Has anybody been told you were denying a seizure

[walksalot]

Sometimes when I didn't know I had a complex partial seizure my husband would know I did and say to me "you just had a seizure, didn't you!" I would say "No, I didn't". He would say to me "Don't try to lie yourself out of it, Jan, you did" I asked my doctor what was going on. He said when I answered him "no, I didn't it, it was all part of the seizure. My doctor said I was coming out of the seizure and was coherent enough to understand what he said to me and to answer him, but that I was still partially in the seizure. When these situations happen, I never remember the seizures Jim says I have. He says I play with my hands, I put my hands under my legs, I rock in the chair or say stupid things, but I never remember these things. I think sometimes he can't deal with this yet and it's been since I was in my 30's . I'm 64 now. I feel like he's ashamed of me.

I was on Depakote once and my hair was falling out like rain. My doctor put me in the hospital to take me off of it in a hurry and once when he came into the room I began having a seizure in front of him. I said to him "Turn aroud so I can see the circles on your back". He asked me if I knew where I was and I said "At the Mount Hope Baptist Chuch. I remember the whole conversation. These are the things I say to Jim when I have a seizure and he tells me I just had one and I respond that "No, didn't" and he accuses me of lying. I'm not looking for an answer, I needed to write it down and hit "send" to get it off my chest. :0)

The thing of it all is, though, my husband can be as supportive as anyone one day and ignorant the next. It leaves me bewildered sometimes. When I try to explain to him that he needs to understand he just says "I know all I need to know, I've lived with you the whole time you've had this. I'm in a pickle and I guess I'll just have to accept this is the way it is. At least he is still with me and comes to me when I really need him.

[Molly97]

Ah, husbands.
Mine, who I basically believe to be relatively unobservant, says to me from time to time, "Are you going to have a seizure?" My answer is usually "No." And then I have one. I've asked him exactly what he sees about me that makes him think a seizure is on the way, and he says "You just look like it." But he is right about an impending seizure about 8 times out of 10.
I don't need a seizure dog; I have my husband for early warning!

[walksalot]

My daughter told me I used to get a look of fear on my face and it scared her to death, but she's married and gone now.

I had a Golden Retriever once that actually could tell and he would come a paw me. He was a wonderful dog. My seizures usually caused me to hurt myself, never anybody else, I usually did or said stupid stuff . Most people think I'm a real comedian. My husband sees nothing funny in my playing in my food, though. I did it once at a Bob Evans while we were Christmas shopping with his Mother along. Really embarassed him and his Mom in front of a lot of people.

[skillefer]

Yours too Molly?? My hubby swears that there are just days he knows to keep the phone on and nearby because he says I just have that "look".

[darkmarkshark]

I've asked him exactly what he sees about me that makes him think a seizure is on the way, and he says "You just look like it."

well thats what seizure dogs do right? notice cues in you, sometimes hours before you know you'll be having a seizure. And if dogs can do it, surely some exceptionally bright spouses can do it as well :P

i've noticed some of my cats behavior corresponds with my seizures. Everytime I've woken up in a way that indicates I've had a bad nocturnal seizure, and ended up needing to sleep all day afterwards, he's woken me up a few hours into my going to bed. Always by touching my nose and trying to look inside it so I'm guessing my nose does something that gives him a clue. any other time he never touches my face.

He tends to avoid me on days I have a lot of minor twitching so I'm guessing I give him some kind of clue. Unless maybe I've had seizures where I'm yelling and just don't remember them and thats why he won't go near me

[brain]

YES! Many times! I would have denied I had a seizure,
in fact, I've had arguments in result of this. There is
a post between Bernard and I in this area along the
lines. Part of the problem is to the fact of having no
memory or knowledge of anything that had actually
happened.

It can be downright frustrating, to have something happen
and not knowing it and people telling you something
else and you're thinking "They are OFF THEIR ROCKERS!
I AM FINE!"

I know, I've been through that - too many times, but
it's taken me years to come to realization that they
were right, but I have problems sometimes with the
THINGS that they say that happens - for sometimes,
to me, they seem to be like "FISH STORIES" or "WILD
FAIRY TALES".

And it makes you wonder if THEY were the ones who
had the seizures, NOT YOU!

Just my

But like one poster had posted and it's worth repeating it:

EPILEPSY TAKES YOU FOR A VERY STRANGE RIDE!

[Bee91]

Oh yeah. I do all the time. Either I don't remember them, or I just do want to admit it, or I just don't want people to find out. I'm quite stubborn

[seizures4ever]

My seizures usually caused me to hurt myself, never anybody else, I usually did or said stupid stuff . Most people think I'm a real comedian. My husband sees nothing funny in my playing in my food, though. I did it once at a Bob Evans while we were Christmas shopping with his Mother along. Really embarassed him and his Mom in front of a lot of people.

Did they say they were embarassed? Or were you embarassed? Or both?

If they told you that you embarassed them, pardon me for saying so, but that's a mean and very rude thing to do. They both know you have epilepsy, which is out of your control.

On the other hand, if you were embarassed by your actions, that is a totally normal response when something is out of your control.

