Hi everyone I'm new

[valeriedl]

Someone recomended this site to me because I like help from regular people (not drs) who know and understand what you are going through. I also appericate the help that they can give me.

About 7 years ago I had a grand mal sez out of no where. Luckily I was staying at my boyfriend's (at the time) house. I woke him up in the middle of the night shaking in the bed. He rushed me to the hospital where I had to be put into a medicaly induced coma to get the sez to stop.

The neurologist still has no idea what caused the sez, and why I'm still having them.

I was in the hospital for about 6 weeks before they released me. I was still having alot of sez a month.

I had a ton of memory loss. About 10 years of my life were gone after I got out of the hospital and after every sez I wouldn't remember things that had happend days to weeks before it.

I have focal sezs now, which aren't as bad.

My doctor put me on a ton of meds. I got a VNS implant which has greatly reduced the ammount of sez I have. I usually only have about one a month, but I do have what I would call mini sezs where the room won't seem right or I get dizzy feelings and can't think straight.

I am still on alot of meds with the VNS implant (which I got about 2 years ago), but the neurologist is trying to reduce the dosages that I take.

I currently take Divalproex SOD ER 500mg TAMYL, Carbamazepine XR 400mg Tabtar, Levetriacetam 750mg TABLETMYL, Lamotrigine 150mg Tablet MYL, and Lamotrigine 25mg Tablet.

Usually after I have a bad sez I have a horrible migrane headache which the neruo also gave me medicine for that too.

I still have a ton of memory loss. I joke that when the repeats of tv shows come on in the summer they are all new to me because I don't remember how they end. I also asked my dad for about four weeks straight where a certain grocery store was because when their flyer came in the mail it had good sales. Most things that happened over a year ago are gone, and some things that happened sooner than that are gone too.

Luckily my friends and family are very understanding about this and will take the time to tell me about what I forgot.

I can't drive and live out in the country so I have to rely on family and friends to get me around. I feel bad about this but not one time has anyone said anything to me about having to be my personial taxi service.

I am currently living with my boyfriend that I met a little over a year after having the firse sez. He knows what I've gone through and has been there for most of it now. He knows when a sez is coming on (I usually don't) and will make sure that I am somewhere ok so that I don't hurt myself.

I don't know if this is alot or too much but I want people to know what is going on with me so that maybe they can relate to it and ask me questions or I can ask them questions and try to help each other.

I look forward to posting on this website and hope I can get help with everything, it's going to be nice to meet you all!

[celesteam]

Welcome! So glad you found the site. I'm new to all of this, so I am still learning... but I wanted to welcome you. There are a lot of people on this site with a great deal of information.

I really get it about having to have "taxi service."

[epileric]

Your post isn't too much. Everyone has their own story & none of them are really short. It sounds like you're also getting simple partial seizures. This link might help you see what others you might be having.http://www.webmd.com/epilepsy/guide/...their-symptoms

Also one of the members here has a site specifically for people who have a VNS. http://z4.invisionfree.com/VNS_Message_Board/index.php? just to share info with others who have one.

[Nakamova]

Hi valeriedl, Welcome to CWE!

This is a great community and every member adds something new to the pot. I hope you feel free to explore the different forums -- there are ones for chatting, posting, news, venting, etc...

Best,
Nakamova

[Cint]

Hi Valerie and welcome,

Your story isn't too long or too much. In some ways I can relate. My seizures started years ago, out of nowhere, first as complex partial and then turned into tonic clonic. After trying many meds, I had an unsuccessful left temporal lobectomy, resulting in bad memory loss. However, my husband at the time wasn't very understanding as to why I couldn't remember things he had just told me the same morning or the day before, or places we had been, since he was a pilot, or drs. names, friend's names. I also have trouble remembering a lot of things my children did when they were growing up, school events, birthday parties, etc. The epilepsy center I go to did provide some therapy for people with memory loss, maybe you could ask your neurologist about it.
Since the brain surgery was unsuccessful and made my seizures worse, I also had the VNS back in 1998 and it has helped me out tremendously. My neurologist cut back on my meds and the seizures have decreased significantly. I hope you have the same results.

[skillefer]

Hello! Welcome to CWE. Feel free to chime in, ask questions, etc...