I had a grand mal seizure about a month ago. It was some combination of alcohol withdrawal, stress, dehydration and sleep deprivation. Alcohol is my most serious trigger. I had several drinks last thursday and I ended up having an autonomic simple partial seizure the next day. I might be having these same seizures in the middle of the night as I wake up in a panic with my heart rate more than 2x the normal speed (tachycardia). I have had myoclonic jerks for years but I did not know they were related to epilepsy and when I told a doctor he told me they were benign. Now they are much worse.
I spoke with my neurologist and said that I wanted to try the ketogenic diet (and obviously I don't drink anymore, not actually very hard for me given how scary my recent epilepsy has been). I started it last Friday and I am already in ketosis. And yet, my myoclonus seems to be worse than ever - tonight I had a large bilateral leg jerk and my right middle finger is going crazy and they occur infrequently all over my entire body. I'm afraid to go to sleep tonight, which is how I ended up finding these forums.
I am now working on also eliminating many or all of the potential triggers listed here: atkinsforseizures.com/dietary-chemical-seizure-triggers.html
For instance, sugar, alcohol, caffeine, fizzy drinks / diet soda, diphenhydramine (benadryl), sun screen, sugar alcohol (gum) and more.
Let's just hope that I don't make it so far down the list that I have to eliminate bacon from my diet.
Maybe I should just add the Keppra now what do you think? Then I would never know if there was a specific set of triggers that I could have just eliminated.
I'm lovin' the brain icon. :brain:
Also here's a picture of my brain from the MRI they gave me after my grand mal. goo.gl/DhLwz
g'nite.
I spoke with my neurologist and said that I wanted to try the ketogenic diet (and obviously I don't drink anymore, not actually very hard for me given how scary my recent epilepsy has been). I started it last Friday and I am already in ketosis. And yet, my myoclonus seems to be worse than ever - tonight I had a large bilateral leg jerk and my right middle finger is going crazy and they occur infrequently all over my entire body. I'm afraid to go to sleep tonight, which is how I ended up finding these forums.
I am now working on also eliminating many or all of the potential triggers listed here: atkinsforseizures.com/dietary-chemical-seizure-triggers.html
For instance, sugar, alcohol, caffeine, fizzy drinks / diet soda, diphenhydramine (benadryl), sun screen, sugar alcohol (gum) and more.
Let's just hope that I don't make it so far down the list that I have to eliminate bacon from my diet.
Maybe I should just add the Keppra now what do you think? Then I would never know if there was a specific set of triggers that I could have just eliminated.
I'm lovin' the brain icon. :brain:
Also here's a picture of my brain from the MRI they gave me after my grand mal. goo.gl/DhLwz
g'nite.