Epilepsy diagnosed at age 27? That's wrong, right?
Written: May 13 '01 (Updated Sep 08 '01)
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Pros: Medication can control seizures well if taken accordingly.
Cons: Some meds may not work, causing worse seizures than before.
The Bottom Line: Epilepsy can be treated with medication safely and effectively, if you take the right medication for the seizure type you have.
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| mom2daniel's Full Review: Adult Health Issues |
The doctor told me I was having panic attacks: the racing heart, the nausea, the severe headaches, the wooziness and dizziness, and the shaking. I was so desperate for these feelings to go away that I believed him: and because he was wrong, I wound up in the hospital for five agonizing days, surrounded by seizure precautions--the pads on the bed rails; not being allowed to get up by myself; not being allowed to the bathroom without a nurse there; being hooked up to electrodes to record my heartbeat and brain waves; and taking "loading doses" of Dilantin, the most common seizure medication.
Why was I mislead? Epilepsy is one of the easier-missed disorders in people over the age of 25. The types of seizures I have, in fact, do mimic panic attacks, and the only way to truly diagnose this kind of seizure disorder is by EEG (electroencephalogram, which measures the brain waves via twelve electrodes placed on different areas of your scalp). I had to wind up in the hospital before my doctor would have an EEG ordered for me.
After the EEG, I had a consult with a neurologist (a doctor who specializes in the area of brain and spinal cord), who gave me this news: "What you have is known as a complex-partial seizure disorder with a location in the left temporal lobe." What?? What did that mean? He answered me: "You have epilepsy." At that, my heart sunk, and all I wanted to do was cry.
I knew nothing about epilepsy, especially about this complex-partial thing he was talking about. When I was released from the hospital, I got home and immediately got on line to find out everything I could about this disorder that made me think of convulsions, which I did not have. I had so many questions, and nobody to talk to about them.
What are the different types of epilepsy/seizure disorders?
Complex-Partial: These seizures are caused by damage to the temporal or frontal lobes of the brain. Most times they involve a loss of awareness, fear, panic, numbness, headaches, vomiting or nausea, deja vu (feeling of doing something before), jamais vu (not recognizing familiar surroundings), odd smells, and inability to form sentences. There are specific types of medications that can help these seizures, and some sedatives may help as well.
Generalized Tonic-Clonic: This form is also known as Grand Mal, and consists of convulsions. It involves both sides of the brain, and is caused by the sudden discharge of most of the nerve cells in the brain, causing the whole body to stiffen. Some people know that they'll be having a seizure due to the "aura" they have, and some have no clue until after it's over. This is the hardest form of epilepsy to control, and sometimes can result in brain surgery to remove damaged parts of the brain.
Absence: These seizures are characterized by staring blankly into space, or fading in and out. The part of the brain that keeps a person attentive is affected, and when the nerve cells discharge, this part of the brain stops working. Sometimes during these seizures, a part of the body will "jerk", meaning that the motor funtions of the brain are affected as well.
Simple Partial: These do not result in altercation of awareness, and some can consist of jerking body parts (depending on what part of the brain is damaged), red flashes or visual disturbances, or crawling/tingling sensations in parts of the body.
What can be done about seizures?
The treatment of choice is anticonvulsant medications. The most common forms are Dilantin, Phenobarbitol, Depakote, Tegretol, Klonopin, Neurontin, and Diamox. Each medication treats a specific type of seizures, and your neurologist will know which is right for you. All of these medications have side effects, which go away in time. Ask your doctor what to expect when you start taking these.
Most medications require weekly to monthly blood tests for the level of medication in your system, and liver function tests. For example, I was placed on Dilantin, which is for complex-partial seizures. While it helped my seizures a bit, I was still having them, and my liver enzymes were way out of range. The medication was not right for me, and I was placed on Neurontin, which does not require any kind of blood tests. However, you need to take quite a bit of it each day for maximum seizure control.
A quick tutorial on the brain
Frontal Lobe: Controls motor activity and speech
Occipital Lobe: Controls vision
Temporal Lobe: Controls memory
Parietal Lobe: Controls the senses
Limbic System: Controls emotions and moods.
What else should I know?
If you are diagnosed with epilepsy, you will be faced with changing your life and learning how to adapt to a life-long disorder. You may be told you cannot drive any more, or need surgery to correct your problem. Or, if you are like me, you have to deal with depression and the side effects of the seizures you do have. If you find you are having trouble adapting to this new disorder, please get help. There are neurologists who are also psychiatrists, and they can help you understand more about your disorder and how you can continue to live your life with epilepsy at your side.
Recommended:
Yes
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