please help

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corpsman8483

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hey i am 29 yr old female in the USN serving as a corpsman surgical tech. I suffered from a grand mal seizure last friday lasting a good bit from what I am told. Nver had one before to my knowledge that i remember. I was oput on Keppra. I wake up tired as hell and sore sometimes like I was running or working out in my sleep. I am so confused. Knowing that the navy is trying to get rid of people due to overmanning I am so worried I am going to get med boarded out. I have only been in two yrs come july. what do I need to know what do I need to do so I get 100% benefites and pay. I feel so angry and I dont know why either..help please
 
Hello and welcome!
Having a seizure doesn't always mean you have E. Especially since it's never happened before that anyone has ever seen. It's possible, but if it was a one time thing, it's more likely that it was induced because of some other factor. If it happens again, however, it may be a different story... so be sure to pay close attention to how you feel and be aware of any changes that aren't normal.

However, it may benefit you if you could have someone with you while you sleep. The way you described how you wake up, sounds like what I experience after having a seizure in my sleep. Lots of people have nocturnal seizures, so you may be having them in your sleep and be totally unaware of them, other than being tired and sore when you wake up. Having someone nearby to just be aware of your sleeping pattern while you're asleep could help answer the question of if that is happening to you or not. :)

If I may ask, what were you doing before the seizure happened? It could have been brought on by any number of things, so knowing what was going on before it happened can really narrow things down. :)

Also, I may be wrong, but I believe if you're honorably discharged from the military due to medical reasons, you leave with all your benefits.... That's something you'll have to do some research on, but I don't believe they can take them away due to a medical discharge. It's certainly not like being discharged for AWOL or getting caught selling drugs to the soldiers or stealing and selling military weapons from a base... those will get you released with no benefits and the last two will get you put in federal prison. :)
 
also they found a pineal tumor or cyst in my brain not sure if that is the cause or not.. just someone please help
 
i was on my way to DOCs appointment when it happened. the week following up to the seizure I have been acting different from what I had been told. I got an EEG reading last week and have the results but unaware of how to read them. They said they were abnormal and had a bunch of spike waves in the reading that could account for e or idopathic e. still confused
 
corpsman8483 said:
also they found a pineal tumor or cyst in my brain not sure if that is the cause or not.. just someone please help
Click to expand...

This could be the source of your problem, if that's the case. However, be aware that the pineal gland in a lot of people atrophies and becomes calcified, due to large amounts of flouride exposure from drinking tap water and such... so it may be unrelated.

The spikes and such on the EEG indicates that there's abnormal electrical activity in your brain. Could be seizure related, could also be caused by the cyst placing pressure on the inside of your brain, and that pressure causes the abnormal discharge.

The pineal gland is located in the middle of your brain, near the pituitary gland. The pituitary gland does a lot of hormonal regulation, as does your thyroid gland. The pituitary getting stressed could be the cause of your hot flashes and such, as it could be releasing more homones than normal. Hormonal changes and such could also account for you being angry/stressed and not really having a reason why. The pineal gland does a lot to regulate sleep, and your circadian cycle while you sleep, so an abnormality here could also explain why you've had bad sleep. It creates a hormone called melatonin, which causes sleep, so if insuffecient levels of melatonin are being produced, you'll have much more difficulty falling asleep, and much less restful sleep. By the way, melatonin can be purchased as a supplement pretty much everywhere, so taking a melatonin tablet an hour or so before you go to sleep could help you a lot.

I would consult your doctors about the cyst as soon as possible, because to me it sounds like it might be the root cause of the problem, or at the very least a contributing factor. In the mean time, be sure to take your medicine, drink purified water, and keep as healthy of a diet as possible. Try to cut out as much stress as possible as well. Easier said than done, of course, but stress can be a major factor in seizure activity, so reducing stress can help out a lot.
 
i have been trying to talk to the doc but he seems like he doesnt care to much or maybe its just me. I dont know. All I know is I am sick as hell from being tired all the time and waking up sore. Stress yes i deal with it a lot in my clinic. I take paxil for anti anxiety and now reduce to only motrin for the headaches that i been having. I got a major concunsion during the grand mal seizure. It blew. They acted like it was my fault for some reason. Also mt boyfriend says when I sleep I twitch a lot. and the weekend before my seizure I was kicking hitting n screaming in my sleep. so I have no idea what the hell my body is doing to me
 
I had first and only Grand Mal at 48 years of age out of nowhere, other than stress and hardworking and WELLBUTRIN. I was on it for about 4 months it was great but it was to much for my body I guess. They also found a tumor on my pituitary gland which required a few more test but Neurologist and Neuro Surgeon did not think it was related to seizure. I stopped medication immediately and it has been 2.5 years and no seizures but it scared me to death for 1.5 years always thought I was going to have one, my brain playing head games with me all the time. So if you are taking medications check there side effects immediately and make sure that no drugs are messing with seizure threshold. After 8 months of Doctors and test they all agreed that it was drug induced by Wellbutrin. I learned a lesson that I look at side effects of medications but then again some people can take Wellbutrin and it never bothers them but Wellbutrin is known for seizures.
 
well from what i understand i have a tumor/cyst in my brain. lil scared and worried. sometimes i get daze and confused and in a tunnel vision if that makes any since. i just want answers. I want my body to stop hating me and be back to normal
 
corpsman, As I said i had a cyst on my brain, fortunately one on the radiologist was someone that I new, I spoke with him about it and he said quiet a few people have cyst that they never find until they do an autopsy because most people never have a mri on the brain so that made me feel better. I will tell you this the more I read on the internet the more afraid I got had panic attack the whole works for quiet a while I was like you scared to death. My doc gave me xanax for 6months to keep me calmed down and that worked great for me. As I said in my post mine was Wellbutrin we finally figured out. I know the feelings you are having are scary but get your diagnosis first. The Cyst/Tumor I have is on my pituitary gland which all my doctors assured me was know way connected to seizure something I was born with but never had a reason to scan brain so did not know. Seizures are traumatic as you know and scare you to death but get a doctor and ask questions. I have a guy who works for me that has them while sleeping 3 to 4 a year so he has to take medicine. So far I just am very careful what I take medicine wise, My pharmacist who i have used for 15 years had no doubt it was the wellbutrin but it still made me confused and scared. so hang in there maybe you want have anymore. Goodluck and God Bless
 
Hello, and welcome. I am also in the Navy, so I can understand what you are going through. As far as what is going to happen with your career, it is really hard to say. From what I have seen there is no absolute path that one follows after having a seizure. I didn't even get put on limited duty until after having about 5 seizures, and after my limited duty, I got fit for full and almost got to go back to a ship. (Didn't work out, though). I saw someone get discharge after having only one seizure... If you do get discharged, it is not going to be with 100% benefits and pay, but a medical discharge does give you something depending on how many seizures you have over the last year. I do not know how the tumor/cyst will factor in to things.
 
Help!

Today I received an MRI report completely unrelated issue (cervical spine) but my med doc on the ship did not even mention the cyst finding. However, I requested a copy and that is how I found out. I am a fairly healthy 29yo female active duty. What do I do next? I am planning on asking for a neurology referral.
 
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