New to Seizures...

[Candice.Brittney]

My name is Candice, I'm a 25 year old girl living in Windsor, Ontario Canada. I'm the loving Mother to a Gorgeous 3 1/2 year old Little Girl who's name is Nova. She is my world.

In late July of 2012 I remember standing in the bathroom staring in the mirror brushing my teeth. Next thing I knew I was laying on the floor with My girlfriend beside me putting a towel under my head with tears in her eyes. I had a pounding headache, and my whole body was really sore. I couldn't figure out what had just happen. It took me a few minutes to be able to stand up, and communicate with her to find out what had happened.

Once I was able to think clearly and talk I asked what on earth happened. I thought maybe something had caused me to black out. She said that I had a seizure and it lasted 8 minutes. She said that while she was doing the dishes She heard a big bang, and than heard my electric tooth brush vibrating across the floor. As she went to check on me in the bathroom She saw that I was seizing really bad, and that I had actually hit my head off the toilet when I fell.

While I was sitting and trying to process what had just happened and what
She told me She had witnessed She told me that an ambulance was called at her mom's suggestion as her mom is a Registered Nurse. Me being afraid of Needles and anything that has to do with Hospitals refused to go to the hospital with the Ambulance drivers. They checked me over, and checked my vitals. They confirmed that I had a "grand mal" seizure.

After the Ambulance drivers left I decided that I needed to lay down somewhere that wasn't an uncomfortable bathroom floor. So I laid down in my bed, and started to get tired so I ended up taking a nap. My girlfriend laid beside me, and as I was sleeping and cuddling her with my arm around her all I remember is her staring down at me saying my name and asking me if I was okay. I asked her what She was talking about and She said I had another seizure while I was sleeping. She said that it woke her up because I was laying behind her and I started shaking and twitching really bad. At that point She than started to ride my case about going to the hospital. I told her if I had another one than We would call another Ambulance and I'd go.

Non-surprisingly I had 2 more, One directly after another. So off to the hospital I went. They did a CT Scan, and gave me 100mg of Dilantin. The doctor said that a referral was being sent to a Neurologist, and that I would need to continue taking the Dilantin One 100mg capsule 3 times a day.

During the months to follow I had up to 20 seizures a day sometimes more. I took My Dilantin as prescribed but it didn't seem to do much. I ended up back in the Emergency Room a few times due to my seizures. Still have yet to see a Neurologist. Found out Today actually that the Referral that the Emergency Room said they were sending for me to see a Neurologist was never sent like I was told it would be. So my Family Doctor is going to send one out.

I suffer from severe anxiety, and asthma so often after I come out of a seizure I have a anxiety attack or an asthma attack.

The medications I am currently taking with hopes that it'll get things under control are 100mg of Dilantin 3 times a day. 1mg of Clonazepam 3 times a day. 300mg of Gabapentin 3 times a day.

Even with all these medications I am still having seizures, although don't get me wrong they definitely have downsized in number. I have a few a day. On bad days I'll have 5-7 seizures. It depends on the situation I'm in. If I'm in a really stressful situation than it's very likely I'll seize. Stress is a big factor in triggering My seizures. I've even had a seizure triggered by the brightness of the sun when walking outside without my sun glasses. Not sure if that's normal or not.

I'm new to all of this and could definitely use some tips or pointers so if anyone has any advice please do not hesitate to share it with me. I would so greatly appreciate it. This is all so new to me, and quite scary.

According to the Emergency Room Doctor's that I have seen they have diagnosed me with Epilepsy. Every seizure I have is a grand mal seizure. I'm told that grand mal seizures are one of the worst forms of seizures one can have?

**Edit: I also wanted to add in that My Doctor seems to think that My seizures were randomly triggered because of poisoning by someone around me. Poisoning someone can cause them to start having seizures, and even if the poisoning is stopped the seizures will still continue because the seizure threshold has been lowered. Not sure if the doctor's theory is correct. We just can't seem to figure out how I just randomly out of nowhere start having seizures. I had no health problems that showed any signs of seizures. Weird I think.

Anyways, Thank you for reading about my experience with Epilepsy. I appreciate it. I hope to learn more about everyone here, and hope that I too may be able to share some insight with other Guests on the Forum.

Hope to get to know you all soon.

-Candice xox:hugs:

 

[Fedup]

Candice.Brittney

Is there a reason for your doctor to say something like that because it is a serious thing to say.

