I'm 45 years old and was diagnosed with epilepsy when I was 27. Best guess is that it was brought on by a severe case of bacterial meningitis when I was 21.
I've been "blessed" with only having noctural seizures. They occur only when I'm asleep or very shortly after wakening. Until yesterday..... I had gone close to 4 years without a seizure. My seizures are always grand-mal resulting in a myriad of post seizure pains. Tongue biting... severe muscle soreness etc. In the past I've sliced clean thru my tongue requiring surgery and broken a couple ribs...... always something.
Yesterday morning about 5 minutes after waking up I had short violent seizure following by 2 more when the paramedics were at the house. My dilantin levels were within therapeutic range so the seizure was likely caused by a bad cold I'd been fighting for the last two weeks combined with a bit a sleep deprivation as I'd been up 22 hours straight coming home from vacation. Can't sleep on a plane. The tongue biting was somewhat minor this time but my left shoulder and arm feels like it's been beaten with a baseball bat.
I had roughly 12-15 seizures over the last 18 years but it's still difficult recovering after they happen.
I've always gone to the hospital after a seizure...... do those suffering thru a grand-mal seizure do the same? Unfortunately..... when going to the hospital after a seizure..... the result is always that I lose my drivers license for a full year. Sometimes that's worse than the seizure itself... but I'm used to it my now.
Outside the grand-mal seizures I get what my wife calls "episodes". They usually occur early morning on weekends. I usually sleep an extra hour or two on weekends so I don't know if the revised sleep schedule is to blame.
Best way I can describe these episodes is as follows.
Butterflies in stomach..... feels like a million at once
Intermittent face twitching.... always to the right.
Always accompanied by an earworm. For example.... one or two lines from a song will pop in my head.... and play over and over continuously.. like a broken record. Sometimes it will be a series of words... repeated inside my head.... over and over.....
By that time I'm in full anxiety mode.... I've taken Ativan which helps but other times I'll simply go out for 20 - 30 minute walk. It's quite un-nerving but something I've learned to live with. These "episodes" aren't precursors to the grand-mal events.
Anyone else have these experiences?
Thanks!
I've been "blessed" with only having noctural seizures. They occur only when I'm asleep or very shortly after wakening. Until yesterday..... I had gone close to 4 years without a seizure. My seizures are always grand-mal resulting in a myriad of post seizure pains. Tongue biting... severe muscle soreness etc. In the past I've sliced clean thru my tongue requiring surgery and broken a couple ribs...... always something.
Yesterday morning about 5 minutes after waking up I had short violent seizure following by 2 more when the paramedics were at the house. My dilantin levels were within therapeutic range so the seizure was likely caused by a bad cold I'd been fighting for the last two weeks combined with a bit a sleep deprivation as I'd been up 22 hours straight coming home from vacation. Can't sleep on a plane.
The tongue biting was somewhat minor this time but my left shoulder and arm feels like it's been beaten with a baseball bat. I had roughly 12-15 seizures over the last 18 years but it's still difficult recovering after they happen.
I've always gone to the hospital after a seizure...... do those suffering thru a grand-mal seizure do the same? Unfortunately..... when going to the hospital after a seizure..... the result is always that I lose my drivers license for a full year. Sometimes that's worse than the seizure itself... but I'm used to it my now.
Outside the grand-mal seizures I get what my wife calls "episodes". They usually occur early morning on weekends. I usually sleep an extra hour or two on weekends so I don't know if the revised sleep schedule is to blame.
Best way I can describe these episodes is as follows.
Butterflies in stomach..... feels like a million at once
Intermittent face twitching.... always to the right.
Always accompanied by an earworm. For example.... one or two lines from a song will pop in my head.... and play over and over continuously.. like a broken record. Sometimes it will be a series of words... repeated inside my head.... over and over.....
By that time I'm in full anxiety mode.... I've taken Ativan which helps but other times I'll simply go out for 20 - 30 minute walk. It's quite un-nerving but something I've learned to live with. These "episodes" aren't precursors to the grand-mal events.
Anyone else have these experiences?
Thanks!
