Can’t Read Anymore?

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JJR1956

JJR1956

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I used to love reading Steven King books. I would sit and read for hours. Well, that all stopped after my car accident (16 years ago) and the seizures started. I can’t even read a long post in the threads here. I lose my concentration after one paragraph. I asked my Neurologist about it and he sent me for a few tests. He said that my short term memory is the problem, also the major c-spine damage I had and is probably caused by me having Seizure Disorder. He also said that it doesn’t happen to everyone.

Do any of you have this problem too?
 
Hey Joey
I have been thru the same thing over the years. Back in the early 90s I was put on dilantin & that stuff tore me down. I could hardly think or talk much less read. Not only was I not able to focus or concentrate on what I was trying to read, it almost felt like I had forgotten how to read. My memory was mush. When I moved on to other drugs, although the fog remained things greatly improved, but I dont think my memory ever fully recovered. When things did improve I started making myself read the newspaper cover to cover & gradually was able to at least keep focus through a short article, although 2 hrs later I couldnt tell you a thing I had read. I still cant read a full length book. Nowadays I am on a fairly high dose of keppra as well as Aptiom and those drugs seem to have broken through a couple of layers of the fog & I am able to retain a little of what I read now. I am still a damn mess but I feel like I have progressed light years from those dark days of dilantin.
Hang in there Joe & maybe try forcing yourself to read short articles. That might be the ticket for you as well.
Good luck to you
Ed
Hey, enjoyed your pictures too
 
Thank you so much for your answer Ed.

I was on Dilantin when I first started to have seizures.....that was about 16 years ago. I hear ya, I wasn't having a good time with that drug either. Finally after 5 years they put me on Phenobarbital and things worked out great. All seizure activity stopped, but still, my concentration is a mess. In your opinion, do you think I should try a different drug? It's a hard decision to make. No seizure activity at all with Pheno.
 
you not on your own,i got about 6pr specks going on and off that I give up reading
 
When my seizures started 30+ years ago, I was put on Dilantin. It didn't do a thing for my seizures so they kept trying other meds. Some of them caused worse side effects than others. Dilantin didn't seem to effect my reading/comprehension ability as much as some of the other meds like Tegretol, Topamax (Dopemax) and now Keppra. Different meds effect everyone differently.
But if you have Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, that can effect one's ability to read/remember.

Read here for more info:

http://www.epilepsy.com/learn/impact/thinking-and-memory/thinking-memory-and-epilepsy

If you have mostly primary generalized seizures (like absence, myoclonic, or tonic-clonic seizures), you are much less likely to have problems with your thinking than someone who has partial-onset seizures (seizures that begin in one area of the brain, often the temporal lobe). Some people with epilepsy of this kind do have problems with their memory, language, or other kinds of thinking.
Click to expand...
 
Hey Joey
I have never been on phenobarbital so that would be hard for me to say, and its hard to argue with no seizures. Each one of these anti-seizure drugs has the potential for horrible side effects, so what might work wonders for me might throw you into a tail spin. The keppra seems to be doing okay for me, still having simple partials though, but there are a whole lot of folks on here that have had a lot of bad experiences with it. So far I have been impressed with the Aptiom as my secondary drug, just because most of the really bad after effects of my simple partials have disappeared. But there again, for another person it might blow up in their face. And who knows what the long term effects of these newer drugs will be. I might be growing a tail & cloven feet as we speak. Quite the optimist aint I?

Well I took another look at your photos & just figured out they were actually videos. Im not really cutting edge material. Every time I get on the computer is just another episode of Gomer Goes Online. You may be too young to remember Gomer Pyle of Mayberry, I dont know.
Well I hope you figure out what will work best for you.
Ed
 
Hello Joey;
I was on Dilantin for 26 years my mother wouldn't have the doctor take me off it.
He always said I'd grow out of my seizures like the other neuro's she believed him and when I changed it was the first thing I came off of I won't go back on Phenobarb I told my neuro I won't go on another med and settled for going on1MG more ofmore of fycompa.I take 7 MG of Fycompa
 
Thank you everyone for your answers. :hello:

The thing about me taking Pheno is, I haven't had any seizure activity since...NOTHING! Dilantin was a horror for me. So, if the Pheno is making my memory bad, I rather go that way instead of having another seizure. You all know how much a seizure sucks.
 
Hi Joey.
I'm on Phenobarbitol too but I don't have memory/concentration issues from it. I did notice a few years ago that I stopped reading books though. It just made me feel tired when I have always loved to read.

