morgan381
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:hello: I've got to say, I am very glad I foud this website. I've been looking around for a few days and have found this to be a very supportive place. It's been really nice to be able to speak openly to people who are in a similar situation.
I was 20 years old and 9 months pregnant (literally 2 weeks from my due date) when I had my first (documented) siezures. I also happened to be over 800 miles from "home". It started while I was at work. I was training the temp who would be filling in for me while I was out on maternity leave. I was reviewing how to cut payroll checks and do the general accounting stuff, but I was having a lot of trouble staying focused. I would be explaining something and lose track of what I was saying. At first I was able to recover and continue. As the day progressed, I reached the point I could not effective carry on the conversation. I was very embarrassed and frustrated.
When it was time to leave, I drove across town to pick up my step-son from day care as usual. Then I went home. I remember putting my blinker on to turn into the driveway but driving past it. I turned around and went home. When I got in the house, I told my husband about it. He wanted me to call my OB, but being the stubborn person I am, I refused. That's the last thing I remember, until I woke up in an ambulance.
Ryan (my husband) later told me that I sat down in my chair, looked at him, yelled out and had a t/c. I was in and out of consciousness in the ambulance and in the ER. I remember waking up in the ER and hearing the doc say "See how her eyes keep rolling up into her head, those are petit-mal seizures."
While I was in the hospital, I had the gammet of tests: X-rays, MRI, CT, EEG. No abnormalities were found, with the exception of the MRI. The doc said my left temporal lobe was slightly larger than my right and that it had likely been that way since birth. My son went into fetal distress due to all the dilantin they pumped into me to stop the seizures. He was blue and unresponsive when he was born, luckily the neonatal team was there and he is now a very healthy and active 7 year old.
The docs told me that it was likely the stress of pregnancy that caused the seizures and that I wouldn't need meds unless I became pregnant again. I went almost 2 years seizure free without meds. Then, without warning, I began to have the absence/partial seizures. It turned into nonconvulsive status epillepticus and I had a secondary t/c. Since then I've been on AEDs and have only had 5 seizures in 5 years.
Looking back, though I think I may have had more absence seizures, starting in high school. In my junior year, a friend (who ironically has gone on to become a doctor) asked me if I had ever been diagnosed with E because she noticed that I sometimes seemed to stare off into space. Then there was the time I answered the phone at work "Good morning, company name, this..." and lost track of what I had said. I was so embarrassed that I just hung up on the caller.
My seizure pattern is always the same: an aura of impending doom (I know it's coming and I pray that it'll stop), then complex partials which progressively become more frequent and more severe until I am nonconvulsive status, followed by a secondary t/c. If untreated there is a cycle of complex partials and t/c's. The partials are the most frightening, because I know what is happening, but can't stop it and can't communicate.
I think the most frightening episode was about 2 years ago. My youngest son was only a few months old. I was home alone with him when it began. I was able to put him in his crib, where I knew he'd be safe (even though he screamed and cried), then called my mom. She could tell by my voice what was going on (apparently my speach is slurred and I sound like I just woke up from a deep sleep) and said she was on her way. I layed down in the floor. It took her about 15-20 minutes to get there. I remember her walking in the door. The next thing I knew it was several hours later. I was still in the floor. My husband was home and both my parents were there, so were the paramedics. I was signing the form to refuse transport to the hospital because my parents were going to take me while my husband stayed with the kids.
I've gone back to college and am persuing a career as a RN (thanks to those of you who posted supportive messages about this). I have completed my pre-req courses and begin the official RN program this August. I look forward to this. I try to live my life to the fullest despite E. I hope to work in a neuro setting. I'm very interested in neurofeedback and other alternative methods of seizure control. But, I'm sort of afraid to persue that avenue at the moment because I am well controlled--usually about 2 years between seizures, but will have several in a row when I do have them. Recently, my doc gave me a 'scrip for ativan to be taken when the partials begin to prevent them from progressing and that seems to work really well.
I don't want E to hold me up. I have 3 children (all boys) including my step-son, who I adopted 3 years ago. I have been bunjee jumping, and recently started running again. I'm training for a 5k. I also want to sky dive. I try to have a positive attitude, but do suffer from bouts of doubt and depression; I'm working to overcome this. I tell myself I am not an epilleptic, but a person living with E and that I can't let E define who I am.
Only 3 people outside my family know I have E. I know I shouldn't be ashamed of it, I just hate the way people treat me after they find out. I prefer to let the people get to know me for who I am, then tell them only if I feel like it. I've made the 'mistake' of being too open before, only to experience the prejudice attached to the stigma of E.
About 2 years ago I found a neuro I really liked. Unfortunately, the last time I called to make an appointment (last month), I was told that 2 weeks prior, she had been in a motorcycle accident and did not survive. I have started the search for a new neuro and hope to find another good one.
