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What happened? Tonic/Clonic

Fri, 06/15/2018 - 14:22
Hello all! Happy to be here and grateful to share my complicated experience thus far. a baffling tonic clonic story! Background: many years of depression that I’ve spent 10 years treating with great therapy and much disappointment with SSRIs. Struggled with alcohol abuse and insomnia. Had a manic episode probably prompted by all this, and the SSRIs I was on. Much tinkering led me to sobriety (2 years! Yay), using antihistamine for sleep issues that continued, and further great work in therapy to really get all symptoms under control. Two week prior to seizure, I started low dose of Lamictal. I had taken it years before for bipolar depression, and it didn’t help but didn’t hurt me. Together my psychiatrist and I agreed I could go off it. Always used responsible withdrawals etc. But we started lamictal again, just to see if it would work again. So, bipolar depression needing attention, lamictal started in small dose. Continued insomnia, probably over use of caffeine. And I was smoking cigarettes. Otherwise no additional chemicals. I felt very tired the day of seizure, but generally level, and was actually at a doctors office when I suddenly felt faint. I said I need to sit down, and I did. A nurse got me cold compress and I was really nauseous. No prior experience of these symptoms, other than off and I do feel light headed (prior to lamictal), sometimes I really lose train of thought but generally come back to the prompt. But I felt very nauseous, faint, felt my limbs kind of disconnect. Next thing I know I hear nurse calling for 911. I apparently did lose consciousness, stopped breathing, went very red in face, and then toes curled, back arched, hands curled. I woke up really struggling to breathe, felt like I was underwater. Had the worst headache I’ve ever had, and started vomiting. Very confused, didn’t know what had happened. I was transferred to ER, kept throwing up. Eventually had anti nausea, and MRI with and without contrast. Held overnight for observation. Had an eeg in morning after hardly sleep and managed to fall asleep during it (a good thing to observe so they said). Had an ekg as well. All labs were normal. Now that’s not a deal breaker to r/o epilepsy but it also means we didn’t find a reason this happened. Cousin has epilepsy. I have a follow up soon. Still on lamictal (150 and still slowly increasing) for the depression. I know it’s not even a therapeutic level for epilepsy but I’m also aware it may be holding more off. Since seizure, I asked my well experienced therapist I’ve worked with for 10 years who is a professor at Harvard etc well seasoned if this was a non epileptic seizure. He says it was not. So I ask you all, does this sound like epilepsy? Does it sound like real out of the blue non epileptic seizure? I gave my history to inform all that I have had psychological symptoms but they have been greatly reduced, managed, and generally were benign at this point. Oh! Since seizure, I am having train of thought difficulty, id say mild but noticible. I am Forgetting things I’m in the middle of working on, and i struggle with recent recall of some Details. I’m very tired during the day as well but cannot sleep at night through the night. I had an incident when tired that I had my head on my hands and was sitting and even then I like fell Forward and felt almost full asleep for like a micro second. My friend noticed and pointed it out though it didn’t really phase me. Also while recumbent on my couch watched tv late in a semi dark room, I suddenly felt the floor move, my balance was off. And while driving once at night (prior to seizure) I looked at my bright phone then quickly back to the dark road and had extreme vertigo. I had to pull over though it passed, because I was so surprised by it though it had ended... Thank you for your time and insights!!

Comments

Grew up with epilepsy that I

Submitted by mmanrod on Tue, 2018-06-19 - 20:55
Grew up with epilepsy that I thought caused chronic depression and alcoholism. Recent Amygdalahippocampectomy not only has helped with seizures but has completely stabilized my mood; and relieved depression. I am almost two years sober (more than the surgery helped with sobriety but it was a key player). If you continue to have issue see a doctor about having an EEG and MRI and your possibility being a surgical candidate. Talk to the doctor about temporal lobectomy however a lot people have mood problems after temporal lobe surgery. Good luck, hope I helped.

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