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Kellsey

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Hey everyone, I'm new here. My name is Kellsey. I'm 24 years old. I've been blanking out for as long as I can remember. They slowed down a lot in my teens but have picked up to 10-15 times a night these last two years. I always thought it was a normal thing. My parent's think I'm just day dreaming. I was too afraid to go to the doctor but when I started dating my girlfriend, She noticed how bad they were and urged me to see my doctor about them. He did a physical examination and told me they sounded like absence seizures to him. He ran blood tests and those results came back normal and yesterday I went for an MRI, half without contrast and half with. I have an appointment with a neurologist on March 16th. I'm really feeling in the dark with all of this and not sure what to expect. I've posted here once before and gotten some lovely support and advice so that's why I'm here. I would love some advice or idea about what's to come for me, what the next steps are if you all have anything you might be able to tell me to expect. Thank you so much for reading this.
 
Welcome Kellsey,

I'm happy to hear your girlfriend urged you to have this checked out. Often times, abscense seizures or SP seizures are difficult to diagnose, even after one has an MRI. So it's good you are seeing a neurologist. They will probably order an EEG for you or perhaps a VEEG, so they can actually see the activity in your brain. It's is nothing to be afraid of. Just kind of messy to one's scalp and time consuming.

Here's more info on the subject:

http://www.epilepsy.com/learn/types-seizures/absence-seizures

http://www.epilepsy.com/learn/diagnosis/eeg

http://www.epilepsy.com/learn/diagnosis/eeg/video-eeg
 
Hey Kellsey how are you . Let me be the first one to say that you're going to be ok . I have had a long walk with Epilepsy . You have Love around you so you have it beaten already , Never be hard on yourself ,and give yourself and your body time to adjust and to Heal . Nothing will happen over night , no one gets sick over night nor will you become healthy overnight . Live Well by THINKING Well !!! Always be positive , exercise , eat well , take vitamins too . Please stay in touch , if you need to talk I will listen . Hunter .
 
Hi Kellsey, welcome to CWE!

The neurologist will probably ask you for your symptom history, so it might be helpful to write down details about when you started "daydreaming". To the best of your ability, try and describe the nature of the symptoms, how frequently they occur, how long they last, whether they've changed over the years, etc. It helps to write down any questions for the neuro beforehand. It can also be helpful to have someone with you at the appointment (like your GF) to help with describing your symptoms, and to take notes on what the neuro says.

The neuro will probably want to do an EEG. Often they do a sleep-deprived one (where you stay up the night before), since that's more likely to yield results. Absence seizures often produce a specific EEG pattern, particularly during the section of the EEG where they ask you to hypeventilate.

Absence seizures can usually be treated with medication. Some studies have show success in treating them with the Modified Atkins Diet. You can read a bit about that here: http://www.epilepsy.com/learn/treating-seizures-and-epilepsy/dietary-therapies/modified-atkins-diet
 
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