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I haven't posted much about my wife's travails with her epilepsy in a long time. Truth be told, there wasn't a lot to tell. For the last several years, she's more or less been on the same 3 medications (with small tweaks to the dosages) and having seizures with varying frequencies.
The neurologist she was seeing about a year ago was trying to sell her on getting a VNS as she was out of ideas on what else could be done for her. I mentioned at the time that I thought there was a very strong chance that she was having bouts of sleep apnea and the VNS could make that worse. So, she (the neurologist) ordered a sleep study for her (my wife) to evaluate the possibility of sleep apnea.
The sleep study confirmed that my wife was having apnea episodes. They ordered another sleep study to fit her for a CPAP machine. After that sleep study, we had to wait a couple of months because of Covid19 induced supply chain issues wreaking havoc with CPAP machine manufacturing (local distributors didn't have any inventory). But we finally got the machine on September 1.
September 2 was the last time my wife has had a seizure. Since she (my wife) hasn't changed anything with regards to diet or medication schedule, we're pretty confident that the CPAP machine has been a huge boon for her seizure control.
We just finished seeing the neuro and got the OK for her to start driving again. Baby steps for now (short drives with me in the car supervising). This will be the first time in roughly 5-6 years that she's been able to drive. She's pretty excited about finally reaching that milestone.
I'm pretty pleased that it appears that her seizure control appears to have stabilized/improved so quickly after starting the CPAP. Chances are very good that she hasn't reached peak benefit from the CPAP yet - she could/should continue to see improvement over time the longer she uses it.
The neurologist she was seeing about a year ago was trying to sell her on getting a VNS as she was out of ideas on what else could be done for her. I mentioned at the time that I thought there was a very strong chance that she was having bouts of sleep apnea and the VNS could make that worse. So, she (the neurologist) ordered a sleep study for her (my wife) to evaluate the possibility of sleep apnea.
The sleep study confirmed that my wife was having apnea episodes. They ordered another sleep study to fit her for a CPAP machine. After that sleep study, we had to wait a couple of months because of Covid19 induced supply chain issues wreaking havoc with CPAP machine manufacturing (local distributors didn't have any inventory). But we finally got the machine on September 1.
September 2 was the last time my wife has had a seizure. Since she (my wife) hasn't changed anything with regards to diet or medication schedule, we're pretty confident that the CPAP machine has been a huge boon for her seizure control.
We just finished seeing the neuro and got the OK for her to start driving again. Baby steps for now (short drives with me in the car supervising). This will be the first time in roughly 5-6 years that she's been able to drive. She's pretty excited about finally reaching that milestone.
I'm pretty pleased that it appears that her seizure control appears to have stabilized/improved so quickly after starting the CPAP. Chances are very good that she hasn't reached peak benefit from the CPAP yet - she could/should continue to see improvement over time the longer she uses it.
