what do you remember of your first seizure

[CathyAnn31]

I remember going on my usual 2 mile long walk after dinner. I got home, feeling great, and decided to vacuum my floor. The canister was full and needed to be emptied. Next thing I know, I am in bed, and calling my husband in a very confused state asking when he'd be home for dinner. He informed me that we had dinner already, at the usual time and he was at Boy Scouts with my son. My youngest 2 kids were out front at the time, playing with neighbors. My tongue was chewed up. Went to my dr the next day and he said it sounded exactly like I had a seizure. I was going on a trip a few days later so I never saw a neurologist or had the eeg like my Dr recommended. Or in denial perhaps.

My 2nd seizure memory (4 months after the 1st) is kinda funny. I became conscious while being wheeled on a gourney out my front door and into the ambulance. I thought my paramedics were very cute, and I told them so. Still to this day I remember how handsome they were. Hey, I'm a natural flirt, even in a post ictal state..LOL.

(I had a childhood form of epilepsy that I outgrew when I was 5 ish. The dr told my mom it could reoccur in adolesence and if it didn't there would never be anything to worry about. Uh huh..)

[midge18]

I remember sitting in my AS level chemistry class, and not being able to concentrate (no change for me there!) But I'd been sick for a couple of days, vomiting and fainting and such. So when I started to feel really weird (queasy, butterflies in my stomach and weird blurry vision) I thought I was gonna just vomit/pass out again, so I went to go to the toilet cus I didnt wanna be sick infront of my class of 20somthing people.

Next thing I know I'm at the botton of the chemistry lab staircase, bleeding from my head and my friend looking at me in absolute horror. That's all I remember, the look on her face. Apparently I'd mumbled something then went to run out the chem.door and down the stairs, then I stopped and fell down the stairs while seizing.

This was the first of too many t.cs and 4years ago.

[Chris515]

I was 12 at the time. My first experience was a tonic clonic that happened in my sleep... even though looking back, I had complex partial's my whole childhood before that, but only figured that out after I was diagnosed. Anyways. First thing I remember is fighting off the paramedics while they were trying to get me onto a stretcher. Then continuing to fight them while in the ambulance. My parents were there but I didn't really recognize them.

It's strange how my primal animal instincts came out at that time. Simply not wanting to be held down is all I cared about. It's the only time that's happened to me in the post ictal period.

Next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital bed asking what happened. Thus began my journey with E..

[adrake]

my first seizure.. well, i was in my mother's living room, 6:30 in the morning..New years eve. I had stayed up all night talking on the phone with a guy i just started to date. I was about to leave the house for work, I kept talking to my mom though... which probably saved my life. I was talking to hear and I was fine besides being ridiculously tired. I remember saying to my mom "okay, i should go to work before I'm wicked late..." next thing i know i'm in an ambulance. after my seizure I black out. i have no idea what happened, where i am, the date...sometimes i dont even know who people are (even if its someone i'm very familiar with)

i went to the ER obviously, they didn't know why that happened to me. i spent all day sitting in the ER, doing tests, checking blood, EEG's, cat scans, etc. My EEG showed that i had 15 seizures in 20 minutes. They called in a neurologist immediately, because the tests showed such crazy results. It was then that I was officially diagnosed with epilepsy and my life changed forever.
I'm thankful though, that talking to my mom for those extra few minutes probably kept me from driving down my mother's hill into the ocean.

[jwd1439]

15 years ago living in California with my brother we both worked for a towing co. we hand gone to pick up a car that morning normally I would of been the one driving but I had woke up just not feeling right. I can remember pulling in to drop off the car my brother got out to a where to drop it the next thing I remember is being unloaded at the ER. My brother said he came back to the truck and I was having a major seizure.
Strange thing is I only had one more after that about three or four months latter. but that all changed last Aug. when I had a stroke and since then have had more seizures then I con keep track of. Even though I am on two different seizure meds at the same time. I am still having them my last one was Easter Sunday.

[gigi]

1968 - I was 11 years old. First recollection is waking up in a hospital while getting a spinal tap. I was asleep in bed when I had a tonic clonic, knocked over my lamp and scared the liver outta my parents. I was put on phenobarbitol for 3 years.
I suspect I was having seizure issues of some sort in school. Starting from first grade, my teachers were putting phrases on my report cards like: daydreams, does not pay attention, does not follow instructions, and so on! I think my trigger for the T/C was my first period. The volcano inside my brain was gearing up to erupt. Next seizure, age 22, and the rest is history. T/C's are my seizure of choice.

[SevenC]

It was 2007, I was like 23, and I had been in a car accident a few months earlier---so initial thoughts were "OMG brain damage!!!" I had many many MRIS and CTs WAY before we ever got around to an EEG.

