just wondering if its because i was tired, sick, or skipped a dose

[gr33nr0se]

i had a school concert the other day and was stuck at school for 13 hours. ths whole week i have felt like i have been coming down with something and my meds are at a steady 200 hundred mgs a day. on wednesday, i accidentally skipped a dose and had a whole bunch of simple partials, myoclonics, complex, and absences. i still have not been compeletely seizure free but i hope to get there. on thursday i had my concert and i was freaking out because the stage lights trigger my seizures and i did NOT want another public. it ended kind of late and when it ended i had a pounding headache. i figured that maybe i should stay home from school the next day but i remembered i had three tests so i went anyway. that was stupid. yesterday, i went to school with a sore throat, headache, i was exhausted, my body hurt, my tongue was chomped on, and i was having simple partials and myoclonics like crazy. it was horrible. i just want to know whether this all is from exhaustion, being sick, or me being and idiot with my meds. SORRY ITS SO LONG. btw, simple partials freak me out, especially in class when they change my emotions[/CENTER][/RIGHT]

 

[Endless]

Hi, there.

Gosh, that sounds like a miserable day. I hope you are feeling better.

Everybody has different seizure triggers. Your seizures could have been triggered by illness, the stress, exhaustion, or missing meds. Anything can do it. It sounds like you had the perfect storm - lots of stuff together.

Do you keep a seizure journal? It can help sort out what might be your particular seizure triggers. Here's a string that gives links to the different types of seizure journals: http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/seizure-journals-10776/

 

[gr33nr0se]

i do keep a seizure journal but there was so much going on that day and thank you

 

[Endless]

Yeah, the same thing happens to me. Right now I'm seriously sleep deprived, have bronchitis and a sinus infection, and accidentally shut my dog out of my room so he couldn't remind me about my medications and I missed a dose. The perfect trifecta. I had a horrible day with an all-day aura and 3 siezures. Ugh. I think it was all three things together that did it.

 

[gr33nr0se]

dont you just wish it was down to a science. like asthma is asthma and the lyrics to this song went this way. this c-sharp is c-sharp and thats the only way it sounds. but epilepsy? thats not the way it is. distinguishing between a stomach ache and a simple partial and a canker sore or a nocturnal seizure is like rocket science. it is so confusing. i just wish there were facts and everyone's epilepsy was exactly the same.

 

[dfwtexas]

It is hard to get your mind around it all. I think with young people like yourself, you also have the added trigger of your body constantly changing in your teen years. All of the other things, lack of sleep, missing meds and stress can be individual triggers for most of us. But putting them all together is over the top. Be careful, get some extra rest while you are out of school for Christmas!
I know what you mean about getting timely entries into your journal, but here's a hint what I do. Normally, when I have something out of the norm, I may forget to put in my journal, but it seems I always post about it here. I will go back to my posts on here and use that to update my journal!

 

[Bernard]

... i went to school with a sore throat, headache, i was exhausted, my body hurt, my tongue was chomped on, and i was having simple partials and myoclonics like crazy. it was horrible. i just want to know whether this all is from exhaustion, being sick, or me being and idiot with my meds. ...

My :twocents: FWIW:

• sore throat > sick, possibly related to exhaustion
• headache > possibly sick/exhaustion, most likely related to seizure activity (post-ictal states following complex partial or tonic clonic seizures often present with headaches)
• body hurt > aching like when you have fever? then sick, if not likely seizure activity (this is pretty common after tonic clonic seizures)
• tongue chomped > seizure activity (this is a classic symptom of complex partial or full blow tonic clonic seizures)

BTW, some "cold" medicines can interfere with AED metabolism. When my wife gets sick with sore throat, running nose, etc., she doesn't take cold/flu medicines anymore. Too many bad experiences.

Hope your schedule doesn't keep you so stressed out. Stress is something that's not easy to measure, but it's real and has a huge impact on your seizure threshold.

 

[ColmanMac]

I won't presume to tell you what to do but stress is the major trigger to Szs for me - My work is very stressed but I found out that knocking your guts out isn't the way - No matter what the job/motivation/rewards you get no medals & life is way too short to go on like you are & I did- Take it as a warning from someone who really did find out the hard way - Find a way to slow down & find a regular piece of "you" time each - Just a quiet hour at a specific time to shut yourself off & do "eff-all" - It's not the solution bit it is a start
Col

 

[gr33nr0se]

i have nocturnals where i chomp my tongue without tonic clonics and i get headaches before and after seizures.

 

[Endless]

I'm really interested in the ones that aren't TCs that you chomp your tongue. I chomp my tongue in the night, but it wakes me up. So I knew it wasn't a TC (the pain of a tongue bite in progress wouldn't have woken me up in that case). But I didn't think it was a seizure either because I didn't know a partial seizure could result in tongue-chomping. Is the tongue biting the only thing you do during the seizure? How did you identify them as a seizure? Found anything (other than meds for seizure control) to help?

 

[gr33nr0se]

well, i will wake up the next morning and i will be kind of exhausted and my teacher will ask me if i had a seizure the night before because of my speech due to a swollen tongue. i usually say no and then a couple hours later, i feel pain. its usually delayed because the swelling comes first. i dont know why, it just is. the day after the nocturnal im usually tired and after looking at my tongue in the mirror, its swollen and scarred on the edges. its also really painful. my body usually moves alot during my seizures but i think during these nocturnal seizures, i must only be biting my tongue because my friend has been spending the night alot and she has not noticed anything. i think i identify them as a seizure because they dont wake me up. im compeletly unconscious. my worst one, where my body DID move, and i chomped my tongue, i had no idea i chomped my tongue until the next afternoon but i felt like i skipped time when i woke up covered in sweat and my blankets were all over the place. but my friend did notice that time. my meds are all over the place right now but i have a dr appt on monday to schedule a veeg so we will see about meds