Hello!

[burnonetoo]

I just want this to end! I had a grand mal seizure in May that was less than a minute long. Went to the doctor to find out what happened because I didn't know anything about seizures. I hadn't been to a general practitioner in over 10years for anything except immunizations (I'm 32). I followed their directions and took all kinds of tests, the eeg came back and the Dr. said that I have epilepsy and put me on Trileptal right away. Besides some dizzyness at first from the meds, I have felt completely normal (whatever that means). I'm taking another on 9/3 to see if they'll let me drive.

I work the 3rd shift full-time and attend college full-time as well. Thankfully I have a loving suportive husband that taxi's me around everywhere. I feel fine, I was feeling fine before, after and during the event (as I was unaware) and I just want to pretend that this never happened and go back to leading my life.

I know they say there's buses and other crap, but no one seems to understand. I have 2 nice trucks that I LOVE to drive. I live in a very bad part of town and there's no concealed carry here, so I am not willing to use public transportation (I'm a petite female). I lead a very busy life and I don't want to be held down by this!

Thank you all for letting me rant...I don't seem to be around many people that understand what it's like to be going through this.

[Nakamova]

Hi burnonetoo, welcome to CWE!

Usually the docs wait until you have two seizures before diagnosing epilepsy, or putting you on meds. Although if the EEG was clearly positive, then that may have tipped the scales. The fact that you are "medication-responsive" is a good sign -- in other words if the very first medication you try controls the seizures and has minimal side effects, then that bodes well for future seizure control, and also regaining your driver's license. Here in Massachusetts the law is that you have to be 6 months seizure-free before you can drive again. It's also not something the docs can report to the DMV, so you're on your honor about staying off the road.

I'm also "medication-responsive" and I've driven before the official 6 months is up. I'm not advocating that for you -- at this point, ten years after diagnosis, I have a pretty good idea of when I'm safe (basically as long as I'm on meds).

I hope your EEG next week comes up clean. Either way, it's worth taking a closer look to see if you can identify anything that might have brought on the seizure, any trigger or triggers that may have played a role. You said you were feeling fine before and after, so that rules out illness or infection. The number one trigger is often fatigue. Low blood sugar can play a role, or a nutritional imbalance or allergy (in my case, too much aspartame). And hormones can play a role too -- sometimes changes in estrogen levels can mess with the brain.

Best,
Nakamova

[burnonetoo]

I had decided to go off of Depo-Provera (birth control shots) after having been on it for a decade. My last shot was in Dec. of 2009. While I was on "the shot" I did not have periods. Two days before the seizure I had my first real period in about a decade. I informed my Dr. of all of this and he said that had nothing to do with it. I have had regular cycles since then and nothing has happened, so I don't know.

[Bernard]

Hi bot, welcome to the forum.

I think you will find that just about everyone here understands the freedom/driving issue. There are many discussions about it.

Hormone spikes absolutely can be significant factors in triggering seizures. See these discussions about catamenial epilepsy for more info.