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[Teh]

I don't know if any of you remember, i doubt it, but wayyyyyy back in the day when i was just a board noob i had a bit of an epilepsy fling between my 2nd last and final years of high school. I started a thread about it here, too.

Well since then i've been 'under surveilence' and everything was basically fine, but this year i've had two seperate episodes both within a month or so of each other. My last one was yesterday, it happened at the train station and i cracked my head really badly off a metal railing, too. It was all a bit embarrasing - you know that way when you get public transport you see the same people almost every morning? Well come Monday when i go back to uni it'll be the same people who i probably got puke on, or blood. Arghhhhhhhhh...

Anyway, At the A&E afterwards all my reflexes etc. were checked and everything was fine, and all my head wound needed was a bit of cleaning and some glue, and i was on my way.

I've got an MRI and something else (think it's an EEG) scheduled this week and next, but yeah, it looks like im going to miss a lot of time at uni, which isn't going to make things any easier because this is the year that really, really matters. I've worked so hard to get to this point and to have something like this - that for all intensive purposes i thought i'd got rid of - fuck it up would basically destroy me.

So i dunno why i'm really rattling all this out on a board where i seldom do more than read these days, but yeah, are there any medics on the board? Or does anybody have any idea how treatable this sort of thing is? Or does anybody else have it? That'd be cool, i suppose.

Maybe i'll go and see Control when it comes out. He was epileptic!

[TurdBerglar]

my mom has seizures because of menopause. are you going through your change too?

[Teh]

Nah.

[Lyman Zerga]

poor puppy

[beastieangel01]

I have no clue about treatment of such a thing but I hope you find a way to avoid it from happening. Sounds like a terrible thing to deal with and very dangerous :(

[Loppfessor]

My aunt just got some implant thing that I think shocks her or something when she feels a seizure coming on. I know she has a remote for it and so does my uncle....I don't have the details on it but so far it's working good as far as prevention goes.

[Teh]

My aunt just got some implant thing that I think shocks her or something when she feels a seizure coming on. I know she has a remote for it and so does my uncle....I don't have the details on it but so far it's working good as far as prevention goes.

I've heard of them but never really liked the idea of it.


Either way, i got a prescription today (finally!) for something that should lessen the chance of having one, if not stop them altogether, so that's encouraging.

MRI on friday morning. Not going to be fun :(

[abcdefz]

I hope they get it figured out. (y)

No strobe lights for you, young man!

[venusvenus123]

poor thing :( i wouldn't think you'd have to worry too much about your year at uni tho, surely they should give you some sort of extension or make certain allowances?

good luck with the MRI.

[cookiepuss]

is the prescription for Dilantin???? My mother takes it to prevent seziures.

it sounds like these are grand maul seirzures, correct?

I'm no that knowledgeable...but dependig on the type of seizure...there will hopefully be a prescription medication to help you/prevent them.

I'm sorry to hear you are going through this. seizures are scary.
I agree with Venus though, in that most uni's should give you some accomodations due to your medical condition. This means that you will need to have a little chat with ALL your Professors and let them know what's happening...take a doctor's note if you have to. Also check to see if your uni has a disability resource center. Epilepsy sound be considered a disability of some sort (even if it is temporary for you) and such organizations exhist on campuses to protect students like you. if you have a proff that won't allow you accomodations for your illness, then the disability resource center can step in and make them. That's how it was at my Uni. of course I'm speaking of the US and I don't know how it's done else where.

good luck, hang in there!!!!

[insertnamehere]

I have both a friend and a family member with epilepsy. The few things I know about it are that for one, it could take awhile to get your medication right. Sometimes they have to play around with the dosages or try different medicines to find one that works for you, so don't be too discouraged if this first one doesn't work out, I'm sure they can find something for you. Two, a lot of things can interact with your epilepsy medicine, so make sure you ask your doctor to be very specific about that kind of thing. Like i think alcohol can make it less effective so if you drink a lot you might need to cut back. You personally don't have to worry about this, but one of the people I know, her doctor failed to mention to her that epilepsy meds can lead birth control pills to be ineffective, now she's got a kid. Just an example of why you should make sure to ask questions about things like that. Also, she has something called nocturnal epilepsy, where basically she has seizures in her sleep, and mostly they happen when she doesn't get enough sleep. So make sure you're taking care of yourself, and keep an eye out for signs of that happening. She had no idea till her parents found her seizing in the middle of the night, but she's always wake up sore and with bruises. she thought it was cause she was really active in sports at the time but turns out she was having seizures in her sleep.

Having a seizure does seem like it would be really embarrasing. I think if i were epileptic my biggest fear would be pissing myself in front of people, so I can definetly understand your worries there, but anyone with half a brain should realize what you are going though and be sympathetic to it, and anyone who doesn't, who gives a fuck what they think anyway. If they think poorly of you cause you have a serious medical condition they deserve to get puked on.

Good luck, and hang in there. As long as you take care of yourself and stick with it till you find an appropriate drug and dosage, you should be fine. The fact that you've had two so close together probably means it would become much more of a problem without treatment.

sometime else i just thought of, some people get auras before they have a seizure.... some kind of mild hallucinaiton like a certain taste or smell. If you've had anything like that an can identify it, it could help, so if you know its about to happen you can like, not be standing right beside a railing.

*hugs*

[Teh]

I was gonna reply to this sooner, but its been on my mind alot that i plain couldn't be bothered. Thanks for all the replies though, yo!

The medication i've been prescribed is called epilim chrono, and apparently it's a pretty good general medication with a high success rate. I reckon i've been able to give the doctors a pretty good description of my episodes thus far, so here's hoping it'll work. It's kind of scary, because i'll be passing through the station where i had one a few fridays ago and my head will start to sting where i whacked it off the railing, and i always wonder "If i wasn't on medication, would this be manifesting as a siezure right now?" Bleh.

I would think it's probably a grand mal (they call them tonic-clonic siezures over here, i think). I don't remember them making a defenite decision at the diagnosis. I haven't had any sort of tell tale signs before having one, like an aura or a funny smell, and that seems to go with them, as the patterns for 'fore-warnings' are pretty irregular. I've also never lost control of my bladder or anything.

So far i've not bothered to tell anybody at uni, but i'm intending to this week because in the event that i did have one and it interferes with coursework, the first question would probably be "Why didn't you notify us of this sooner?". There is a fairly prominent disability service though on campus run by students and staff so it's good to know that i'd have their support, if i needed it.

On the up side, i found out that i get free travel on all public bus services since i can't legally drive. Aweeesome :D

Again, cheers for the replies, all.

[Loppfessor]

Good for you dude, I'm glad you're getting some help and best of luck!