We had just finished supper at a Cajun French place, we were in the parking lot, I felt my first aura I'd ever felt and I stopped walking and grabbed a tree. Everything went black, I couldn’t hear. I wanted to talk but couldn't. Onlookers just said I stared. Then I was gone. When I finally came out of it, I was so confused that I pulled away from and tried to hit my husband who was holding me up. I couldn't remember who he was.
We went to my doctor who told me it was probably just my blood sugar.
It kept happening, despite perfect blood sugar readings, and finally I was able to see a neurologist who confirmed epilepsy.

[Buffheart]

I have always had jerking, which I suspect are Myoclonic seizures.

My first noticable "event" was when I was 16. My parents and I had been staying at a hotel and had decided to go out and walk around the city for awhile. Before we left the hotel I noticed that my eyes kept jerking upwards. At first I thought it was no big deal, that I would stop soon. Within minutes of leaving the hotel my whole head started to jerk upwards. It got to the point where I literally could not look down for more than a second or so. I was crying and had my hand clamped onto my mother's shoulder because I couldn't see where I was going. For some reason it was decided that we should still go walking around the city even though my head and eyes kept jerking up and I was near hysterical. After what felt like at least an hour (I couldn't look down to check the time) it went away, at which point we were still walking around the city. My mother was mad because I think she thought I was doing that on purpose (for whatever reason I don't know) and wanted me to stop. Over the course of about 2 and a half years that happened roughly a dozen times.

My first grand mal was a freak adverse reaction to Benadryl. I remember being in the bathroom, which is where the Benadryl was, taking it, and then waking up in the hospital a few days later. Apparently I walked out of the bathroom, down the hall to my room, climbed into bed, and started seizing. While in the hospital I was in a coma for a few days in the ICU because they were afraid of another seizure. After I woke up from the coma I was told I was hallucinating very badly. As I was later told by my doctor "Benadryl sure is a funky medicine."

[KeithH]

My first seizure, happened on December 24th, 2001. (sucks, huh). Anyway, I work as an electrician, on that day we have a half day so we can have our christmas party. We have a few beers, grill some steaks, laugh and have fun.

I had opend a beer but after the first sip I wasnt feeling right. I was sitting down and felt really dizzy. I wanted to stand up, so I told my friend I was going to stand if I fell catch me. I stood up and stumbled back two of my big freinds cought me by the arm before I knocked over the grill. At that point i was really dizzy, everyone thought I had drank too much but I said i didnt even drink my beer. They had taken me into the office where it had aircon. I told them I was feeling really dizzy.

My father asked if i wanted to go to the hospital. My first thought was, Ill be ok. But i really was dizzy, so i told him ok. I dont remeber the converstions we had going there. We got to the emergency room, he asked if i could walk. I put my foot out the door, it felt like lead and i could not stand. I told him no. So he went to get a wheel chair for me. As i was sitting there, I felt really really strange. The last thing I had remembered was saying, "Oh, no". As I watched the pavement rushing to meet my head thats the last thing i remember before blacking out.

When I came to, I had a tube up my nose for oxygen. IV, a sensor on my finger. My tounge was a mess, i had a big bump on my forehead, my shoulder was really sore, and bruised. The doctor asked me if i knew what happened, i told him no idea. He told me i just had a seizure caused by a bleed in my brain.

That is my first experience at a seizure. Scary, but thankful that i wasnt someplace dangerouse at the time because of my job. Thankful to be alive, but living with this really sucks. Now i know the true meaning of bittersweet. lol.

[bensgurl728]

I was shopping on "black Friday" had been to several stores and was drinking coffee in "Best buy" when i was looking at movies and remember my eyes flipping like a flip book and then i woke up in the ambulance heard the EMT telling my husband that my blood sugar was only 59 and that could have caused it. I looked behind me and saw my teenage daughter riding in the front of the ambulance, yelling back at me "mom are you ok?"
Was emabarassed to go back to the same store for a long time. But the doctor asked me if i felt like i was in a strange dream or anything, honestly i dont remember anything.

[BigWill]

I was at work and just not feelin right. Felt very fatigued and my head was hurting. I told my boss and he told me to go get some lunch and see if that helped. Last thing I remember before the seizure is pulling out of work and heading towards Publix (grocery store). It was atleast 2 miles from where I worked at the time to the store and I have no recollection of anything while driving. Apparently I made it to the shopping center where the grand mal seizure finally hit and my right foot stomped the gas pedal. The police estimated my speed at 65mph across the parking lot. I T-boned a woman in an SUV totaling her car and seriously injuring her and pushed her SUV into another car damaging it as well. My truck eventually separated from the two vehicles and crashed into the front of the store, all the while my foot has the accelerator to the floor. Thankfully a bystander opened the door to my truck and lifted my foot off the gas and turned the truck off. The only thing I remember after the seizure is waking up on a stretcher in the back of an amulace asking the medic what the hell was goin on and I wanted to know If I killed anybody and I thank god to this day his response was no.

