Blood pressure post ictal

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Sparkles

Sparkles

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When I went to urgent care yesterday to get the head wound checked my BP was 156/94. When I've been picked up by EMTs during/after seizures my BP has been elevated to similar levels. I take a BP med, Atenolol, and it usually works, so I am wondering, is this a post ictal thing? Do others have this happen? Also, my pulse rate is often increased up to around 100 give or take. Perhaps it is white coat syndrome or effects of the injuries from falling?

Just wondering. Full of questions as usual after a seizure, I guess. I've been doing some research on the epidemiology of epilepsy, which I find very interesting, but I can't seem to comprehend the mechanisms of the episodes themselves. My profession is grant writing and research, so in my spare time I can't seem to help but research this right now. When I looked up the high blood pressure and post seizure, it went right over my head. Way too technical. I get a lot more answers here! :) I just wish I could provide some answers.
 
Thanks Takamova. I will check with my neuro when I see him in September. In the mean time I may increase my vitamin D. I don't think I clench my jaw during my complex partials, but since I don't remember them, who knows. I take Topamax for seizure prevention and who knows if that interferes with vitamin D absorption. It's worrisome to have the cardio issues with the seizures so I want to get that under control. But I don't want to worry about it. :) thanks again!!
 
Hi Sparkles, I don't have an answer to your question...but on a side note, I'm a grant writer too! I just wanted to say hi because there aren't many of us out there. I specialize in housing development and write HUD Permanent Supportive Housing, HOPWA, Emergency Shelter Grants, etc.
I take Topamax as well and some days I find it very difficult to write creatively when a side effect to this particular med is "word-find".
 
Brandi, wow that's an interesting coincidence. I also used to live in Southern California. I taught for 12 years full time at CSUN. That's where I first started writing and working on grants. When I moved to SC I taught part time for awhile then got a job writing grants for a non profit. We did mostly private foundation grants, but had a few government grants including a SAMHSA grant and state grants that were federal flow through dollars from the DOJ. Now I work in academia again but as a cross between staff and faculty, jokingly referred to a staffulty. I work a 10 month year which is nice as they let me spread my 2 month "summers off" time out thought the year - their idea since grant deadlines never stop - and with joint custody of my kids I'd rather work on the weeks the kids aren't with me anyway. And I get to work from home n Wednesdays currently. So aside from an evil supervisor, I have a great job. I write mostly private foundation grants, but help faculty with government grants too, mostly NIH and department of Ed. The other part of my job is quantitative research including teaching a graduate class on research methods. So between the Topomax and the memory issues from the seizures themselves, I just can't afford to lose more brain cells and memories. It's been challenging but for now, I can do the work and do it well if my controlling micromanaging supervisor would back off. I love academia. I should, I've spent the better part of the past 27 years in it since I was 17 years old! So I'd be disappointed to have to quit due to either seizures, medication, driving issues, or my crazy supervisor.

I really love writing grants. I always tell people it's like doing a puzzle with very clear directions - put the abstract here, the introduction there, the methods here, the mission there, etc. And now with the online applications the character limits, though they drive me crazy, they make things very clear, no? I just wish everyone would stay on my time table and not be so last minute. Yesterday a faculty dept of Ed grant got submitted 22 minutes prior to the deadline. Ay!!

Do you write as a consultant or full time?
 
Oh, you're speaking my language! Yes, I love writing grants as well. It's all I've ever done, that and program development from the resulting contracts. I've always worked in the nonprofit arena. My master's degree is in rehabilitation counseling and PhD is in nonprofit management. I'm glad that epilepsy didn't enter my life until now because there's just no way that I could learn a new career or study in the shape I'm in now. It's really hard on the days when I need to put together a $500,000 budget when my brain tells me it really wants to just sit on the couch and stare at the wall. haha

I'm waiting for SAMSHA to release something that I can apply for, for my TAY program! I have a wonderful Permanent Housing Program out in Barstow for 12 transitional Aged Youth who are aging out of foster care that are severely mentally ill and I've got my eye on SAMSHA every month. :) They are on my list "I've got my eye on you" funders haha

I'm contracted with several nonprofits to write for them, which is nice...I can write from home.
 
Hi, Sparkles and Brandi
You both have what sound like incredibly interesting jobs! And Brandi I'm sure that the fact that you have seizures gives you a different view of working with these special needs transitional youth than, say, someone with no disabilities or medical issues.
 
