New kid on the block

[Don Bowers]

Folks,

My wife has epilepsy since the age of 13. She's now 47. She has often gone as long as a year without a seizure, but over the past two weeks, she's had 8 of them.

I'm simply trying to gain a better understanding of the disorder and hopefully learn some ways of helping to either prevent or reduce their intensity.

-Don

 

[Endless]

Don,

Welcome to CWE!

I'm so sorry your wife's seizures are back. When is her appointment with her neurologist? Do you know what kind of seizures she has, and what her medication is?

There are over 40 kinds of seizures. This wikipedia list doesn't even have all of them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seizure_types

 

[epileric]

Welcome Don

Good to have you here.

I know what it's like to feel like you're having lots of seizures. I was born with mine & the longest I've gone is 8 days without one.

I am lucky that they are partials and not convulsive. What kind of seizures does your wife have.

Meanwhile, take a look around in the nooks & crannies of the site & make yourself at home.

 

[Don Bowers]

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Our first stop on Monday is to go to the blood lab to ensure her medication is at the right level. Second would be to see the Doctor, who I'm not really thrilled with. He's arrogant, dismissive of questions or ideas, and loves to just push the latest drug.

My wife is presently on Dilantin.

A for her type of seizures, I'm not sure I can accurately classify them. When they occur, they'll last for a minute or two. They are full body convulsions. Tightening of muscles, some unintelligible vocalizations, sometimes her lips will turn blue. After the physical signs subside, it will take her about a half hour to comprehend questions and a little longer until she can put together sentences.

Thanks for listening,

-Don

 

[Nakamova]

Hi Don, welcome to CWE!

Any chance you can switch docs? The current one sounds lousy, and he might even make things worse.

It sounds like your wife is having tonic clonic seizures (they used to be called grand mals). Sometimes aging can affect metabolism (and absorption of meds, so that could be one reason for your wife's uptick in seizures. Another possibility is hormonal changes -- with age, estrogen decreases (which can be good for seizures), but progesterone decreases too (which can be bad for seizures). If your wife's neurologist is unwilling or unable to help, maybe her regular doc can take a look at hormonal issues to see if they might be playing a role.

Best,
Nakamova

 

[valeriedl]

Does your wife know that she's had the seizure when she's had it? Does she spend alot of time alone?

Until recently, and even still sometimes now, I don't know that I have the seizure unless there was someone there to see me have it.

I spend practally most of the day by myself and my husband goes to bed fairly early because he has to get up at 5am for work. I would usually have at least 1 seziure a month, sometimes a few more.

Now I'm usually knowing that I have the seizue and so far this month I've had at least 5 that I know I've had so far this month. Before a bad month was when I would have 5 all together.

I think I was probably having alot more than I thought I was having.

Hopefully everything goes ok with the blood work. Is it a neurologist that you are seeing then it might be worth it to look around for another one if possible. In the long run it might be worth it.

Good to meet you and hope everything works out!
Do you think this could possibly be happening to her?