Hi everyone. I'm new here, and new to seizures in general. A bit of background about myself: I had my first seizure (grand mal) last November, at the age of 25. There's no history of epilepsy in my family, and I never had any sort of illness or injuries that could have caused it. It happened at work, and I didn't feel at all weird beforehand. I remember being fine one minute, then waking up to paramedics standing over me. Also, I felt strangely normal after it happened...I was talking and joking with the EMTs on the way to the ambulance, and even had my blackberry out in order to message my friends telling them that I couldn't make happy hour. MRIs and everything turned out normal, so I didn't go on any sort of medication. I was fine for 8 months, until a couple of weeks ago, when I had another grand mal seizure, this time on the metro. Once again, I felt completely fine beforehand; however, one major difference this time was that I felt really out of it after. I couldn't answer basic questions about what year it was, and either the metro operator or the EMTs had to call my parents and fiance for me. By the time I got to the hospital, I was slightly more aware of what was going on, but still pretty out of it, and my fiance was telling me about conversations I supposedly had but don't remember at all. I also had another seizure at the hospital, which I didn't even realize until my fiance told me the next day.
So anyway, a couple of questions: first, the ER gave me a prescription for dilantin, which I turned out to be horribly allergic to. About a week after starting it (just this past Thursday), I broke out with a horrible itchy rash, then several days later got a high fever and found myself to be constantly exhausted, sleeping 9 hours a night plus taking 2 hour naps everyday. Plus, I was kind of nausous and unable to eat. Yesterday, I went to see my primary care doctor (couldn't get into neurologist on such short notice, have an appointment with him next week), who had me stop taking the dilantin immediatly, and start in Keppra this morning. I feel maybe slightly better, still groggy, but thinking I can make it through the whole work day, still have a bit of a fever, but it's gone down a bit, rash is starting to fade and itch less, still not remotely hungry, but able to force down a little bit of food, so I think these are all good signs. What I'm wondering though, is how long should I expect to be feeling the effects of the dilantin for? I know I can't expect to magically feel better right away, but when should I start to get concerned if I'm not feeling better?
And second question: Is it normal to suddenly get your first seizure in your mid-20's, when you have no genetic pre-disposition or anything? As far as I can tell, it seems like most people either start getting them when they're a kid, or as the result of some other illness or injury when they're older, or if nothing else, they've had family members who have had them. Should I be concerned that there's some underlying cause that no one is finding?
Anyway, sorry for the long ramling post, and thanks for any insight you can provide.
So anyway, a couple of questions: first, the ER gave me a prescription for dilantin, which I turned out to be horribly allergic to. About a week after starting it (just this past Thursday), I broke out with a horrible itchy rash, then several days later got a high fever and found myself to be constantly exhausted, sleeping 9 hours a night plus taking 2 hour naps everyday. Plus, I was kind of nausous and unable to eat. Yesterday, I went to see my primary care doctor (couldn't get into neurologist on such short notice, have an appointment with him next week), who had me stop taking the dilantin immediatly, and start in Keppra this morning. I feel maybe slightly better, still groggy, but thinking I can make it through the whole work day, still have a bit of a fever, but it's gone down a bit, rash is starting to fade and itch less, still not remotely hungry, but able to force down a little bit of food, so I think these are all good signs. What I'm wondering though, is how long should I expect to be feeling the effects of the dilantin for? I know I can't expect to magically feel better right away, but when should I start to get concerned if I'm not feeling better?
And second question: Is it normal to suddenly get your first seizure in your mid-20's, when you have no genetic pre-disposition or anything? As far as I can tell, it seems like most people either start getting them when they're a kid, or as the result of some other illness or injury when they're older, or if nothing else, they've had family members who have had them. Should I be concerned that there's some underlying cause that no one is finding?
Anyway, sorry for the long ramling post, and thanks for any insight you can provide.
