Hello everyone...

[dw_haas]

Hi there, I'm 25 and come from a career military family. I found out I was epileptic two weeks before completion of USMC basic training. That was when I was 17. My doctors are still unable to determine my triggers, I'm not photosensitive, no allergies, etc... so basically they are feeding me drugs. So far the Tegratol and Lamictal are working...

Still, the fact that I'm an only child (excluding my half-brother) and wasn't able to join the "family business" was crushing. After spending a year seriously depressed I decided to go to school, got my Associates in computer sciences, got a Microsoft certification and a job as a systems engineer for Motorola...

One Wednesday I didn't show for work... Nobody saw me until one of my co-workers went to my apartment that weekend. Turns out I'd spent the past three days having multiple seizures. Ambulance showed up and dragged my ass to the hospital where they assumed I had some sort of drug overdose.

Finally after checking me for EEEEVERYTHING, including Mad Cow disease and West Nile virus, they determined that, yeah, it was because I was epileptic (even though my co-worker had been telling them that the whole time...) After a luxurious one-week stay they determined that a part of my cerebellum shrank, there was blood in my spinal fluid, all sorts of fun. Docs decided that I had to be under constant supervision, that living alone was a no-go.

So... I had to move back home... and move in with my wonderful mother...

So after all that, now I'm back to where I was. I'm seriously depressed, on Medicaid so I can't find a therapist, can't work, stuck in a horrible little town with no jobs and nothing to do, I can't drive, did I mention I'm 25 and living with my mother?, and have nobody to talk to who knows anything about epilepsy or has experienced anything similar.

So now I'm here.

I don't expect you guys to unveil to me some revolutionary treatment method or even make me feel better. I was just looking for somewhere that I can vent to people who might understand just how fun and exciting epilepsy is, and hopefully offer an ear to others who are looking for the same.

Anyway, there you are.

[Nakamova]

Hey dw_haas, welcome to CWE!

You've come to the right place. Not only does everyone here have a pretty good sense of what you've been through and are going through, we have a specific forum just for venting (The Padded Room), and a lot of other forums to visit depending on your moods and interests.

I would say that at some point, if you've achieved seizure control, it might be worth re-visiting the "constant supervision" issue. And if the drugs are getting you down, there's a lot of good advice here about coping strategies and alternative/complementary approaches to take.

Best,
Nakamova