Anyway, I know that was long-winded...sorry. Thanks for listening.
Morgan
I was 20 years old and 9 months pregnant (literally 2 weeks from my due date) when I had my first (documented) siezures. I also happened to be over 800 miles from "home". It started while I was at work. I was training the temp who would be filling in for me while I was out on maternity leave. I was reviewing how to cut payroll checks and do the general accounting stuff, but I was having a lot of trouble staying focused. I would be explaining something and lose track of what I was saying. At first I was able to recover and continue. As the day progressed, I reached the point I could not effective carry on the conversation. I was very embarrassed and frustrated.
When it was time to leave, I drove across town to pick up my step-son from day care as usual. Then I went home. I remember putting my blinker on to turn into the driveway but driving past it. I turned around and went home. When I got in the house, I told my husband about it. He wanted me to call my OB, but being the stubborn person I am, I refused. That's the last thing I remember, until I woke up in an ambulance.
Ryan (my husband) later told me that I sat down in my chair, looked at him, yelled out and had a t/c. I was in and out of consciousness in the ambulance and in the ER. I remember waking up in the ER and hearing the doc say "See how her eyes keep rolling up into her head, those are petit-mal seizures."
While I was in the hospital, I had the gammet of tests: X-rays, MRI, CT, EEG. No abnormalities were found, with the exception of the MRI. The doc said my left temporal lobe was slightly larger than my right and that it had likely been that way since birth. My son went into fetal distress due to all the dilantin they pumped into me to stop the seizures. He was blue and unresponsive when he was born, luckily the neonatal team was there and he is now a very healthy and active 7 year old.
The docs told me that it was likely the stress of pregnancy that caused the seizures and that I wouldn't need meds unless I became pregnant again. I went almost 2 years seizure free without meds. Then, without warning, I began to have the absence/partial seizures. It turned into nonconvulsive status epillepticus and I had a secondary t/c. Since then I've been on AEDs and have only had 5 seizures in 5 years.
Looking back, though I think I may have had more absence seizures, starting in high school. In my junior year, a friend (who ironically has gone on to become a doctor) asked me if I had ever been diagnosed with E because she noticed that I sometimes seemed to stare off into space. Then there was the time I answered the phone at work "Good morning, company name, this..." and lost track of what I had said. I was so embarrassed that I just hung up on the caller.My seizure pattern is always the same: an aura of impending doom (I know it's coming and I pray that it'll stop), then complex partials which progressively become more frequent and more severe until I am nonconvulsive status, followed by a secondary t/c. If untreated there is a cycle of complex partials and t/c's. The partials are the most frightening, because I know what is happening, but can't stop it and can't communicate.
I think the most frightening episode was about 2 years ago. My youngest son was only a few months old. I was home alone with him when it began. I was able to put him in his crib, where I knew he'd be safe (even though he screamed and cried), then called my mom. She could tell by my voice what was going on (apparently my speach is slurred and I sound like I just woke up from a deep sleep) and said she was on her way. I layed down in the floor. It took her about 15-20 minutes to get there. I remember her walking in the door. The next thing I knew it was several hours later. I was still in the floor. My husband was home and both my parents were there, so were the paramedics. I was signing the form to refuse transport to the hospital because my parents were going to take me while my husband stayed with the kids.
I've gone back to college and am persuing a career as a RN (thanks to those of you who posted supportive messages about this). I have completed my pre-req courses and begin the official RN program this August. I look forward to this. I try to live my life to the fullest despite E. I hope to work in a neuro setting. I'm very interested in neurofeedback and other alternative methods of seizure control. But, I'm sort of afraid to persue that avenue at the moment because I am well controlled--usually about 2 years between seizures, but will have several in a row when I do have them. Recently, my doc gave me a 'scrip for ativan to be taken when the partials begin to prevent them from progressing and that seems to work really well.
I don't want E to hold me up. I have 3 children (all boys) including my step-son, who I adopted 3 years ago. I have been bunjee jumping, and recently started running again. I'm training for a 5k. I also want to sky dive. I try to have a positive attitude, but do suffer from bouts of doubt and depression; I'm working to overcome this. I tell myself I am not an epilleptic, but a person living with E and that I can't let E define who I am.
Only 3 people outside my family know I have E. I know I shouldn't be ashamed of it, I just hate the way people treat me after they find out. I prefer to let the people get to know me for who I am, then tell them only if I feel like it. I've made the 'mistake' of being too open before, only to experience the prejudice attached to the stigma of E.
About 2 years ago I found a neuro I really liked. Unfortunately, the last time I called to make an appointment (last month), I was told that 2 weeks prior, she had been in a motorcycle accident and did not survive. I have started the search for a new neuro and hope to find another good one.
Anyway, I know that was long-winded...sorry. Thanks for listening.
Morgan
I hope you really enjoy it here.