Hello Everyone!!
My oldest daughter (13 years) was diagnosed with epilepsy back in July of 2008. We had no idea that our lives were about to change so dramatically that day. It had been a great summer day. We had been enjoying time together as a family and were in the process of making some cheeseburgers on the grill. Then it happened, the grandaddy of them all. She was just putting the finishing touches on her burger when she grabbed her head and began to stumble backwards. We helped her to the ground, layed her on her side as she had begun frothing at the mouth, she was groaning, her eyes had rolled backward, her arm was in the odd contorted position. Mind you I have been in the healthcare field for awhile and until that moment I thought I knew what a seizure would be like. I had been trained to handle them although I had never seen on until now that is. This was so different, this was my very own child. She was transported by ambulance to the hospital and admitted for observation. All tests, scans came out normal.
The next day she was visited by her primary care Dr and informed that a Neurologist would be up to do and eeg and access her. This was all done and the results were that our daughter would have another seizure. She was now labeled a person with epilepsy. She was prescribed carbamazapein 100mg 2x daily. He had informed us that this was a great med but could help cause a seizure if the activity wandered to the other side. Scary yes but we made it through. She did have some breakthrough seizures during weeks that she would miss a dose or two. These seizures were nothing compared to the first. I will be asking for advice on those later. Cause I do not know how to name them.
This past Wednesday we received the dreaded phone call from school. This has been her biggest fear by far. She had a seizure at school and was bleeding. This was all I knew as I climbed into the car to go to her side. I had no idea what to expect when I arrived. She was in the nurse's office with someone applying pressure to her head which as we all know head wounds bleed alot, well this one was no different. She was awake and talking so again it was not as bad as that first god awful seizure. We brought her home, she remained queasy so kept an eye on her. I had decided that I would be headed into the urgent care with her to check out her head, so I hopped into the shower and she had another one as I was bringing her some fresh socks, again a much simpler one but this time I was able to see her eyes as her head moved her pupils were absolutley huge.
She came out of it, we left and shortly after leaving home she had another one. Arrived at the urgent care and they sent us to the hospital. Sitting in registration she had another one.
By this time I'm completly beside myself. I had never been this scared in my life. They immediately pulled her in got the iv going and did the proper bloodwork which all eventually came back normal. Even the carbamazapein was in her system at its proper level. They determined that she indeed needed to close up the wound on her head with staples. They kept her for several hours and saw no need to do further testing and they did not see and reason to keep her. I contacted the neurologist who set up and appt for the following day. He now has her on Lamoctil and will eventually wean her off of the carbamazapein.
I'm horrified. I'm so scared for this young lady. It has become painfully obvious that she has dangerous episodes, this falling down scares me. I cannot be there all the time to catch her like I want to be. I cannot just kiss it and make it go away. She is afraid that her friends will look at her differently, she is afraid that she will loose her friends because she is "different".
How do I do this?
My oldest daughter (13 years) was diagnosed with epilepsy back in July of 2008. We had no idea that our lives were about to change so dramatically that day. It had been a great summer day. We had been enjoying time together as a family and were in the process of making some cheeseburgers on the grill. Then it happened, the grandaddy of them all. She was just putting the finishing touches on her burger when she grabbed her head and began to stumble backwards. We helped her to the ground, layed her on her side as she had begun frothing at the mouth, she was groaning, her eyes had rolled backward, her arm was in the odd contorted position. Mind you I have been in the healthcare field for awhile and until that moment I thought I knew what a seizure would be like. I had been trained to handle them although I had never seen on until now that is. This was so different, this was my very own child. She was transported by ambulance to the hospital and admitted for observation. All tests, scans came out normal.
The next day she was visited by her primary care Dr and informed that a Neurologist would be up to do and eeg and access her. This was all done and the results were that our daughter would have another seizure. She was now labeled a person with epilepsy. She was prescribed carbamazapein 100mg 2x daily. He had informed us that this was a great med but could help cause a seizure if the activity wandered to the other side. Scary yes but we made it through. She did have some breakthrough seizures during weeks that she would miss a dose or two. These seizures were nothing compared to the first. I will be asking for advice on those later. Cause I do not know how to name them.
This past Wednesday we received the dreaded phone call from school. This has been her biggest fear by far. She had a seizure at school and was bleeding. This was all I knew as I climbed into the car to go to her side. I had no idea what to expect when I arrived. She was in the nurse's office with someone applying pressure to her head which as we all know head wounds bleed alot, well this one was no different. She was awake and talking so again it was not as bad as that first god awful seizure. We brought her home, she remained queasy so kept an eye on her. I had decided that I would be headed into the urgent care with her to check out her head, so I hopped into the shower and she had another one as I was bringing her some fresh socks, again a much simpler one but this time I was able to see her eyes as her head moved her pupils were absolutley huge.
She came out of it, we left and shortly after leaving home she had another one. Arrived at the urgent care and they sent us to the hospital. Sitting in registration she had another one.
By this time I'm completly beside myself. I had never been this scared in my life. They immediately pulled her in got the iv going and did the proper bloodwork which all eventually came back normal. Even the carbamazapein was in her system at its proper level. They determined that she indeed needed to close up the wound on her head with staples. They kept her for several hours and saw no need to do further testing and they did not see and reason to keep her. I contacted the neurologist who set up and appt for the following day. He now has her on Lamoctil and will eventually wean her off of the carbamazapein.
I'm horrified. I'm so scared for this young lady. It has become painfully obvious that she has dangerous episodes, this falling down scares me. I cannot be there all the time to catch her like I want to be. I cannot just kiss it and make it go away. She is afraid that her friends will look at her differently, she is afraid that she will loose her friends because she is "different".
How do I do this?