[petero]

first observed t/c siezure was at the office
I just remember being there at the desk and then *bam* black- zilch
then as though these figures were appearing on my desk..
they were animated and vocalizing
and as more "clarity" came I realized the figures weren't on my desk, they were paramedics and co-workers around me

it took a bit for my visual thought process and my sense of balance correlate - I couldn't tell I was laying down, or that I was looking up, rather than horizontally like it was when I was sitting

the visual/audio clarification came around at about the same time
and at first also I had no idea who the people around me were but I assumed them to be clients
so it was weird when I started realizing the guy (who I began to realize after a bit was a paramedic) was in my face actually addressing ME with questions
(later finding out it was that standard type of questioning "what year is it?" "..president's name?" sort of things - apparently I was way off)

the paramedic said to rest yadda yadda and I couldn't help but relax- I was in and out of consciousness/sleep/whatever - extremely, extraordinarily tired- I think they must have checked my vitals or whatever

after a bit - 30mins? - I was able to be somewhat conscious
I felt very ashamed - I had no idea what happened
but it was like a feeling I'll guess, of that type of circumstance of being just totally s**tfaced drunk, and stumbling into a display case or something
I was apologetic for having to have to leave work and to have to be driven home - though as per the paramedic's request
which I wasn't even really aware of
and although these things were in my head- I was later told that I was talking a lot of gibberish, or that I was sortof catatonic

but I managed to get driven and stumbled to home and to bed
and then I slept until the next day pretty much- on and off- but probably about 18 hours or so

[Jfpinell]

The first generalized I remember (I was like 8 ), was rather different than the little ones that just made me fuzzy for a few minutes. Just out of the blue, I was like "Why is everything moving and I'm not?" (I knew what it was, I just don't remember them starting that way before). After what seemed like 5 minutes my parents asked me ("asked"? right....like I had a choice to say "no, just let it pass") if I wanted to go to the hospital. Apparently I blacked out in the van and woke up just as we were pulling in the parking lot (still on the back seat laying down so I knew I didn't fall and shake). I (somehow even after 31 years) recall saying "I'm fine now." To which I recall them both insisting "No! we're here now. We're going to have you checked out." I remember being carried in. That's when I started to get scared! ....They told my parents to wait outside in the waiting room. -Bad enough at that age not having ma around at a time like this! The next thing I remember is 2 nurses coming in and 1 saying "Roll him over." Well, I had 3 shots in my hind end about 5 or 10 mins. apart. By the 3rd time they came in I was crying and screaming already because I knew what was coming. I recall going through my mind, "For crying out loud (not that I already wasn't!) how many of these are you going to give me??? They hurt!" They never said anything to me -just to each other. Why I always wondered. Was it just general policy/training back 30 years ago to not tell the poor kids what was being done to them or what? After those, that's really the last thing I recall. I don't even remember going home. (I was probably too scared by then to remember anything else!) They must've changed something shortly after as far as the way they do things because after that I recall just being given anti-epileptic drug's and told told take them before I left. Why the heck would they not have done that as a little kid instead of traumatizing you by sticking needles in you several times?

[petero]

I was diagnosed when I was 38, 2008, because of the grand mals. when I started learning about epilepsy then, I tried to think back to circumstances where I might have had siezures alone .
I'm a recovering alcoholic, sober since 2003, and so it's hard to tell, because I guess a lot of aspects of seizures could be like intoxication: absence, dazed, tired... and near the end of my drinking I would just drink home alone.
and hangovers and (I know now) postictal, a lot alike: exhaustion, headaches, aches...

and I owe my drinking a lot to needing a coping mechanism to be comfortable in public, and I recall being uncomfortable and awkward, quiet
and so I wonder if this may have been due to absence seizures that were not detected
? i don't know

it was good to read of other siezures like my own - blackout types..
it's like being teleported through space to evil-land
like suddenly being somewhere else, lobotomized and anywhere from afraid, shocked, terrified... primal
I guess it's the just cerebellum registering after the cortex has conked out
like being changed into a squirrel teleported into the middle of a 50 lane molasses highway
although there wasn't that level of fear (I guess, I've never been a squirrel) it's probably a similar type of guttural response, sensation...
but while being in excruciating pain- muscular and neural

a while ago while postictal/psychotic/seizures on and off I remember a time of blinding white light searing pain - like taking the needle of a record player and dragging it across a record with the volume as loud as anything imaginable, inconceivably "loud".. but it wasn't just sound- it was like light and every sensation was having that dragging and screeching effect
that's the best analogy ive been able to come up with
I remember it was so bad I wanted to die - I remember throwing up at some point - but my stomach was empty so I'm not sure what happened
I had no idea where I was - but I was at the ER and was able to figure it out after a bit
because a doctor was there to administer some morphine
which I regret having to get- but apparently it helped with the pain

that was the worst seizure I've ever had
it the worst anything ever imaginable

[petero]

