How long does it take you to come back around?

[TexasTravel]

I have always wondered how long it takes for the "average" epileptic to come back around after a seizure. I realize that it is probably different depending on the type of seizure that you had though.

Most, about 51%, of my seizures happen while I am sleeping, usually a nap. On average, it takes around an hour for everything to come back to me, for my muscles to feel relaxed, etc. I am also usually very confused and believe that it is about 10 years ago and that I am late for work (I have not worked for about 10 years). I am very fortunate when my wife is here as she keeps me from getting to scared.

Today, though, it is taking much, much longer. It has been over 6 hours since my latest seizure and I still feel like I am in zombie land. My muscles still hurt and everything sounds like it is in another world. I cannot think very well either.

Anyway, how long does it take you?

 

[Crystal11]

Hello-
I have complex partial seizure and one part of the aura for me is the changing of sound. Usually other things happen too that make me sick and I know a seizure will happen shortly after- sometimes I will just sit and not move- for some reason my brain wants me to sit still as if sitting still makes it go away. It never does.
After the seizure it takes me about an hour to get all the way back to myself unless its a shorter 40 sec CP. Usually I have to ask questions or just rest and sleep and then get back to normal. If I had a seizure while in school I would just get help walking back to my college dorm and sleep the rest of the day- the instructors would get a phone call about me not being able to come back to classes.
After a short seizure I can get back to normal within 10mins. Just become quiet and still in a "trance" but able to talk but just slower and more mild like.

Hi this is Danielle, Crystals twin. We are both identical in every way except for a few differences, even with our seizures. Mine last about 30 to 40 seconds and I know one is comingwhen I can feel in it my stomach. By the time the sensation "tranqiulizing" feeling goes into my head, my eyes are forced to the right and stay stuck. My body feels over taken and I have to let it go and I feel my body drain of energy instantly. I always come around after a deep breath in and i pick my head up and have to wait 20 minutes to sometimes an hour to have my full energy back. Iam also very weak on my left side.

Take care everyone, be safe
-From the Twins

 

[Meetz1064]

I, on

the other hand, am a bit of a freak. And I freely acknowledge this.:bigmouth:

I don't wake up for at least an hour after the fact, and then I am OUT for 18 to 24 hours. No ifs, ands or buts. After that, I begin to function, but in terms of forming a REAL thought? Yeah, it's a good couple of days. Really, no joke.

 

[brain]

It all depends on the seizure, the postictal
recovery would be varying, but the lingering
after effects would gradually fade out. I would
sleep it all off.

Whenever I have nocturnal seizures, I would
wake up with the similar feeling as you have
described, and be in a confused state as well
and yet, have the urge to sleep it all off. And
I also had sore, aching muscles - as if I had
been beaten up by a gang and did not know it.
There had been times my bed looked as if
Professional Wrestlers had used it for a moment!

However, there has also been times I had been
injured somehow... or found in a strange position
by family member or they had overheard me
after the seizure was over with in my sleep and
I was choking or aspirating.

Moreover, the confused, dazed, woozy, etc .. state,
gradually would linger ... but it fades away. This
is what I am in reference to pertaining of not
being in sync (synchronization) - for one is not
"all out of it" or "all there yet".

 

[joan]

My son pretty much sleeps almost a solid 24 hrs and then when he wakes hes usually "semi regular" again. During that time Ill quietly ask if hes hungry or thristy and go with whatever he says. Hes pretty much out of it for 24 hrs and totally back in 36-48 ish ..
My daughters one grand mal... she seemed to bounce right back. Was chatty in the ER, funny even. Seemed coherant. That was a Friday night. Monday afternoon she barely remembered anything from Friday night or the rest of the weekend. SHE freaked me out as she was so different from my son. Here I was dealing with her like she was back and she wasnt. Or maybe she was but didnt remember? I'd love for her not to have anymore so I dont have to figure it out butt... time will tell.
E is certainly NOT a one size fits all thingy lol *

Hoping everyone has a good weekend*

joan*

 

[BIGMAN131307]

Well my CPS usually last about five minutes or less. I comeback around soon after. But my head hurts for the rest of the day, sometimes longer. So my "seizures" aren't too severe physically. It's the effects afterwards that hit me hard.

 

[epileric]

For me it depends

Sometimes I'll have a seizure & not feel any post-ictal effects. Other times I"ll feel them for up to 4 hours.

The weird part is that sometimes what feels like a small seizure has a huge post ictal period or what feels like a huge seizure has no post ictal period.

 

[Crystal11]

Bigman- I have complex partial seizure myself and even though they may not appear severe or serious they are- CPs can be just as harsh, sometimes scary as a grand-mal seizure can. CP can sometimes be more of a threat than a GM and I mean that because when you have a GM your down once your down while in a CP you can walk around, wander or hurt yourself and never know it. Some people may have GMs and be fine 15min afterwards, just depends on the person while someone can have a CP and take hours to get back to normal functioning and energy etc.
Take care and be safe..