 

[Zolt]

Hi Candice.Brittney

I agree, what would make them say that? But it is correct, poisons can cause seizures. There are a lot of poisonous plants out there that can cause seizures, Datura, Foxglove, lily of the valley..... I've also saw on TV where one neighbor of a vegetarian sprayed her garden with poison which caused her to die eventually. That was on an episode of 1000 ways to die. There are poison tests out there, so if the doc thinks it might be because of poison they should have you get the tests for it.

Cheers,
Zolt

 

[Candice.Brittney]

I'd like to say thank you to everyone who has posted with their input. It is so greatly appreciated, and means a lot to me.

I finally feel like I've found a place filled with people who are just liks me in regards to epilepsy. I don't know anyone else who is fighting this terrible disease so it really truly feels great to be able to post and have people fully understand what I mean or where I am coming from.

Thank you all so very much. It means so much to me, more than words can even begin to describe.

-Candice

 

[qtowngirl]

welcome candice,
very out of line for the doctor to say something like that. VERY. while it is true that poison can cause seizures, it wouldn't be the same situation you're in. not only are your szs extremely repetitive but if you actually had poison in your system there would be more issues cropping up.
also, and this is the main point here, majority of people with szs/epilepsy have their first seizure out of the blue for no reason. 70 per cent of those diagnosed with epilepsy have no known cause. there is alot more research and testing to do so if it was me i would cautiously ignore the doctors comment, find another doctor, and start looking at what needs to be done for your future.
unless you have a known person in your life that you know is trying to harm you and would do so in that manner, imo it sounds ridiculous to even be told that.

 

[JaneC]

What a bizarre thing to say. Hope your seizures continue to improve with the meds, if they don't, speak to someone about it. Preferably not the doc who came up with the poison theory. My daughter's seizures started completely out of the blue, and her epilepsy has no know cause. As qtowngirl says, that's the way of it more often than not. Stress is a very common trigger too. Also, have you seen this thread about sunshine? x
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/sunshine-seizures-3021/

 

[Candice.Brittney]

welcome candice,
very out of line for the doctor to say something like that. VERY. while it is true that poison can cause seizures, it wouldn't be the same situation you're in. not only are your szs extremely repetitive but if you actually had poison in your system there would be more issues cropping up.
also, and this is the main point here, majority of people with szs/epilepsy have their first seizure out of the blue for no reason. 70 per cent of those diagnosed with epilepsy have no known cause. there is a lot more research and testing to do so if it was me i would cautiously ignore the doctors comment, find another doctor, and start looking at what needs to be done for your future.
unless you have a known person in your life that you know is trying to harm you and would do so in that manner, I know it sounds ridiculous to even be told that.

My seizures started as soon as I got into a relationship with my now ex. Each and every time I'd go to jump up to get a drink or get something to eat she'd insist on getting it for me, insisting that I relaxed and sat down. She always prepared my food and brought me my drinks. My daughter's father brought to my attention that if she was poisoning me it could likely cause seizures and since she was the one preparing my food and drinks she had plenty of access to add something to it. I didn't want to believe that she would do something that cold and hostile towards me so I tried to ignore it. We broke up and as soon as she moved out my seizures started to down crease drastically. While I was packing up her things I found bottles of pills with the labels lifted off the bottle. They were prescription bottles for different things from Abilify, to Ivega, I even found mirtazpine and many other psychiatric medications. I read alone about being poisoned and it's affects on causing seizures and such and it says that once the seizures start that they will continue. I'm still not totally sure if she did poison me but why else did she keep all these psychotic drugs in the kitchen drawer or cupboard with no labels on them.

Now that She has been gone from my life for well over a month I have been almost seizure free the whole time. When I get really stressed out I have seizures. In the past month I'd say I've had a totally of maybe 8-20 seizures. As opposed to 20+ a day I think that is pretty darn good.

 

[Nakamova]

Hi Candice.Brittney, welcome to CWE!

What a disturbing situation to be in with your ex. I can see why there might be some question about poison. Stranger things have happened (in my area, a husband poisoned his wife slowly with anti-freeze). If you were unknowingly being slipped powerful medications, that could certainly mess with your nervous system and trigger unpredictable symptoms. However, one of the first things an ER will do after someone has new-onset seizures is a toxics screen to look for poisons/drugs, so there's a good chance that something would have shown up there.

Either way, I know grand mal seizures are very hard on the system. (Mine arrived out of the blue when I was 35.) I hope from here on out that you continue to have better seizure control and feel healthier overall. If you are still having seizures you should discuss adjusting your meds with the neurologist.

best,
Nakamova