I am a 45 year old female. I had my first seizure 7 years ago, just before Christmas. All I remember was riding down the road with my friend driving. We were coming to stop sign, and so I looked to my right checking traffic. I remember this REALLY weird OMG moment and next thing I know, Im in the hospital with Doctors and Nurses poking and pulling I started crying pretty hard, and was sooo very confused. My friend was scared to death also, she was in the other room, and they quickly brought her to me. Anyway, I had a bunch of tests run, and everything came back normal, they found nothing on anything.
They put me on Tegretol, which I took religiously for six years. But, I work shiftwork in a power plant, and was having a very hard time staying awake at work or at home no matter how much sleep I had. I remembered my Doctor at the time telling me that sometimes people will have a seizure for no reason, be on meds and then after awhile, they decide they don't want them anymore. Soooo, I slowly weaned myself off of the Tegretol, it was probably a 3 or 4 month period. Shortly after that, I was with my friend again, (playing bingo! LOL). We were on the last game of the evening, and next thing I know, I wake up with some EMT trying to shove an oxygen mask in my face, almost knocked the poor guy out!
Needless to say, I am back on meds Keppra this time (won't try that again), however my job is in jeopardy. I work in a pretty dangerous environment, where my normal job as an Auxillary Operator, I spend alot of time on catwalks, climbing ladders etc. Plus there is a lot of dangerous equipment around. It hadn't been an issue after the first seizure. I came back to work after a couple months off, and was right back at it. This time, I came back to work in Dec. (seizure was in Nov.) had work restrictions that said no ladders etc, etc. But they made accommodations, and stuff so I didn't have to do that. Then someone somewhere got p.o'd because I worked an overtime shift or something, said something to management, who went to HR, who have put me in a position where I may not even have a job.
Right now, I work in the control room (which is a higher paying job anyway, but I hate it) I sit in front of computer screens all day, operating the equipment I used to have to check out. It's a union job, and the company will make accommodations where I can have an open job if it's available, and all that, but after talking with my union business manager last night, if they decide that there is a possibility that I may have a seizure here, and somehow blow the place up or fail to stop some piece of equipment that could harm someone else, I may be just out of a job. I don't think that will happen, but it is a possibility. Plus, I have lost out on tons of money the last 3 months. there has been overtime available, but because i am on restriction, I get none of it. And, Im talking like $600 a day! It's killing me financially, and emotionally I am just a wreck. I just don't understand why it's such a big deal now.
Obviously things were controlled while on meds, I had NO breakthroughs at all, I quit taking it and have another seizure, and now my whole life is screwed up. Makes no sense, my doctor will release me to drive my car down the road at sixty plus miles an hour where I could crash into a school bus full of kids, but I can't climb a ladder at work, cuz I might fall??
Sorry if I sound like a whiner, I am just so very angry and frustrated. All of a sudden my whole way of life is gone. And I wondered why people wouldn;'t go to the doctor after a seizure? I may never tell my doctor again! Anyway, thanks for letting me vent.
They put me on Tegretol, which I took religiously for six years. But, I work shiftwork in a power plant, and was having a very hard time staying awake at work or at home no matter how much sleep I had. I remembered my Doctor at the time telling me that sometimes people will have a seizure for no reason, be on meds and then after awhile, they decide they don't want them anymore. Soooo, I slowly weaned myself off of the Tegretol, it was probably a 3 or 4 month period. Shortly after that, I was with my friend again, (playing bingo! LOL). We were on the last game of the evening, and next thing I know, I wake up with some EMT trying to shove an oxygen mask in my face, almost knocked the poor guy out!
Needless to say, I am back on meds Keppra this time (won't try that again), however my job is in jeopardy. I work in a pretty dangerous environment, where my normal job as an Auxillary Operator, I spend alot of time on catwalks, climbing ladders etc. Plus there is a lot of dangerous equipment around. It hadn't been an issue after the first seizure. I came back to work after a couple months off, and was right back at it. This time, I came back to work in Dec. (seizure was in Nov.) had work restrictions that said no ladders etc, etc. But they made accommodations, and stuff so I didn't have to do that. Then someone somewhere got p.o'd because I worked an overtime shift or something, said something to management, who went to HR, who have put me in a position where I may not even have a job.
Right now, I work in the control room (which is a higher paying job anyway, but I hate it) I sit in front of computer screens all day, operating the equipment I used to have to check out. It's a union job, and the company will make accommodations where I can have an open job if it's available, and all that, but after talking with my union business manager last night, if they decide that there is a possibility that I may have a seizure here, and somehow blow the place up or fail to stop some piece of equipment that could harm someone else, I may be just out of a job. I don't think that will happen, but it is a possibility. Plus, I have lost out on tons of money the last 3 months. there has been overtime available, but because i am on restriction, I get none of it. And, Im talking like $600 a day! It's killing me financially, and emotionally I am just a wreck. I just don't understand why it's such a big deal now.
Obviously things were controlled while on meds, I had NO breakthroughs at all, I quit taking it and have another seizure, and now my whole life is screwed up. Makes no sense, my doctor will release me to drive my car down the road at sixty plus miles an hour where I could crash into a school bus full of kids, but I can't climb a ladder at work, cuz I might fall??
Sorry if I sound like a whiner, I am just so very angry and frustrated. All of a sudden my whole way of life is gone. And I wondered why people wouldn;'t go to the doctor after a seizure? I may never tell my doctor again! Anyway, thanks for letting me vent.
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