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Greetings from Houston - Looking back on what I have written below, I apologize in advance for having written a novel!
My name is Jenny, I'm currently age 38, & I have always had epilepsy. Although only a couple of times, I had grand mal activity when I was an infant & took meds until about age 3, but stopped taking them because of problems with blood platelets. Petit mal seizures began at about age 5, & it took a few years to find the right meds/dosages, but I ended up on both Mysoline & Tegretol. I didn't take Mysoline for too long but stayed on Tegretol until some point in high school (probably 1988ish), even though my seizure activity was quite rare. Four years later I had more petit mal activity, so I was put back on Tegretol. A few years after that I had moved to the big city of Houston (from the quiet & often boring solitude of Maine) & had an accident while driving on one of the major streets in town due to a petit mal seizure (ended up driving straight into a telephone pole). After that my seizures were more often grand-mal/tonic-clonic than petit mal, & for some unknown reason they became very few & far between but kept occurring every 5 months or so - JUST often enough to keep me from driving & screw me out of my freedom. I saw numerous neurologists, tried numerous anti-seizure meds, & had lots of EEGs that never revealed anything other than the fact that seizure activity had in fact taken place (DUH!). I started taking Keppra XR in 2008, have been on it ever since, & believe it is working quite well. Although I have had the same rare tonic-clonic seizure activity consistently every 5 to 6 months, my petit mal activity has decreased quite a bit. I *SHOULD* be free to drive again if I can remain seizure-free for just three more weeks from today. I know I SHOULD be excited, & part of me IS, but it really just makes me wonder when the seizure is going to hit... Because if history repeats itself again, then it will happen anyday now...
Last time I was able to drive, I got to enjoy it for a whole FOUR DAYS before another seizure hit.
So while I am pretty pleased with how Keppra is working for me, & I'm EXTREMELY GRATEFUL for the fact that I've never had to deal with the more frequent, intolerable seizure activity that many others have, I am mainly confused as to how & why my seizures suddenly became mostly grand mal/tonic-clonic, since I hadn't had that kind of activity for over 20 years. Something else that concerns me is that on a few occasions I have come out of a grand mal seizure THINKING that I had been SCREAMING, begging & pleading for help while it was taking place, but everyone around me told me that I wasn't saying a word...
After the grand mal activity started screwing me out of my ability to drive I was lucky enough to have a VERY close friend who was also a co-worker, & he drove me to & from work every day for many years... But eventually he moved to a different part of town & it just got to be too much of a strain for him, so I quit working at that time (spring of '09) & haven't worked since. I sat at a computer & shuffled papers all day so my epilepsy wasn't keeping me from doing my job on a daily basis or anything, but my inability to get myself to the office & back on my own made it impossible for me to keep working. Luckily I have a WONDERFUL, supportive husband who agreed that I should stop working for a while. We are managing to hold our own financially, but still look forward to the day when I can start bringing home a paycheck again! Most days I'm okay with not having to deal with the daily routine of working, but some days I just want to pull my hair out because I rarely get to leave the house and just LIVE a somewhat NORMAL life - I probably would have gone insane LONG ago if it weren't for my very sweet, loving, supportive
CAT who gets to listen to me all day while my husband is at work!
I absolutely LOVE driving (yes, even in Houston traffic), & not being able to do so has taken away a HUGE part of who I am. The passenger's seat of a vehicle is one of the most DREADFUL places in the world to me. I do not drink alcohol (by choice), so not being able to serve as the designated driver for my friends just STINKS! (I'd MUCH rather be able to drive my extremely supportive, intoxicated friends around than consume any alcohol myself!)
Okay, that's MORE THAN ENOUGH for now (Again, I apologize for the life story) - Just wanted to introduce myself and let you all know that I look forward to talking with lots of you & hope to make lots of friends here on this site. Have a good rest of the day, talk to you soon!
My name is Jenny, I'm currently age 38, & I have always had epilepsy. Although only a couple of times, I had grand mal activity when I was an infant & took meds until about age 3, but stopped taking them because of problems with blood platelets. Petit mal seizures began at about age 5, & it took a few years to find the right meds/dosages, but I ended up on both Mysoline & Tegretol. I didn't take Mysoline for too long but stayed on Tegretol until some point in high school (probably 1988ish), even though my seizure activity was quite rare. Four years later I had more petit mal activity, so I was put back on Tegretol. A few years after that I had moved to the big city of Houston (from the quiet & often boring solitude of Maine) & had an accident while driving on one of the major streets in town due to a petit mal seizure (ended up driving straight into a telephone pole). After that my seizures were more often grand-mal/tonic-clonic than petit mal, & for some unknown reason they became very few & far between but kept occurring every 5 months or so - JUST often enough to keep me from driving & screw me out of my freedom. I saw numerous neurologists, tried numerous anti-seizure meds, & had lots of EEGs that never revealed anything other than the fact that seizure activity had in fact taken place (DUH!). I started taking Keppra XR in 2008, have been on it ever since, & believe it is working quite well. Although I have had the same rare tonic-clonic seizure activity consistently every 5 to 6 months, my petit mal activity has decreased quite a bit. I *SHOULD* be free to drive again if I can remain seizure-free for just three more weeks from today. I know I SHOULD be excited, & part of me IS, but it really just makes me wonder when the seizure is going to hit... Because if history repeats itself again, then it will happen anyday now...
Last time I was able to drive, I got to enjoy it for a whole FOUR DAYS before another seizure hit.So while I am pretty pleased with how Keppra is working for me, & I'm EXTREMELY GRATEFUL for the fact that I've never had to deal with the more frequent, intolerable seizure activity that many others have, I am mainly confused as to how & why my seizures suddenly became mostly grand mal/tonic-clonic, since I hadn't had that kind of activity for over 20 years. Something else that concerns me is that on a few occasions I have come out of a grand mal seizure THINKING that I had been SCREAMING, begging & pleading for help while it was taking place, but everyone around me told me that I wasn't saying a word...
After the grand mal activity started screwing me out of my ability to drive I was lucky enough to have a VERY close friend who was also a co-worker, & he drove me to & from work every day for many years... But eventually he moved to a different part of town & it just got to be too much of a strain for him, so I quit working at that time (spring of '09) & haven't worked since. I sat at a computer & shuffled papers all day so my epilepsy wasn't keeping me from doing my job on a daily basis or anything, but my inability to get myself to the office & back on my own made it impossible for me to keep working. Luckily I have a WONDERFUL, supportive husband who agreed that I should stop working for a while. We are managing to hold our own financially, but still look forward to the day when I can start bringing home a paycheck again! Most days I'm okay with not having to deal with the daily routine of working, but some days I just want to pull my hair out because I rarely get to leave the house and just LIVE a somewhat NORMAL life - I probably would have gone insane LONG ago if it weren't for my very sweet, loving, supportive
CAT who gets to listen to me all day while my husband is at work!I absolutely LOVE driving (yes, even in Houston traffic), & not being able to do so has taken away a HUGE part of who I am. The passenger's seat of a vehicle is one of the most DREADFUL places in the world to me. I do not drink alcohol (by choice), so not being able to serve as the designated driver for my friends just STINKS! (I'd MUCH rather be able to drive my extremely supportive, intoxicated friends around than consume any alcohol myself!)
Okay, that's MORE THAN ENOUGH for now (Again, I apologize for the life story) - Just wanted to introduce myself and let you all know that I look forward to talking with lots of you & hope to make lots of friends here on this site. Have a good rest of the day, talk to you soon!
