BeagleMama
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I feel like I am too old to be diagnosed with seizures. I am 45 and was newly diagnosed in November 2012. The embarrassing part for me is that I have been an LPN for 19 years and I had no clue I was having seizures.
Please accept my apologies if this post becomes discombobulated. I am not really sure where to start.
Started having brief periods of "zoning out" after I had a pretty bad bike accident at the age of seven. I'd just stare off---I knew activity was going on around me but I could not stop this staring off into space. They'd last less than a minute and I'd "return". People thought I was odd and I learned to tell people I was "deep in thought". As I got older, that decreased happening. In my mid-30's I started having trouble with word-finding. I knew what I wanted to say but could not grasp the word. Sometimes, I'd use a different word (like calling a stove a "box" instead). I would sometimes repeat words in almost a rapid fire way. I was seeing a rheumatologist at the time and he said it was from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The word-finding became so bad, I dropped out of college.
Over the past couple of years, my memory has gotten really bad. Forgetting what people have told me, forgetting to do stuff, forgetting that something was cooking on the stove until the smoke alarm went off, etc. My ability to read and comprehend went out the door. I retired from nursing because I no longer trusted my judgement.
At my last gynecologist appointment, I asked my doctor if this was normal menopause symptoms. He said no and said I needed to see a neurologist. I was beginning to think early Alzheimer's.
Long story short, after several tests and 40 blood tests (!!), I was diagnosed with Simple and Complex Partial seizures. As a nurse, I've had experience with patients with Grand Mal seizures but had no clue about SP and CP. I am sure I must have studied it in nursing school but I sure don't remember it.
After getting the diagnosis, I came home and read up on it as well as watched Youtube videos. I cannot believe all the stuff that has been happening has been seizures all along! I never had a clue!
I've been on Keppra for a month now. Within days of starting, it felt like cobwebs were being cleared out of my brain. My memory has done a 180 and I can read and understand it again!! My word finding still stinks and my doctor says that might be permanent. Has anybody else experienced that after treatment?
I am starting to realize when a seizure is coming---the deja vu, ringing in my ears, sometimes I feel like a gust of wind has just rushed past me (if that makes sense. lol)...many times, right before one, I get so, so sleepy...almost cannot keep my eyes open...then, as I am coming out of it, I sometimes will make grunting noises or a part of my body will jerk really hard. Then I cannot really move for 15 minutes or so because I feel so weak. I know that since I have been on the Keppra, although the seizures have not stopped completely, they have lessened. I am afraid to have any other med added to the Keppra (after the first week, my dose of Keppra was doubled and I had bad reactions to it so he went back to the initial amount and it's been there since).
I am so happy I have found a place where I can come and learn as well as share. Looking forward to getting to know everyone, open to advice/suggestions, etc.
Please accept my apologies if this post becomes discombobulated. I am not really sure where to start.
Started having brief periods of "zoning out" after I had a pretty bad bike accident at the age of seven. I'd just stare off---I knew activity was going on around me but I could not stop this staring off into space. They'd last less than a minute and I'd "return". People thought I was odd and I learned to tell people I was "deep in thought". As I got older, that decreased happening. In my mid-30's I started having trouble with word-finding. I knew what I wanted to say but could not grasp the word. Sometimes, I'd use a different word (like calling a stove a "box" instead). I would sometimes repeat words in almost a rapid fire way. I was seeing a rheumatologist at the time and he said it was from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The word-finding became so bad, I dropped out of college.
Over the past couple of years, my memory has gotten really bad. Forgetting what people have told me, forgetting to do stuff, forgetting that something was cooking on the stove until the smoke alarm went off, etc. My ability to read and comprehend went out the door. I retired from nursing because I no longer trusted my judgement.
At my last gynecologist appointment, I asked my doctor if this was normal menopause symptoms. He said no and said I needed to see a neurologist. I was beginning to think early Alzheimer's.
Long story short, after several tests and 40 blood tests (!!), I was diagnosed with Simple and Complex Partial seizures. As a nurse, I've had experience with patients with Grand Mal seizures but had no clue about SP and CP. I am sure I must have studied it in nursing school but I sure don't remember it.
After getting the diagnosis, I came home and read up on it as well as watched Youtube videos. I cannot believe all the stuff that has been happening has been seizures all along! I never had a clue!
I've been on Keppra for a month now. Within days of starting, it felt like cobwebs were being cleared out of my brain. My memory has done a 180 and I can read and understand it again!! My word finding still stinks and my doctor says that might be permanent. Has anybody else experienced that after treatment?
I am starting to realize when a seizure is coming---the deja vu, ringing in my ears, sometimes I feel like a gust of wind has just rushed past me (if that makes sense. lol)...many times, right before one, I get so, so sleepy...almost cannot keep my eyes open...then, as I am coming out of it, I sometimes will make grunting noises or a part of my body will jerk really hard. Then I cannot really move for 15 minutes or so because I feel so weak. I know that since I have been on the Keppra, although the seizures have not stopped completely, they have lessened. I am afraid to have any other med added to the Keppra (after the first week, my dose of Keppra was doubled and I had bad reactions to it so he went back to the initial amount and it's been there since).
I am so happy I have found a place where I can come and learn as well as share. Looking forward to getting to know everyone, open to advice/suggestions, etc.