 

[dfwtexas]

I am in same boat as Crystal, I have simple and complex partials. Doc said the seizures themselves are probably less than 4-5 minutes but I lose at least 30 minutes when I seize. I am not present but I continue to do whatever I was doing, cooking, working driving, etc. Once I come out of it, I usually still feel like I am in a fog for a hour or so. After I started learning about E, I came to realize my auras. My auras are visional only...the best way to describe it, you know when they do dream sequence on TV and the picture gets wavy and distorted...that is my aura (simple partial). Now when that happens (it usually happens at work, I think it the lights), I head to the bathroom to hide out until it passes. I remember starting to walk to the bathroom and do not remember anything else until it all passes.

 

[Crystal11]

Hello JGBmartin-
I have been visually impaired all my life so i don't know some visual concepts- I have never been able to seen waves on the TV- hehe sorry. However it is really good that you've learned about about epilepsy and your seizure type and auras. I didn't pay attention to mine when I was little because I thought everyone had the same problem as me. I never saw anyone else have a seizure or aura like mine but I just thought everyone felt the same way. But they don't.
Anyways- I try to find a hide-out place but when a seizure happens in college or school you can't really do that. I would tell my interpreters that I needed to leave because of a seizure and I would have to let the teacher know and then I would leave real fast. The last time it happened I never got a chance to tell them anything and it just started to happen. So they noticed it and my teacher dismissed class! Just because of a CP! I wandered out into the hallway and my interpreters grabed me (since i'm blind as well- i could run into something or people or a wall). They noticed my guide dog behaving strangly but i even walked hard enough to move him. They called EMS and I found myself in the middle of a hallway in another building nextdoor with EMS and 6 other staff members just looking at me. I was raelly embarassed and could not believe the teacher let everyone out of class 30min early because of my seizure! Sorry if i got off topic here.. Hehehe
Anyways.... i wish you the best of luck with everything and please take care of yourself.

 

[skillefer]

Hmmmm...

onder: Makes me feel like the oddball. I have grand mals. My postictal time has shortened over the last couple of years (ever since my hubby started putting a cool damp cloth on the back of my neck and forehead immediately after...Oh, and I started taking magnesium. ) My postictal used to last a while, and then I'd sleep for a few hours. But be okay after that. Now, after the cool damp cloth on my neck and forehead, the post ictal is shorter, and I only need about a 30 min. nap and I feel fine.

 

[Nancy]

I suppose I STILL haven't recovered fully from the beginning of this .... Nov. 1, 1990.

Anyhow ,,,,,,,, later I told my doctor that the CP's just wore me out, I was so tired I could hardly walk. He SNORTED, rolled his eyes, made a face, and said that was ridiculous. A complex partial seizure was something that took a few seconds in my brain and involved no muscles. It could not make me tired. I was trying to get attention AGAIN.

He was a doctor, he was an expert, he was right. I never again "acted" tired. I did the best I could. I didn't talk .... I smiled and smiled and smiled.

 

[RobinN]

Nancy that doctor needs a link to this site.

Rebecca typically takes on an average about 30 mins to feel like functioning again.
However, she loses most of her memory for the morning, or period of time prior to the event. Most of the time it occurs in the A.M.

 

[epileric]

Every time I've had a neurologist with that sort of attitude I've gotten a new one. I want to have my seizures helped & if someone doesn't believe me when I tell them what's happening they won't be able to help me.

I suppose I STILL haven't recovered fully from the beginning of this .... Nov. 1, 1990.

Anyhow ,,,,,,,, later I told my doctor that the CP's just wore me out, I was so tired I could hardly walk. He SNORTED, rolled his eyes, made a face, and said that was ridiculous. A complex partial seizure was something that took a few seconds in my brain and involved no muscles. It could not make me tired. I was trying to get attention AGAIN.

He was a doctor, he was an expert, he was right. I never again "acted" tired. I did the best I could. I didn't talk .... I smiled and smiled and smiled.

 

[Meetz1064]

Sorry, but

I would've given him a swift kick in the ARSE and booted him on out the door, and gone doctor shopping right that instant. No WAY would I take that nonsense from a doc......I PAY HIM!!! And, they are NOT infallible! Oh, well. That's just me, though......

 

[skillefer]

Nancy, I would have told him, "And which of us is having the seizures? Do you even know what a seizure really feels like? Or are you getting all of that brilliant information out of a book?"

 

[kyrissa]

My seizures last about 30 sec-1min. It usually takes me about 30 min to come out, but I am still so confused and massive headache.
"no muscle involvment"? Maybe my episodes aren't normal, but I've been told in my postictal phase, I try to wash my face with whatever I can get ahold of, the other day I tried to comb my hair with a spoon, do my excercising around the livingroom... etc.

 

[Zoofemme]

My grand mals last on average about 3 minutes according to my husband. I'm confused for about 10-15 minutes afterward and usually have problems speaking (stutter) and feel like a train wreck until I go to sleep again.

 

[Katarn112]

Mentally, I'll recover within the same day of having the seizure (I'm talking about major ones here). But physically... I'm out of it for at least 2-3 days.