I was diagnosed when I was 38, 2008, because of the grand mals. when I started learning about epilepsy then, I tried to think back to circumstances where I might have had siezures alone .
I'm a recovering alcoholic, sober since 2003, and so it's hard to tell, because I guess a lot of aspects of seizures could be like intoxication: absence, dazed, tired... and near the end of my drinking I would just drink home alone.
and hangovers and (I know now) postictal, a lot alike: exhaustion, headaches, aches...

and I owe my drinking a lot to needing a coping mechanism to be comfortable in public, and I recall being uncomfortable and awkward, quiet
and so I wonder if this may have been due to absence seizures that were not detected
? i don't know

it was good to read of other siezures like my own - blackout types..
it's like being teleported through space to evil-land
like suddenly being somewhere else, lobotomized and anywhere from afraid, shocked, terrified... primal
I guess it's the just cerebellum registering after the cortex has conked out
like being changed into a squirrel teleported into the middle of a 50 lane molasses highway
although there wasn't that level of fear (I guess, I've never been a squirrel) it's probably a similar type of guttural response, sensation...
but while being in excruciating pain- muscular and neural

a while ago while postictal/psychotic/seizures on and off I remember a time of blinding white light searing pain - like taking the needle of a record player and dragging it across a record with the volume as loud as anything imaginable, inconceivably "loud".. but it wasn't just sound- it was like light and every sensation was having that dragging and screeching effect
that's the best analogy ive been able to come up with
I remember it was so bad I wanted to die - I remember throwing up at some point - but my stomach was empty so I'm not sure what happened
I had no idea where I was - but I was at the ER and was able to figure it out after a bit
because a doctor was there to administer some morphine
which I regret having to get- but apparently it helped with the pain

that was the worst seizure I've ever had
it the worst anything ever imaginable

[stephanieholly]

On the way home from helping out at a scout camp in Blackpool! I was in the car with my friend/junior leader of scouts and he said I was complaining about feeling sick so he pulled into Lancaster services and aparently just as I stepped out of his car I collapsed and had my seizure! Then I remember bits of ambulance/hospital/mri !

[petero]

On the way home from helping out at a scout camp in Blackpool! I was in the car with my friend/junior leader of scouts and he said I was complaining about feeling sick so he pulled into Lancaster services and aparently just as I stepped out of his car I collapsed and had my seizure! Then I remember bits of ambulance/hospital/mri !

I just Wiki'd Lancaster Services - looks like a cool truckstop
I love truckstops like that - old somewhat grungy 24 hour hubs of people wandering in from every direction - dazed, roadweary and blughhh

[marlena23]

My first tonic clonic happened in the middle of the night. My husband was working the night shift and my youngest son was fussy at the time he was about a year so I wasn't sleeping because in addition to not sleeping at night I worked all day. I had noticed for about a month or two before my seizure when I woke up in the middle of the night I was so tired that I couldnt walk straight and had this drunk feeling, bouncing into the walls, stumbling to the kitchen to make a bottle for the baby. Then the night of my seizure I woke up around 1am with stomach pains, I got up to use the restroom the next thing I remember is feeling my body push and push my head into the wall, I wasn't conscious fully because I couldn't open my eyes and some time after that when I was able to open my eyes I thought for sure I was dead cuz I couldn't move my body and I didn't know where I was it took about 5 minutes to realize I was on my bathroom floor. I stumbled back to bed not really realizing what happened, and completely drained, I looked at the clock it was after 2am so I had been unconscious for over an hour. I didn't realize that until the next day when I recounted what happened to my husband. Not to mention I had the worst headache imaginable. My hubby took me to the doctor and was told I had a concussion and was sent for an mri. And when my headache didn't go away I was sent to a neurologist for an EEG. I was told he was 99% sure it was not a seizure, until the results came back with an abnormal EEG. I was told due to history that I most likely had petit mal seizures as a kid but never diagnosed.

[Literophile]

I was at a choir concert, singing for my university's women's choir. I stood on the third riser up (which would be the fourth row, row one being on the floor). I don't remember what song we were singing, but suddenly I couldn't remember the words, and my heart started to race. Everything got yellow and far away, and the next thing I remember the girls around me were holding me up to keep me from falling off the riser.

I still don't know exactly what kind of seizures I have, but that's pretty consistent. Panic, yellow, black out, come around sitting or laying on the ground with my left hand clasped tightly around something or other.