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Time off work appropriate after tonic clonic seizure

Fri, 04/14/2017 - 17:05
I had my second grand mal seizure 2 weeks ago and haven't been working since. My employer wouldn't let me come back. I don't want to make it a bigger issue than it is but am not sure how much time is customary. I know it's likely different for each person/situation. My details are below. *My seizure lasted 3 hours. *It followed respiratory failure where I had to be incubated. *I remained unconscious for about 24 hours. *I was taken to the ER by ambulance and hospitalized for 7 days (2 days in ICU). I had problems with my muscles from the seizure and also my kidneys. My iron/glucose level was also barely 8. I also have a faulty heart and they had concerns with that due to the seizure. *I bit my tongue making it impossible to eat or talk. I had a feeding tube for a week then ate broth and water for the next week. I lost 18 pounds in the two weeks. *I switched medication from kepra to Vimpat. I have side effects but not bad. I am on oxy for pain. That makes the pain go away but difficult for me to concentrate. *My trigger is stress mainly. This happened the week prior to my divorce. The other grand mal I had prior I also was unconscious for over 24 hours and had to be hospitalized for 5 days. I went to work as soon as I was discharged. I am debating if I should go to work or use my short-term disability.

Comments

I would definitely take all

Submitted by Believe on Tue, 2017-04-18 - 13:30
I would definitely take all the time you can to recover. It sounds like you've had quite an episode and you need to give yourself a chance to heal. Nothing is more important than your health!

Thanks for the replies. I

Submitted by w3030168 on Tue, 2017-04-18 - 13:55
Thanks for the replies. I guess I was status epilepticus...hopefully that will be the last episode like that! I am back to work today so I took 19 days off. I still don't feel 100% but I am a single mom and need to pay the bills. I can't drive for 3 months. My epilepsy doctor told me I will likely always have epilepsy so won't be able to drive again.  

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