How Old Were You When You Were Diagnosed?

[Melpier]

I was 4. the longest i have ever gon seizure free was a year ( I think). It was areally long time ago. I keep pressing on and try to live as normal a life as possible. Oh well!!

[Meetz1064]

Well, there is conflicting information on this subject. It seems my mother and her family have been lying to me for over 40 years about it.

Originally, I was told I was 18 or 19 months when I had my first seizure, then I was taken into the office and diagnosed.

NOPE.

Mom had been noticing things for a while, evidently, and had taken me in at the ripe age of 13 months, and the doc triggered me in his office into a full blown tonic clonic. YIPPEE.

Based on Mom's observations, and the triggered seizure, I was put on phenobarb, and Dilantin for the next 18 years.......

I have gone for LONG periods of time without seizures....I'm working on 6 years now for the tonic clonics........

[bre4thewin]

I was 5. My seizures have always been pretty spread out...the longest ive gone has been 5 years in between.

[RanMan]

I was 21 (1979) when I had my first (I think) Granmal seizure.
Didn't have another until 2002 however, there were lots of petit mal seizures during this time, in different forms such as short term memory loss, poor coordination (from the meds) de-ja-vu, ears ringing, ED (from the meds) etc. but because back in 1979, not that much was known about this condition and because my yearly EEGs kept showing active seizure activity in the lower temporal lobe, I had to stay on the meds (dilantin and pheonobarb) ever since as an "insurance policy".

Sometimes Epilepsy can stay dormant in your lower brain for several years and then be triggered by something like stress, drowseyness, certain types of light at Wal Mart, certain sounds, etc. and then you may not have another seizure for years.

Randy

[RobinN]

Rebecca was 14.

[Heather]

I was approx 2. I had meningitis as a baby, which caused me to have epilepsy. I haven't had a complex partial or tonic clonic in approx 5 yrs. I have simple partial seizures daily.

[Dutch mom]

We saw the first seizures at age 1,5. He was diagnosed with E. at age 2 and with Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome at 3. Probably he already had small seizures before 1,5 but we didn't recognize those as epilepsy. He suffered braindamage shortly after birth which was diagnosed by an MRI at age 2.

[skillefer]

I was 3 or 4...went into status following a head injury and came out of it with partial paralysis (which eventually disappeared...). So I've had e for over 34 years. Like Meetz, went a long period of time without seizures. From age 5 to 16 ( no meds), and then again from 17-33 (with meds).

[Nakamova]

I was 34. I had my first tonic-clonic in a realtor's office, right after I'd presciently given the agent all my personal details (including emergency contact info). Woke up in a hospital.

[Crystal11]

I was 6 when I was first diagnosed, then began having vision problems and hearing problems as well as CNS/brain injury troubles such as balance etc.. I was not treated with meds since due to taking allergy shots, three other allergy and autoimmune medications- anyways was diagnosed again when seizures became more than absences at age 14. Took Tegretol for a year but was too sleepy in school. Stoped meds and was diagnosed again at 23 and began an actual treatment plan when seizures became longer complex partial seizures and more involved, not as easy to recover from and it is working well and now I am 26 years ago and have been on meds ever since.
My neurologist said that I would probably have seizures for a long long time since they were not treated for such a long time. My complex partial seizures can generalize as well which scares me. But I try to stay possitive and take meds on time and be careful. My best friend and twin sister have epilepsy too- so we all look out for eachother.
Take care, be safe everyone-
Crystal and her guide dog Umbro

[Loopy Lou]

I was 22 when i had my first grand mal and then by the time i went to the doctors and got diagnosed i was nearly 23 (about 7 months later, cos i'm a sissy).

Welcome to the site!

[Ruth]

I was 6 years old. I had absence seizures until 21 years old. Then tonic clonic was added on. I have some short breaks, about 3 days since. I have had epilepsy for 60 years now.

[BuckeyeFan]

I was 20 in 1981 when I had my first tonic-clonic. Pretty close to RanMan's time-line. I may have had issues at younger age, but it was never recognized.

I am on my longest tonic-clonic free run right now. Over 5 years now. Still have auras once in awhile and before a recent med change was probably having some form of simple partials as well.