Hi, my name is Mark, I am from Gurnee, Illinois. I am 16 years old, and was just diagnosed with Epilepsy about a month ago. I have been finding it increasingly hard to cope with the Epilepsy. It is now something that is a part of my daily life/routine. Only close friends and family members know about this. I feel like I cannot talk to anyone about this, because no one understands me. I need to talk to someone who can connect with how I feel. Some days I just get so depressed. People, especially teenagers and kids, do not understand about what seizures really are. They watch Grey's Anatomy, House, and ER, and just think that's what seizures are really like. In reality they are not. I do not want people to judge me, based upon this. I feel like no one understands how I feel...
I have been taking Lamictal for ADHD/Bipolar (also an antiepileptic drug) for about the past 3 years, about 9 months ago, my psychiatrist cut down from 150 mg twice a day to 75 mg twice a day, and then about 3 months ago cut down from 75 mg twice a day to 50 mg twice a day. We believe that I had a pre-existing epilepsy condition, but that the Lamictal had just been masking it all along, because I was on a high enough dose. About a 2 months ago I was at my girlfriend's house when my left arm and leg started to tighten up, and shake uncontrollably. I went to the acute care center where my blood pressure was about 150/100 and my arm and legs were so numb I could not walk or move. I was rushed to the hospital via ambulance. I was then given an IV with Ativan and Morphine for the pain in my arm and leg. The seizure lasted 7 hours! While there I had a CT, MRI, and an EEG. After seeing the EEG, the neurolgist was convinced I had Epilepsy. There was seizural discharges on the right side of my brain, explaining why only the left side shook. I was released, and we began an increase on the Lamictal to 100 mg twice a day. Since then I have had seizures which have been as short as 5 minutes to as long as 7 hours! I was prescribed Ativan to take when having a seizure, in hopes to slow the seizure, and calm it down and stop. I went to the neurolgist today(a different one), and he ordered an ambulatory EEG.
I just need someone to tell me that things will be all good and that can say they know how I feel because they deal with it daily also. I just need a helping hand to get me through this...
I have been taking Lamictal for ADHD/Bipolar (also an antiepileptic drug) for about the past 3 years, about 9 months ago, my psychiatrist cut down from 150 mg twice a day to 75 mg twice a day, and then about 3 months ago cut down from 75 mg twice a day to 50 mg twice a day. We believe that I had a pre-existing epilepsy condition, but that the Lamictal had just been masking it all along, because I was on a high enough dose. About a 2 months ago I was at my girlfriend's house when my left arm and leg started to tighten up, and shake uncontrollably. I went to the acute care center where my blood pressure was about 150/100 and my arm and legs were so numb I could not walk or move. I was rushed to the hospital via ambulance. I was then given an IV with Ativan and Morphine for the pain in my arm and leg. The seizure lasted 7 hours! While there I had a CT, MRI, and an EEG. After seeing the EEG, the neurolgist was convinced I had Epilepsy. There was seizural discharges on the right side of my brain, explaining why only the left side shook. I was released, and we began an increase on the Lamictal to 100 mg twice a day. Since then I have had seizures which have been as short as 5 minutes to as long as 7 hours! I was prescribed Ativan to take when having a seizure, in hopes to slow the seizure, and calm it down and stop. I went to the neurolgist today(a different one), and he ordered an ambulatory EEG.
I just need someone to tell me that things will be all good and that can say they know how I feel because they deal with it daily also. I just need a helping hand to get me through this...
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