/solution for an epileptic.The biggest challenges that I have had as an adult is to correlate and prove the common chemical compound in mortar mix, latex paint and nitrile gloves that triggers my seizures.........and my biggest disappointment has been, that I have had to figure out all of this by myself, for epilepsy is idiopathic, and no doctor/neurologist is willing/able to resolve/identify the patience's true root cause/seizure triggers.With all that said, this is why epilepsy.com stresses the need to keep a diary to pinpoint one's own seizure triggers.Irma

Hi Jada,I’m a licensed

Submitted by Patriotrehab on Sun, 2020-03-22 - 20:58
Hi Jada,I’m a licensed clinical social worker and certified rehabilitation counselor as well as a person with epilepsy. I’ve heard that some neurologists are willing to try taking someone off of their seizure medication especially if their seizures started in childhood and have been controlled with medication for quite some time, but routine EEGs are insufficient to make that kind of assessment in my opinion as a person with epilepsy and given that I’ve had epilepsy for nearly twenty years and have gone off of my AEDs at times, I always have seizures with and without medication so I will never personally feel comfortable without medication. As one neurologist explained to me, the abnormalities may not show up on an EEG unless a seizure is happening at that moment, which suggests that the medication is doing what it is supposed to do if the EEG is within normal limits. It’s definitely not his fault that he had a seizure and we often don’t know ahead of time that we are going to have a seizure, but that varies person to person. My advice is to talk to the neurologist about your concerns that he is obviously still prone to having seizures and needs medication so that the doctor can prescribe it he medication perhaps titrating back to the levels he was on before. Your husband will probably be restricted to driving according to the laws in your state, especially if the police and other emergency services were involved and if there is any kind of report. In some states, doctors are even required to report it, whereas other states leave it up to the individual to comply with the law. You have already done a great job by letting him know that it’s not his fault, getting an appointment with the doctor, planning for you to drive, asking him some questions about how he was feeling and what he experienced, and seeking support here. You can continue to support him by educating yourself about epilepsy here on this website. I’m sure someone from the epilepsy foundation will be responding to you during the week with some links to get you started. 

Jada,Thank you for sharing

Submitted by birdman on Sun, 2020-03-22 - 21:27
Jada,Thank you for sharing the details of this scary experience.  Maybe like Irma writes there was a trigger for the seizure.  It would be helpful to know what triggers them but this would take more time and more seizures.  Eventually the answer may come but I hope the two of you can first get comfortable control so that he doesn't feel more shame and you don't get more traumatized. I appreciate your concern about how to share the event with your husband.  One consideration is that the seizures themselves can often leave a person with "post-ictal" or after seizure depression.  He may feel guilty about the awful event because he was driving and scared you, but his apologetic attitude may also be increased by depression and changes in brain chemistry from after the seizure.  For me this depression lasted a week or two and then slowly dissipated.  He hasn't has a seizure for 7-8 years and then it is like the wall fell down.  He is at a starting point again and this is discouraging.  When I was younger I always felt discouraged because I was trying to set goals for living and then another seizure meant putting my plans on hold.  To help him remember that post-ictal depression is short term you might ask him if he's gone through mood changes after seizures before.It is good that your husband know the details of the event, but maybe you can hold off on some things until he feels better.  Then again I never liked it when I sensed that information was being kept from me.  At the doctor's office or in person if your husband asks for details or is exposed to them I think he needs to know.  It makes me feel less qualified or capable when my mother talks behind my back about my health.  He probably hasn't been through such a dangerous incident, but he's been through seizures and epilepsy treatment before and he needs to be involved.Mike

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