Well, I got the old eyes checked and it turns out I need reading glasses. None of us is getting any younger. It could be the meds or it could be something unrelated. When was the last time you had your eyes checked?
 
Hi AlohaBird,

I know it's not because of me getting older. All reading and concentration came to a halt after my 2 grand mals. It could be the drugs, or it could be the seizures. But I ate books up before I got sick with seizures. That was about 16 years ago...I was 44 years old.
 
Si worried in my case because I told need surgery and I wondering if it medication e or stroke I had if it medication and I have to have operation to right it but I wondering if it medication if so I maybe bit screwed
 
JJR1956 said:
Hi AlohaBird,

I know it's not because of me getting older. All reading and concentration came to a halt after my 2 grand mals. It could be the drugs, or it could be the seizures. But I ate books up before I got sick with seizures. That was about 16 years ago...I was 44 years old.
Click to expand...
IIRC, your seizures started with a car wreck head bonk, no? There are all kinds of things that could do to your vision that would have been "the least of your worries" when surviving a car crash. Things like a very slightly detached retina could make certain focal lengths difficult for your eyes.

Not saying it's not the meds or the seizures themselves, just saying that there are other possible culprits.

How long after the crash did your seizures start?
 
It do drive you mad not being able read poor sight.it partly why my spelling so bad don't see letters properly as for reading instructions to this processed with devil iPad I give up.i saw doc said my problem was squint due to brain injury and doing operation which worries me.maybe you got something like that
 
Hi AlohaBird & Seagull,

My car accident was in 2000. It was a really bad one too. A drunk dude hit me. Good thing I had my seatbelt on...but I still got pretty messed up. A lot of c-spine damage. My Nero said, (after a lot of testing), that my reading and concentration issues are probably due to either hitting my head, which I truly don't even remember...or from the 90% of damage dome to my c-spine, which he said is causing my seizures also. He said a chemical travels up the c-spine to the brain, and the nerves that brings that chemical is very blocked because of ruptured and herniated discs.....something like that.

My first grand mal was 6 months after the accident, and the 2nd one was on Halloween night that year. Wow was that one a trip! Being carried out to the ambulance on Halloween night and everyone dressed in freaky costumes. :eek:

I see an eye doctor once a year and wear glass', so that's not the problem.
 
My friend age often the enermy.There certain condition presbyopia many if not majority people get that I have long vision with presbyopia on top it starts middle age.
if the bonk was few years back I don't understand why the bonk effecting sight so many years down the line but that why your doc nurologist and I but under paid woman living in armpit of England with iPad pocessed by the devil with key bord I not see properly life is not fair.....have you tried reading different genre
 
My memory sucks. I can still read but it takes me forever it seems like. I just can't concentrate. I read the same things over and over because my memory is some bad.
 
JJR1956 said:
My Nero said, (after a lot of testing), that my reading and concentration issues are probably due to either hitting my head, which I truly don't even remember...or from the 90% of damage dome to my c-spine, which he said is causing my seizures also. He said a chemical travels up the c-spine to the brain, and the nerves that brings that chemical is very blocked because of ruptured and herniated discs.....something like that.
Click to expand...
Yep. That would do it.

That sounds painful but I'm glad you survived. :)
 
AlohaBird said:
That sounds painful but I'm glad you survived. :)
Click to expand...

That was one heck of an accident. I'm very happy to be alive. Can you believe that nobody stopped to help me? I was totally confused when the ONLY person who came up to me was the driver of the other car. I remember smelling alcohol on his breath. He asked if I was OK...I told him I don't know. That's kind of the last thing I remember, expect for the cars trying to get around me and blowing their horns because I was in the way. Isn't that something???!!! Oh....and the drunk took off too!
 
Sadly I do believe it.I hope drunk got caught he needs suing.my con ration is awful from all posts I read it common.The lack of concentration disability in itself.thats what so frustrating people put concentration solely down to you and it not.meds do that and so can e.
I am like you pointless getting books..was thinking of reading Stephen. King thought that genre wake me up keep me engrossed it don't..I more historical novels used read three a week I got engrossed but now I don't get engrossed in anything
 
I had the same problems with phenobarbital but it's Wonderful for Seizure Control , it is one of the best in that department for me . I did have concentration issues with it but I just took a deck of playing cards , laid them out and I would make pairs until all the cards were gone . But I would see how many cards I could remember and that's how I graded myself . You can out do pheno , I did .
 
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