Hey Everybody

[SICAC]

hi everybody just been diagnosed as epileptic neurologist put me on keppra basically IM scared out my pants not knowing where to turn. im 52yrs young.and to my knowledge never had any symptoms until january this year sice then ive had 8 siezures. any advice would be extremely welcome.

[RobinN]

Hello SICAC

A little bit of knowledge is helpful, and lot is powerful.
Epilepsy is a label, and only a label, for two or more unprovoked seizures.
Seizures are a symptom ... find the cause is the needle in the haystack game.

What I decided with my daughter who was 14 at the time of her first seizure, I told myself that she had been fine up until that day. I wanted to put my energy into returning her to that if possible. You are 52. Any other medical issues? It was helpful for me to put those into a google search along with seizures and see what came up. I tried a lot of combinations.

I will share with you that making nutritional changes have made an incredible improvement in my daughters seizure control. She isn't on meds and the diagnosis no longer scares us. She has yet to drive, but we are hopeful that next year (her 19th) will be her year to do that.

There are many ways to be proactive in your care, which certainly has helped me to help my daughter. I hope it will give you a bit more control in your situation. Check out this thread:
Proactive Prescription for Epilepsy

There is a ton of support here. Take a look around. If you enjoy reading, the Library is a good place to start. If you need a few jokes, we have those too. Join in, ask questions and you will find a friendly crowd here at CWE.

[Nakamova]

Hi SICAC --

I was diagnosed at 35. It felt so scary and confusing then, but I've since found that information is your friend. Don't be afraid to press your doctor and neurologist for answers, and definitely feel free to ask questions here at CWE. You might want to consider keeping a seizure journal -- it's a good way to monitor seizure activity (are the seizures changing, are they becoming more or less frequent, do they happen at certain times of day, etc.), meds (side effects/dosages), and potentially identify a trigger or triggers that may be pushing you over the "seizure threshold". The number one trigger seems to be fatigue, but it can also be something like a reaction to certain foods or food additives, low blood sugar, photosensitivity, etc.

Best,
Nakamova