Good, great, GRAND!

[Matty Boy]

Hey,

My name is Matt. I'm 25 years old and have experienced two seizures nine months apart. Let me delve a little bit. Back in Februaury, on a typical Tuesday morning, I was up early ironing my pants for work. I had that "aura" people talk about (an acute sense of de ja vu) and the next thing I knew I was on the ground looking up. My back hurt, but I finished what I was doing and went to work.

Well, I was in so much pain just sitting at my desk, I decided to leave work and go to the hospital. At the time I thought I'd just passed out, and so did the doctors. After a CAT scan and an EKG, they gave me some Vicodin for my back and sent me on my way.

Fast forward to Friday night. After work, I went straight to the gym. I was doing legs, which is a particularly intense work out. Well, I was on my last exercise (leg curls), and started feeling that de ja vu in the middle of the set. Well, I got up to walk it off, and nex thing I know there's a girl wiping my face off and talking to me like I'd been injured.

Well, I had a seizure. I bit my tongue and everything. This time the paramedics arrived and took me to the hospital. Another battery of tests revealed nothing, so they put me on Keppra, and here I am.

I'm a busy guy. My job requires a lot from me, including driving. Not being able to drive is one thing, but if this medication makes me lethargic...it's also going to hurt things. I also do like to party, so of course this is going to constantly be on my mind. I guess I'll just have to take it as it comes. I'm making an appointment for the neurologist tomorrow. In the mean time....now what?

 

[brain]

:hello: Matt

Welcome to CWE, one of the first places to visit
would be in CWE's EPILEPSY 101 which would
give you a head start, and feel free to browse
around as well.

And then there's a Poll on Auras, that you
may find it to your interest as well:
Experience AURA or AURAS?
For this contains excerpts from an article
from eMed, and you'll get to vote and get
to read from other CWE members as well.

Make yourself a home!

:cheers:

 

[Bernard]

Hi Matt, welcome to the forum. :hello:

... Another battery of tests revealed nothing, so they put me on Keppra, and here I am.

It's quite common for people with seizure disorders to have clean EEG/MRI/PET/etc. tests. Doesn't mean there isn't a problem - it just wasn't confirmed by the test.

I'm a busy guy. My job requires a lot from me, including driving. Not being able to drive is one thing, but if this medication makes me lethargic...it's also going to hurt things.

Keppra doesn't have a reputation for causing lethargy as a side effect from what I've seen. It's much more infamous for Kepprage - causing irrational and strong mood swings. Vitamin B6 supplements can help mitigate that side effect.

I also do like to party, so of course this is going to constantly be on my mind.

food for thought

I guess I'll just have to take it as it comes. I'm making an appointment for the neurologist tomorrow. In the mean time....now what?

Make yourself at home here. Learn as much as you can. Empower yourself. :twocents:

 

[hawke86]

Hi Matt,
Welcome aboard to CWE. I hope you enjoy it here.

 

[RobinN]

Hey Matt... sorry to meet you here.
I wasn't satisfied with the side effects that my daughter was having on the different meds tried, but we stuck it out with four. Nothing worked, it actually got worse.

Now we do a combination of therapies, we have made nutritional changes, and I have found vitamin and mineral supplements that support brain health, and the last but great therapy is neurofeedback. We went from her having 6 tonic clonic seizures a month down to less than one a month. We are on our way to raising her seizure threshold and see her seizure free naturally.

 

[Meetz1064]

Welcome to CWE

Matt! Sorry to hear about the seizures. That SUX. BUT, you have found a great place to land........check out all the nooks and crannies here. Mr B has built us an AWESOME home here. Lots of good info to be had. Make sure you check out the threads the others gave you......they're chock full of great info.

Take care!

Meetz
:rock:

 

[skillefer]

Hi Matt! Welcome to CWE. Well, I'm going to agree with Brain. Read the Epilepsy 101 thread she included in her reply, or you can find it in my signature.... Also, start keeping a journal. Write down how many hours of sleep you get every night, what and how much you eat and drink, any stress your under, etc. also jot down if you have any odd feelings (deja vu, tingling, migraines, hearing things, etc.) Take all that info to your doc. It'll give the doc more information to work with. Jot down what you can remember from the last two times you've had seizures......had you not had a lot of sleep? Were you under a lot of stress? etc.
As for partying....as long as you don't drink alcohol or use any other substances, you can still hang with your friends. And if they really are your friends, they won't try to push you into drinking. I remember being in my 20's. Just remember that lack of sleep can trigger a seizure in some people. So you need to make sure that you get plenty of rest each night. Also, if you're a caffeine junkie, you might want to start cutting back. Hope this helps.

 

[Matty Boy]

I appreciate the warm welcome. I have an appointment with a neurologist on the 10th. I'm going to keep out of the gym and just take it easy for the time being, or at least until we can figure out what exactly is going on with me. Thankfully, I haven't had another seizure.

The one thing I can't stand is everyone asking me how I'm doing. I know they're concerned, but it makes me feel like I'm terminally ill. The fact of the matter is that I felt fine up until the moment of the seizure, and I felt fine after. I'm sure all of you have been through all this already, though. It's frustrating.

 

[skillefer]

LOL....I know how you feel. But just remember, they wouldn't ask if they didn't care about you.