Perhaps your husband needs to see someone (i.e. a therapist) just to talk about things. Living with and caring for someone with any health problem is not easy. But he needs to be reminded that he is not only living with epilepsy, he is living with YOU, who he loves (and you just happen to have epilepsy).

Take care and stay safe my friend. -Julie

[Belinda5000]

I have people tell me I just don't respond before I have a seizure or I get dazed look on my face before I have the seizure.
I had one tonight and scared a friends 3year old and she had reassure him I was alright.


Belinda

[walksalot]

Geez, I'm sure glad I stumbled on this website. I could almost cry while I sit here. My self esteem was pretty low until I read these posts. I had no idea anyone else had people accusing them of having seizures then actually vocally denying it when they thought they hadn't. I thought I was alone in this one.

Oh, and about when we were shopping and I played in my biscuits and gravy at Bob Evans and embarassed my Mother-In-Law--I didn't embarass myself. I thought it was funny when I came out of the seizure and I had gravy all over my hands and lap and the waitress was there giving me a clean napkin to put in my lap and another to clean my hands with before I went to the rest room to wash up. I think I shocked the people at the next table, though. Stupid morons!

When you have a partial complex seizure, does anybody else follow directions during the seizure? Jim can tell me to do something and I will do it. There's times when I might have a cup of coffee in my hand and he will tell me to put the cup down and I will before I spill it. Or like that night at Bob Evans, he had told me to take my hands out of the gravy and put them in my lap, and I stopped playing in the food and put them in my lap.

Somebody tell me how to get the animated icons in here and I'd put some laughing ones in here. When I click on them, only the words appear in my post.

[Meetz1064]

to a few times, only to realize it was hopeless. Why? Welllllll.....the evidence of a completely bitten through tongue, for starters....so, I've given up arguing.

[walksalot]

Ouch a lot! I've never bitten my tongue, but I did hold a pot of boiling potatoes against my stomach and got a third degree burn from it. I'd have sworn I didn't have a seizure and I didn't have a clue how the burn happened.

[Bernard]

from the other side of the fence

[Bee91]

When you have a partial complex seizure, does anybody else follow directions during the seizure?

I can sometimes. It depends on how big the complex partial seizure is. Sometimes I can talk during them. And sometimes I will just say 'uh-huh' over and over again...

[walksalot]

Sometimes I've talked, too, and nobody knew I had a seizure but I knew I was having one. Can you tell you when are having one? My doctor asked me if I know I am having one sometimes and I told him I think I do sometimes. I don't think I go unconcious all the time. I think I just go foggy sometimes. I've been looking in the mirror fixing my hair and had a small seizure and told myself to look at me, and I did, but I couldn't see any change in me while I was having the seizure. Does that make any sense?

[seizures4ever]

Yes, most of the time, my family says that I can follow "simple commands." I never have any memory though of what occured during my complex-partials...I am in a "walking unconscious" state.

My family says that if they tell me something like "Stop" or "Sit down," I will usually do it. The only exception is if I'm in a status c-p, or what my relatives call a "deep seizure."

On occasion, my husband says I mumble words or sounds...but it's nothing that makes sense and most of the time they are not even real words.

And yes, I've denied having a seizure. I busted my eye one day at work and had blood running down my face, and I didn't even realize it! Somebody in the office said, "Oh my God Julie, your eye is bleeding." I told her it wasn't bleeding and that I hadn't had a seizure. She said, "Go look in the bathroom mirror. Look at your shirt and your hands...Julie there is blood all over you!" So I do, sometimes, deny (forget or am unaware) that I've had a seizure. You are definitely not alone!

Take care and stay safe! -Julie

[brain]

You may also want to check out this and the
new Poll too:


Complex Partial Seizures / Complex Partial Epilepsy

There are information on that website (short info)
plus links there and a poll you can vote into it if
you hadn't already.

[Ann T.]

Hi, walksalot:
I've fallen off a curb in front of a hospital(my mom & I bickered about this), swallowed toothpaste while brushing my teeth, & wandered around downtown Evanston IL during my my complex partials. So don't worry, you're not alone...take care ~Ann

[RobinN]

Rebecca knows she has had a seizure, as she is down on the ground with people around her. Can't deny that one.

[walksalot]

Hey, speaking of being on the ground, I was at the grocery about a month ago and I heard a noise near me and saw a man about 35 go down and then realized he was having a seizure. People around me had a look of disgust on their faces. I could have kicked them in their collective a....ses. Well, I ran to him and put my purse under his head and sat on the concrete pavement with him holding his head and telling him I have epilepsy too and he was going to be ok. A police car came by and the cop got out and stood with us and called an ambulance because the man's head was bleeding a little. I don't know what the man's name was, but he finally came out of it three or four minutes later and was confused but after the ambulance got there he knew who he was and asked for his mother. He didn't know I was there and I don't care. I got really p*&$^% off, though because the manager of the grocery came ut and took pictures. I guess that was to protect the store but I thought it was rude, myself. The onlookers should have been ashamed of themselves, but they were all stupid. I would like to have said something to them, but I wouldn't have know what to say.