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AussieAng

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Hi

Just want to introduce myself...Angela from the western suburbs of Melbourne Australia but born and raised in Arkansas USA....Age 35....diagnosed with Temporal lobe epilepsy in Dec last year.....I've been having Aura's for ages but I never knew what they were just thought I would have to get over it whatever it was......Nov last year I had an aura @ work but they are normally not too bad so I would just go to the bathroom or something and let it pass....this time it all went wrong...I blacked out and fell and smashed my head against the floor and ended up with a huge hematoma (sp?) on the left side of my head....co workers rang 000 and the ambulance got here and took me to St V in the city....after a CT scan and about 8-9 hours in the emergency room they let me go home but advised me to see my doc the next morning and get a referral to the Neuro clinic there @ the hospital....I made an appt to see the doc the following morning and somehow through some sort of luck they were able to see me @ the neuro clinic the following monday....the waiting list is normally 2-3 months long but I got lucky....the neuro took down my "history" and said he thought best if I went for an MRI and EEG but best to stay away from the meds unless I had another seizure....so back into life I went....then the evening of Dec 6th I had another seizure....felt it coming of course b/c of the auras and back to St V's I went....spent another 5-6 hours being poked and prodded....I sent a message to the neuro the next day and he rang me and said he wanted me to start on Tegretol 100 mg x 2 a day and then see him in March....since the Tegretol I've had no more aura's or seizures....I was able to drive again about 3 weeks ago as I went to a driving assessment clinic they have @ the hospital and they felt I was responding well and should be ok to drive....he did up my dose of meds to 200 mg x 2 a day and changed it to CR (controlled release) but I'm still responding well I think....of course I feel the same as I'm sure u all do....a bit loopy and tired most the time but considering what I could be feeling I'm ok with that....happy to be amongst others who understand what I'm feeling in this situation....hope to speak more with you all soon

Ang
 
Welcome, I m glad you are doing a lot better. I m sure we all are. Did they know what caused it? How did they know you have seizures? Did they do a EEG or something? How long did you have to wait untill you could drive again?
Again, I m glad your feeling better.
 
Hi AussieAng,

Welcome to CWE, I'm also from Australia & you'll find a few other Aussies on here :).
It's good to see that the Tegretol seems to be helping control your seizures & you are able to drive.
 
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JLogefeil said:
Welcome, I m glad you are doing a lot better. I m sure we all are. Did they know what caused it? How did they know you have seizures? Did they do a EEG or something? How long did you have to wait untill you could drive again?
Again, I m glad your feeling better.
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Hi and thanks....They have no idea what caused the seizure in Nov but the neuro thinks it might have been stress and lack of sleep....I dont actually remember when the auras started but it may well have been 15 or more years....my husband witnessed the seizure in Dec and from what he told the neuro he diagnosed me with Temporal lobe Epilepsy....I had the EEG and the MRI but both came back clear....I was unable to drive from Nov til March.... :-( It was a pain!!
 
Welcome to the party!! It is always great to meet someone new, but too bad it has to be because of seizures :) I hope that you continue to do well. Stop by often and let us know how you are doing.
 
Hi and welcome!

It's great that the Tegretol is helping. A "driving assessment clinic" sounds like a great idea -- as far as I know we don't have them here in the US.

Best,
Nakamova
 
Hi Angela,I'm in Brisbane,35 years old too,remember having auras as a teenager but ignored them just like you and they started up again in 2009 and had seizures in dec of 09.this forum is great and has helped me heaps.
 
Thanks everyone for being so welcoming....

Nakamova....I didn't know we had them either until the week before the neuro sent me to it....made me nervous as....we have a hospital in Melbourne (St Vincents) the one I went to twice after having the seizures and where the Neuro clinic is and these people come in once a week and they ask u all these questions, get your history, check your BP, etc. and then advise the powers that be (Vic Roads in my case) if you are fit to drive....the neuro said to me the week before...Don't get your hopes up b/c they changed the laws a few months ago and someone newly diagnosed has to wait 6 months to drive....I almost broke down in tears...thanksfully they let me by with 4 months not driving".....
 
Hi AussieAng and everyone else on this post,

Regarding the driving ban - I'm Scottish, now living in France but in the UK, if you have a single isolated seizure, your licence is suspended for 6 months -if you have more than that you have to be completely seizure free for 12 months to the day before you can drive again!!! I was, for various reasons, living back in the UK when my epilepsy was diagnosed, so that was me back on the bus again!! Out here, in France, it seems there is no problem!!! Mind you - with apologies to all my French friends! - the average French driver is already so awful, it probably makes no difference!!!!
 
Driving

Hi All,
About driving, my seizures started as simple auras too, several years ago, I did not pay attention to them either. I have been driving all the time, then I started having the complex partial seizures, which I only felt like "a few minutes "missing" from my life..." Not knowing what they were, I have been driving all the time. I had more or less "diagnozed" myself, after the online research, and a visit to the neurologist was just a "formality". I only have complex partial seizures approx once a month, and as I was successfully driving all this time, I thought I could drive. Until one day 2 months ago when I was driving with my daughters to a birthday party, and after stopping at a red traffic light, the next thing I knew was seeing my car smashed into a light pole on the side pavement, police and ambulance around me, and myself not remembering anything that happenned and how I got into the light pole! totally confused... Thank God, I did not kill anybody! and my kids only had bruises!
I am not driving anymore, and this is a source of frustration, as where I live (Abu Dhabi in the U.A.E) it is a pain in the a... without a car. Not being able to drive is making me depressed and feeling so useless...

BUT I WANTED TO TELL EVERYONE WITH SEIZURES, EVEN IF ONLY PARTIAL ONES, TO BE VERY CAREFUL IF STARTING TO DRIVE AGAIN!
 
Alexandraog said:
Hi All,
About driving, my seizures started as simple auras too, several years ago, I did not pay attention to them either. I have been driving all the time, then I started having the complex partial seizures, which I only felt like "a few minutes "missing" from my life..." Not knowing what they were, I have been driving all the time. I had more or less "diagnozed" myself, after the online research, and a visit to the neurologist was just a "formality". I only have complex partial seizures approx once a month, and as I was successfully driving all this time, I thought I could drive. Until one day 2 months ago when I was driving with my daughters to a birthday party, and after stopping at a red traffic light, the next thing I knew was seeing my car smashed into a light pole on the side pavement, police and ambulance around me, and myself not remembering anything that happenned and how I got into the light pole! totally confused... Thank God, I did not kill anybody! and my kids only had bruises!
I am not driving anymore, and this is a source of frustration, as where I live (Abu Dhabi in the U.A.E) it is a pain in the a... without a car. Not being able to drive is making me depressed and feeling so useless...

BUT I WANTED TO TELL EVERYONE WITH SEIZURES, EVEN IF ONLY PARTIAL ONES, TO BE VERY CAREFUL IF STARTING TO DRIVE AGAIN!
Click to expand...
Hi there,
Everything you say is so right. I was still driving to begin with a s I had been told I did NOT have epilepsy so "no problem" When I had my first 2 tonic clonic seizures, I "banned myself" from driving as I felt I didi not want to kill myself or anyone else. I waited of rover 1 year after my medication started to keep my seizures FULLY under control but I have to admit that it still stays in the back of my mind as a bit of a fear that it might one day recur!!! I'm so sorry to hear that it is depressing you so much - I completely understand how you feel - it is like being 'trapped" or imprisoned when you live somewhere without public transport. Hope you can get things fully under control not too far in the future and then get back behind the wheel when everything is safe again.
Cheers Margaret
 
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