When seizures can be a good thing...

[darcness]

Well I fully believe that my wife had a partial seizure last night. Not too unexpected as were tinkering with her meds right now. Switching from Depakote to Keppra. She hasn't started weaning off the Depakote yet, but I have a feeling she forgot to take her meds last night, which could have contributed to her having the partial. It's the second one she's had.

Thing is, it actually helped me in a way. I realize now that when she is extremely tired, falling asleep while eating, doing mundane tasks, etc, that it's likely related to post-ictal activity. I say this because last night after she had the partial I knew something was up. She was talking and not making any sense. Funny because it only lasted for a minute or two, and then it was gone. Last time she was post-ictal for HOURS after.

The part that I really never had seen before was the extreme tiredness. I'm now pretty convinced that she has had this happen before, post-ictal, and I was unaware of why she was so tired and falling asleep randomly.

Seeing this pretty much tied it all together for me. Also it's good information to give to her neurologist and keep an eye out for in the future.

I know it's never particularly a good thing to have any kind of seizure, but in this case it was, for lack of better terminology, educational. Thankfully it only last a couple minutes and she was pretty much back to herself. A bit of cognitive dulling, but other then that she was ok. Then she got a good nights sleep and was alert and rested this afternoon. Most of the time she's out of it for at least 30 minutes after a seizure (5 total). I hope the rest of the switch over to Keppra goes well, but I'm prepared if there are any bumps along the way. I guess it's to be expected with E, especially when med changes are involved.

[Meetz1064]

Wellllll, OK, as long as you learned something from it. Then I guess it's OK No, really, it's all right. You're still learning about her, and E, and that's the important thing. We need more people like you.

Take care!

Meetz

[darcness]

I know it sounds bad when I say it's a good thing. I guess that's the wrong way to word it. The sieuzre itself wasn't good, but the effects I witnessed post-ictal were a good thing for me to see. Since I work full time and I'm not around her during the week days that much, things that happen while I'm there and can observe, help me to make correlations.

At least it explains all the times when she's been so tired. I had a feeling it was more related to seizure activity then the meds, but until I saw how things happened, I didn't have much to go on.

I'm hoping that the Keppra goes well for her. I think with her on a medication that has a better side effect profile, things we be easier to determine. With all the stuff that was going on with the Depakote, it was usually impossible to tell if something was a side effect or seizure related.

[Nakamova]

I know what you mean about some seizures having a silver (or maybe nickel) lining. For me, I'd rather find the lowest amount of meds I need for seizure control, so I'm not afraid to find out what that level is by having a seizure. The actual seizure sucks, but the knowledge it brings is useful.

Hope the Keppra does the trick for your wife.