I haven't thought of it that way, but I am grateful too to have been diagnosed this late in life I guess. The symptoms started in 2005/2006 but the diagnosis came around 15 months ago, although I didn't really hear it until May of this year. I heard "seizure" then I heard "complex seizure disorder" but apparently I was told "epilepsy" but it didn't register until this May. And I didn't want to know I think. It was my last year as a full time faculty that the symptoms started, then we moved across country. I also have my PhD, but all of my degrees are in Sociology with emphasis in both Research Methods/Statistics and Criminology. I used to teach criminology courses, and I miss that a lot. I hope to do that part time when I retire. I would do that now but I need the health care benefits. And I do like the grant writing. The non profit I worked for was a children's advocacy center and so we had a lot of programs for foster children. They had a policy there that we could not foster any of the kids that came through the center. I think they knew we were all softies who wanted to take all of the kids home and do serious damage to the abusers.

I start a two week vacation on Monday and I'm trying to get two foundation grants out by Friday afternoon. But I don't write the budgets. I might draft them, but we have two offices on campus, one for government grants and one for foundation grants and they have to approve the budgets and they hold all of the financial data. For the foundation office I had been waiting FIVE weeks for financial data for one of these grants. Seriously messed up. I'm starting to get why my blood pressure is up! :) I always tell my coworkers and coauthors, I can't balance my checkbook, you want to check and double check any budget I work on. But the evaluation and stats, there I'm good.

I had a seizure at work and wrote a report just prior that I had no memory of writing, and it was really good. I lose memory surrounding the partial complex seizures maybe just minutes maybe hours. It worries me what I do or say in those times. I went to a task force meeting and gave an evaluation report that was apparently well received - no memory of walking in downtown to the meeting and back, no memory of giving the report, no memory of walking back and recording what happened at the meeting. This is where I start to worry, except that the work is fine. So, I'm wondering, is it just during the seizure that my brain is having problems then the memory goes but all the time that I'm not seizing I'm fine it's just that the memory of that time gets wiped out... Ok, now I'm just rambling. Back to work. :)

It's great you can work from home. Good luck with the SAMHSA. I try to read through the grants.gov emails every day and keep in mind all of the faculty research interests and school projects. One of my favorite things to do, actually, is to search for prospective grants. But I can get lost for hours online looking and go in tangents learning about the faculty research areas. I try to tell myself that it keeps my brain active which is a good thing. :)
 
Vitamin D and calcium interaction

Sparkles said:
Thanks Takamova. I will check with my neuro when I see him in September. In the mean time I may increase my vitamin D. I don't think I clench my jaw during my complex partials, but since I don't remember them, who knows. I take Topamax for seizure prevention and who knows if that interferes with vitamin D absorption. It's worrisome to have the cardio issues with the seizures so I want to get that under control. But I don't want to worry about it. :) thanks again!!
Click to expand...

You may want to know that vitamin D helps your body collect and use calcium. An increase in calcium (because it is an excitatory neurotransmitter) may trigger seizures, in people with a low seizure threshhold, if it is not counter balanced by magnesium (an inhibitory neurotransmitter) Calcium is a good thing as long as it is in balance with magnesium.

I have to correct myself, Magnesium and Calcium are not neurotransmitters but they assist excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters and they do counter balance each other both in the brain and in the contraction and relaxation of muscles.
 
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Sparkles, enjoy your much deserved vacation!! Take some time for you and the family and get some r & r :)
Masterjen, I definitely have a special place in my heart for those who have struggles in life. Every dollar I can bring into an agency makes me smile :)
 
Thanks masterjen. I do find my job interesting most of the time.

Idahoseashell, I don't take calcium supplements, but maybe I should wait on the increase in D until I see my doctor. Trying to balance the supplements and meds is challenging. Thanks for the information.

Thanks, Brandi, I can't wait for this vacation! I'll be visiting family in NJ. My 17 year old son will be doing the driving so I will be doing a lot of praying. :) I know what you mean about the smiles with bringing in much needed funds for programs. I especially felt that way when I worked at the nonprofit.
 
Your welcome, I made a point of telling you this because I have recently read comments elsewhere on the forum where people have had tonic/clonic seizures as a result of taking large doses of vitamin D supplements. While D is not normally a problem it can be in the absence of enough magnesium to counter balance the increase in calcium availability.
 
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