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This may be a strange question, and I know it's long-winded, but any ideas would be appreciated
I know some people have seizures that affect speech and other cognitive areas, but I’ve never heard of anyone having seizures that affect ability to do basic math. I sometimes find that when I’m counting out money at a cash register or just even talking about numbers, my brain just seems to disengage. It doesn’t happen all the time, usually I’m my normal mediocre mathematical self, but it happens often enough to be a bit worrying.
It could be my brain tumor or the surgery for the bt that causes the problem, but the fact that it is sporadic makes me think it might be seizure related. Also, the only eeg I’ve ever had, done the morning after my first seizure - simple partial motor onset, secondarily generalized – showed abnormal activity in my parietal lobe. I think a lot of math processing is done in the parietal lobe. Oh, another thing which may or may not be relevant is that in my post-ictal state after that first seizure, I started counting by two’s. I don’t remember it, but I’ve always thought it must mean something, like the math portion of my brain was still really crackling.
Anyway, when this happens, my brain is like a car engine with the clutch pushed in; the engine is running, but no wheels are turning.
Some examples:
Upon reading that I was to take one of my meds 3 times a day, I couldn’t for the life of me figure how many times 3 goes into 24 to know how far apart to space doses.
Buying a dress for a x-mas present for my friend’s baby who was born the June of the previous year I honestly couldn’t figure out if she needed a size 12mo, 18mo, or 24mo…yea, that’s pitiful. I almost cried there in the store.
Answering my doctor about how much Keppra I take, I had to think for a second, and when nothing came, I blurted out 2,000mg/day, sure that I was right, but then a minute passed and I remember it was 1500mg/day. I didn’t just mis-speak, there was real confusion. I felt soooo stupid and my doctor wrote furiously in my chart though he didn’t say anything about it.
And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve given a cashier the wrong amount of money. Not off by much, just like my brain wanders off for a second or two while counting.
But as I said earlier, other times I’m just fine. I know some of it is stress; the more it happens, the more I worry, and the worse it gets. But I really wonder if it is seizure related and if changing meds would help…or not.
It's not that big a deal, but it's kind of frustrating and even a bit scary; it makes me worry about my overall cognition. Has anyone experienced this? Any ideas? Any insight would be appreciated.
I know some people have seizures that affect speech and other cognitive areas, but I’ve never heard of anyone having seizures that affect ability to do basic math. I sometimes find that when I’m counting out money at a cash register or just even talking about numbers, my brain just seems to disengage. It doesn’t happen all the time, usually I’m my normal mediocre mathematical self, but it happens often enough to be a bit worrying.
It could be my brain tumor or the surgery for the bt that causes the problem, but the fact that it is sporadic makes me think it might be seizure related. Also, the only eeg I’ve ever had, done the morning after my first seizure - simple partial motor onset, secondarily generalized – showed abnormal activity in my parietal lobe. I think a lot of math processing is done in the parietal lobe. Oh, another thing which may or may not be relevant is that in my post-ictal state after that first seizure, I started counting by two’s. I don’t remember it, but I’ve always thought it must mean something, like the math portion of my brain was still really crackling.
Anyway, when this happens, my brain is like a car engine with the clutch pushed in; the engine is running, but no wheels are turning.
Some examples:
Upon reading that I was to take one of my meds 3 times a day, I couldn’t for the life of me figure how many times 3 goes into 24 to know how far apart to space doses.
Buying a dress for a x-mas present for my friend’s baby who was born the June of the previous year I honestly couldn’t figure out if she needed a size 12mo, 18mo, or 24mo…yea, that’s pitiful. I almost cried there in the store.
Answering my doctor about how much Keppra I take, I had to think for a second, and when nothing came, I blurted out 2,000mg/day, sure that I was right, but then a minute passed and I remember it was 1500mg/day. I didn’t just mis-speak, there was real confusion. I felt soooo stupid and my doctor wrote furiously in my chart though he didn’t say anything about it.
And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve given a cashier the wrong amount of money. Not off by much, just like my brain wanders off for a second or two while counting.
But as I said earlier, other times I’m just fine. I know some of it is stress; the more it happens, the more I worry, and the worse it gets. But I really wonder if it is seizure related and if changing meds would help…or not.
It's not that big a deal, but it's kind of frustrating and even a bit scary; it makes me worry about my overall cognition. Has anyone experienced this? Any ideas? Any insight would be appreciated.
