screaminghelix
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My name is Jeff, and I look forward to being a part of this community.
My story. Around age 13, my family and I were getting ready to move out of state. My parents had not returned home yet, leaving my brother and I to our own devices. We were watching tv and I didn't feel right. I went to lay down. When I woke up I tried talking to my brother and apparently what I thought I was saying was not coming out correctly. I was speaking jibberish. He freaked out and I had no idea anything was wrong. He just had me go lay back down. We ended up blaming it on a fever.
We finally get moved and as life continued on, I started getting what I now know are auras. They would last for 30sec to 3min. They freaked me out, but I learned to deal with them. I would go to psychiatrist per my parents request, and the Dr's would say that I was having panic attacks. I was prescribed drug after drug for many years, to which of course none of them helped my issue. The auras would hit me sometimes 10+ times a day. I just became used to them.
Fast forward to 2006. I still have my auras, no big deal, but waking up to a pillow covered in blood was new to me. I bit my tongue in my sleep. I do not know how that happened, but I found an excuse to blame it on. So now I have auras and occassional blood on my pillow. Okay, we can get used to this too. I guess.
Now to 2008. On my way home from eating out. Almost home, but stopped by a traffic light. Next thing I know, I am down in a ravine sitting in a totalled vehicle. Okay, need something to blame. Spiked drink or food poisoning?
Still unaware that I have siezures, I just keep dismissing things. I constantly have a sore tongue, bloody pillow and auras. And they seem to be getting worse. As I was driving at work, the last thing I remember is going over a set of rail-road tracks and then darkness. I woke up to a paramedic holding my head to the back of the seat, a broken telephone pole, and airbags deployed.
I blamed it all on beer. So, needless to say, I quit all alchohol.
I told this all to my wife, which was my girlfriend at the time, and she said that I should make an appointment with my Dr, and these are not panic attacks. She called the Dr that said they were panic attacks a few choice words, but I am sure you understand.
Since then I have been to the University of Indiana Hospital for research. They saw seizure activity, and between them and the local hospital, the told me I have epilepsy. I was put on tons of medication, but to no avail.
We then went to the Mayo clinic. I had a grand mal siezure in the hotel room before I was even admitted to the clinic. They found that I have temporal lobe epilepsy on both hemispheres of my brain. Great huh? With all the current meds prescribed by my neurologist, they still could not shut down my siezures. I recently opted to get a VNS, and I am regretting it. I would really like to hear your opinions.
Thanks for having me!
Jeff
My story. Around age 13, my family and I were getting ready to move out of state. My parents had not returned home yet, leaving my brother and I to our own devices. We were watching tv and I didn't feel right. I went to lay down. When I woke up I tried talking to my brother and apparently what I thought I was saying was not coming out correctly. I was speaking jibberish. He freaked out and I had no idea anything was wrong. He just had me go lay back down. We ended up blaming it on a fever.
We finally get moved and as life continued on, I started getting what I now know are auras. They would last for 30sec to 3min. They freaked me out, but I learned to deal with them. I would go to psychiatrist per my parents request, and the Dr's would say that I was having panic attacks. I was prescribed drug after drug for many years, to which of course none of them helped my issue. The auras would hit me sometimes 10+ times a day. I just became used to them.
Fast forward to 2006. I still have my auras, no big deal, but waking up to a pillow covered in blood was new to me. I bit my tongue in my sleep. I do not know how that happened, but I found an excuse to blame it on. So now I have auras and occassional blood on my pillow. Okay, we can get used to this too. I guess.
Now to 2008. On my way home from eating out. Almost home, but stopped by a traffic light. Next thing I know, I am down in a ravine sitting in a totalled vehicle. Okay, need something to blame. Spiked drink or food poisoning?
Still unaware that I have siezures, I just keep dismissing things. I constantly have a sore tongue, bloody pillow and auras. And they seem to be getting worse. As I was driving at work, the last thing I remember is going over a set of rail-road tracks and then darkness. I woke up to a paramedic holding my head to the back of the seat, a broken telephone pole, and airbags deployed.
I blamed it all on beer. So, needless to say, I quit all alchohol.
I told this all to my wife, which was my girlfriend at the time, and she said that I should make an appointment with my Dr, and these are not panic attacks. She called the Dr that said they were panic attacks a few choice words, but I am sure you understand.
Since then I have been to the University of Indiana Hospital for research. They saw seizure activity, and between them and the local hospital, the told me I have epilepsy. I was put on tons of medication, but to no avail.
We then went to the Mayo clinic. I had a grand mal siezure in the hotel room before I was even admitted to the clinic. They found that I have temporal lobe epilepsy on both hemispheres of my brain. Great huh? With all the current meds prescribed by my neurologist, they still could not shut down my siezures. I recently opted to get a VNS, and I am regretting it. I would really like to hear your opinions.
Thanks for having me!
Jeff
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Lots of friendly, helpful folks around these parts.
