Seizure after-effects

[Blue Eyes]

Hi, everyone! I'm new here, but not new to epilepsy. I've lived with nocturnal simple partials and a few absence seizures for eight years that I know of. They were easily controlled on a very low dose of Lamictal.

Last week, I had my first, and hopefully, my last temporal lobe seizure. It lasted 5 minutes. I was unconscious for most of it, but I never shook. After I woke up, my speech was slurred for 30 minutes. I had trouble finding words for two or three days after. My mind is still foggy and I feel sluggish and tired seven days later. Do the after-effects linger for so long?

Thank you for your thoughts.

Blue Eyes

 

[Nakamova]

Hi Blue Eyes, welcome to CWE!

With my tonic-clonics (grand mals) the after-effects can vary in intensity -- sometimes I'm just foggy for a few hours, other times it takes a month for me to feel like "myself". But I've never had slurred speech.

If your seizures are changing in kind or intensity, that's definitely worth letting your neurologist know about. It could a be a freak thing (maybe you missed a med dose, or had an infection that lowered your seizure threshold), or it could be a sign that your meds need adjusting.

BTW, technically, your simple partials and absences can also be temporal lobe seizures if that's the part of the brain they originate in -- regardless of whether or not you lose consciousness. If you DO lose full consciousness, the seizures are said to generalize -- i.e., they start in a single location (such as the temporal lobe) but then spread or "generalize" to the entire brain, with the resulting in loss of consciousness. If your body goes rigid and then convulses while you are unconscious, it's called a tonic-clonic seizure.

Best,
Nakamova

 

[Blue Eyes]

Thank you for the education, Nakamova. I really don't know a whole lot about this. There is so much on the Internet, that it is too much to sort through. I did see my neuro, and I surrendered my license. He thinks that my maintenance dose of Lamictal is too low, so I'll be doubling up.

Thank you again for the reassurance that this fog I am in is normal. Now, I'm off to take a nap.

Blue Eyes

 

[Brent]

My seizures all seem to originate in the temporal lobe. If you don't know, there are two regions (Broca's and Wernicke's areas) associated with language in that region. Mine seem to originate at or near Broca's area, so even in mild seizures, speech is the first thing to go and the last thing to come back to 100%.

In the case of my generalized seizures, I am usually aphasic (unable to speak and having difficulty comprehending) for about an hour. This is even after I am otherwise feeling fine. However, I frequently have language-related symptoms that can precede a major seizure for days, or follow it for a day or two.

I can say that my neurologist recently started me on lorazepam as a rescue med, and it has done wonders. It can usually prevent a seizure if I can take it early enough (rarely), but always smooths out the postictal phase and restores thinking and speech MUCH more quickly (like in minutes rather than hours).

Your mileage may vary, but it's been a huge help for me.

 

[Blue Eyes]

Thank you for your reply, Brent. I had never heard of those areas of the brain. I'm hoping that my event was a one-time occurrence, but if not, I will keep in mind the Lorazepam. Not being able to speak properly is disconcerting.

Blue Eyes