Girl G |
Last Activity: 09-12-2010 03:16 PM
About Me
- About Girl G
- Seizure Background
- My major in college was psychology. I don’t exactly remember what topic was being discussed in class, but I remember realizing it sounded like something that happened to me. I asked my teacher at the time(1998), Dr. Linda Heath, if she thought my story sounded similar. She urged me to see a neurologist. I did. I saw Dr. John Milton at the University of Chicago. He found a quarter size hole in my brain and diagnosed me with epilepsy.
Dr. Milton left Chicago to practice in California. My new doctor, Dr. John Ebersol, ran all kinds of tests on me including a psychological evaluation and monitoring me in the hospital four or five days hooked up to electrodes. He changed my medication and narrowed down the seizures to complex partial. The hole is in my right temporal lobe, with visible damaged tissue surrounding it. The doctors are unsure whether it happened pre or post natal. While hooked up to the electrodes, I had one seizure in the left temporal lobe, one in the right temporal lobe and several they weren’t sure where they originated from. The tests showed that I have speech and memory on both sides of my brain. I find this hard to believe, considering my difficulty remembering things. I can, however, remember things from when I was three years old vividly.
I couldn’t believe what I was reading when I read Epilepsy – A New Approach. The definition of a partial complex seizure is word for word what I experience. My symptoms have changed over the years. But the feeling of déjà vu couldn’t be stronger. From very early on, before I even knew what I had, I would describe the feeling as déjà vu. I also went through a stage where all I did was giggle. Now, I sometimes have scary thoughts, usually brought on by anxiety, and I “go away”. I don’t remember what happened for minutes to hours later. Usually, almost always, I go into the bathroom. I think it’s my “safe place”. I’m not sure. But it seems that even when I’m in an unfamiliar place, I somehow find the bathroom. I use the toilet, I wash my hands, and complete other activities… I just don’t remember doing any of it. When I do come out of it I don’t remember. Every once in a while, I’m told that I hold my nose or grab my throat. And lately, I’ve been babbling. Not uncontrollably. I’m usually trying to explain what I’m thinking to someone and I can’t remember what my original thought was so I end up putting two sentences together that make no sense.
I have been on several medications, without much luck preventing auras. The first drugs prescribed were Tegretol and Topamax. I was prescribed, but never took, Phenobarbital. I am now on Lamictal(300mg bid) and Keppra(2000mg bid). I can’t stand the side effects and usually only take my nightly dosage, so that I don’t have to deal with the dizziness, feeling of unbalance and blurred vision. If the medicine actually worked, I would have no problem sticking to a schedule, but that isn’t the case. I have the auras whether or not I take the meds. Sometimes deep breathing works, usually only when I’m alone. I find I have more control when I’m alone… I can concentrate. I don’t have to be anxious that someone knows what’s going on inside my head. So, I find, the anxiety makes it worse.
I was on Ortho Tricyclin, but the doctors explained the medications were having a reverse effect on one another. So I transferred to an IUD and went without seizures for 4 months. This however, didn’t last. I have auras almost once a day if not more. More times than not, they happen when I am anxious. - Treatments
- Lamictal(300mg bid) and Keppra(2000mg bid) Deep Breathing
- Location
- Chicago, Illinois
