Hi, my name is Daniel. Let me first start off with how I happened to get my first epileptic episode. It happened back in 2009. It was the first week of August and in just a few short days I would be back in school ready to tackle my senior year of High School. I was 17 at this time.
During this time, I didn't have any transportation. I was and still am reluctant to get a drivers license so to get to school I would normally have to walk which is about a mile away so it was no real biggie. But it was summer time so I didn't walk that route to school for nearly 3 months and I wanted to get back into the habit of waking up a 5:30 in the morning.
So one day I did just that. I woke up at 5:30am, took a quick shower, got dressed, ate breakfast, etc. But this was the first time I got up this early and quickly in nearly 3 months so I decided to just watch some TV and dose off for an hour or so. By the time I left the house, it was about 7:30 and the temperature rose quite noticeably and continued to do so throughout my 45 minute walk. (I'm usually faster, but like I said, I was tired and I was able to take my sweet time since I was still on summer break.)
By the time I reached the school, I was fairly dehydrated and exhausted so I crossed the street to the grocery store and bought an energy drink. Let me make this clear though, this is nothing new. I was about to start my senior year so I've been doing this for the last 3 years.
So I got an energy drink, drank it a little faster than I should have, and made my way back home. By the time I got home, I was feeling terrible. I still can't describe how I was feeling; all I can say is that I wasn't in any physical pain or felt sick to my stomach or anything of that nature. So I told my mom that I was going up to my room to take a nap and to please not bother me. The last thing I remember was laying in bed for about a half an hour.
The first time I regained some consciousness, I was staring out the back window of a moving ambulance and I felt the paramedic stick an IV needle in my arm and I struggled a bit not knowing what was going on and he just placed a firm hand on my chest and told me not to fight it and I passed out again. Then my next conscious thought was when I was being pulled out the ambulance and saw my mom and a few nurses stand at the doorway to the ER bay. Then I regained full consciousness in a private room in the ER with a doctor at the foot of my bed and my parents to my right and my brother outside the room.
When everything was taken care of, I was referred to the local neurologist and had an appointment with him a few days later. I first had to do an EEG test. The first time I spoke with him was the day before the scheduled EEG test and he just simply told me what I needed to do to prepare for the EEG test. So I did what needed to be done and I went the next day to have the test done and about 10 minutes after the test was finished, my neurologist pulled my Mom and I into his office and he told me in a matter of a few minutes that I have epilepsy and that I needed to take some medication for it. His first and only choice in medication was Keppra (as it seems to be a fairly common drug.) and the first dose was set to 1,500mg. But as I started school, 1,500mg was simply too much. I couldn't wake up in time to get to school on time and I found myself falling asleep during class. So the dose was lowered to 1,000mg and it was a little more tolerable. I would normally be able to counter the drowsiness with a cup or two of coffee or an energy drink (I made sure I was either well hydrated before I had coffee/energy drinks or I bought a bottle of water with it and I would alternate between a sip or two of coffee and water.)
Now that I graduated in May of 2010, my dose was raised to 1,250mg per day which is a little harder to counter now. My only concern now is learning how to drive. I realize that once I myself am behind the wheel, I'll most likely become much more aware of my surroundings but even so, I find it hard to concentrate for long periods of time due to the medication. I'm not concerned with working because I'll be up and about for the better part of my shift and it's kind of hard to fall asleep when lugging around 50 pound crates or fall asleep standing up.
So is it really healthy to be skeptical about whether or not I have epilepsy? There are some moments where I just want to quit taking the drug all together but the thought of having another seizure worries me. But there's still this feeling that tells me that if I never had that energy drink on that unusually warm morning after waking up at an ungodly hour of 5:30am, I would have never had a seizure in the first place.
Is anyone willing to offer their 2 cents on what they think I should do?
During this time, I didn't have any transportation. I was and still am reluctant to get a drivers license so to get to school I would normally have to walk which is about a mile away so it was no real biggie. But it was summer time so I didn't walk that route to school for nearly 3 months and I wanted to get back into the habit of waking up a 5:30 in the morning.
So one day I did just that. I woke up at 5:30am, took a quick shower, got dressed, ate breakfast, etc. But this was the first time I got up this early and quickly in nearly 3 months so I decided to just watch some TV and dose off for an hour or so. By the time I left the house, it was about 7:30 and the temperature rose quite noticeably and continued to do so throughout my 45 minute walk. (I'm usually faster, but like I said, I was tired and I was able to take my sweet time since I was still on summer break.)
By the time I reached the school, I was fairly dehydrated and exhausted so I crossed the street to the grocery store and bought an energy drink. Let me make this clear though, this is nothing new. I was about to start my senior year so I've been doing this for the last 3 years.
So I got an energy drink, drank it a little faster than I should have, and made my way back home. By the time I got home, I was feeling terrible. I still can't describe how I was feeling; all I can say is that I wasn't in any physical pain or felt sick to my stomach or anything of that nature. So I told my mom that I was going up to my room to take a nap and to please not bother me. The last thing I remember was laying in bed for about a half an hour.
The first time I regained some consciousness, I was staring out the back window of a moving ambulance and I felt the paramedic stick an IV needle in my arm and I struggled a bit not knowing what was going on and he just placed a firm hand on my chest and told me not to fight it and I passed out again. Then my next conscious thought was when I was being pulled out the ambulance and saw my mom and a few nurses stand at the doorway to the ER bay. Then I regained full consciousness in a private room in the ER with a doctor at the foot of my bed and my parents to my right and my brother outside the room.
When everything was taken care of, I was referred to the local neurologist and had an appointment with him a few days later. I first had to do an EEG test. The first time I spoke with him was the day before the scheduled EEG test and he just simply told me what I needed to do to prepare for the EEG test. So I did what needed to be done and I went the next day to have the test done and about 10 minutes after the test was finished, my neurologist pulled my Mom and I into his office and he told me in a matter of a few minutes that I have epilepsy and that I needed to take some medication for it. His first and only choice in medication was Keppra (as it seems to be a fairly common drug.) and the first dose was set to 1,500mg. But as I started school, 1,500mg was simply too much. I couldn't wake up in time to get to school on time and I found myself falling asleep during class. So the dose was lowered to 1,000mg and it was a little more tolerable. I would normally be able to counter the drowsiness with a cup or two of coffee or an energy drink (I made sure I was either well hydrated before I had coffee/energy drinks or I bought a bottle of water with it and I would alternate between a sip or two of coffee and water.)
Now that I graduated in May of 2010, my dose was raised to 1,250mg per day which is a little harder to counter now. My only concern now is learning how to drive. I realize that once I myself am behind the wheel, I'll most likely become much more aware of my surroundings but even so, I find it hard to concentrate for long periods of time due to the medication. I'm not concerned with working because I'll be up and about for the better part of my shift and it's kind of hard to fall asleep when lugging around 50 pound crates or fall asleep standing up.
So is it really healthy to be skeptical about whether or not I have epilepsy? There are some moments where I just want to quit taking the drug all together but the thought of having another seizure worries me. But there's still this feeling that tells me that if I never had that energy drink on that unusually warm morning after waking up at an ungodly hour of 5:30am, I would have never had a seizure in the first place.
Is anyone willing to offer their 2 cents on what they think I should do?
