Living With Epilepsy
A seizure is a sudden surge of electrical activity in the brain that usually
affects how a person feels or acts for a short time. Seizures are not a disease
in themselves. Instead, they are a symptom of many different disorders that can
affect the brain. Some seizures can hardly be noticed, while others are totally
disabling.
The seizures in epilepsy may be related to a brain injury or a family
tendency, but often the cause is completely unknown. The word "epilepsy" does
not indicate anything about the cause or severity of the person's seizures.
At the age of 5, I was diagnosed with grand mal seizures. A grand mal seizure is caused by abnormal electrical activity throughout the brain. In some cases, this type of seizure is triggered by other health problems, such as extremely low blood sugar or a stroke. However, most of the time grand mal seizure is caused by epilepsy. Many people who have a grand mal seizure will never have another one. However, some people need daily anti-seizure medications to control grand mal
seizure.
In my case I was prescribed a daily medicine because I had been diagnosed with epilepsy. A lot of times seizures can be set off by the smallest inconsistency with your schedule. Such things like not enough sleep, stress or a bad diet can trigger seizures. My seizures always happened when I didn't get enough sleep or I felt stressed. Almost every vacation I went on when I was younger I had a seizure. I remember being very excited to go to Disneyland one year that I could not sleep the night before. I was up in the morning getting ready and all of a sudden I woke up with my parents standing around me yelling my name. I was not aware what had just happened, or why I was on the ground. I stood up and instantly felt sick. Now in some cases people can have a seizure and be fine the rest of the day. In my case I will have a seizure and they will continue to happen throughout the day till I raise the dose of my medicine. My parents immediately took me to the hospital so they could give me an IV with the medicine in it. Afterwards, I was fine but had to continue to take higher dose of my medicine.
One of the medications I was prescriped was Depakote. Depakote (divalproex sodium) affects chemicals in the body that may be involved in causing seizures. Depakote is used to treat various types of seizure disorders. It is sometimes used together with other seizure medications. As with any medication there are always side-affects. With strong medicines like Depakote, you can only expect stronger side-affects. Hair loss, memory loss, and emotional problems.
I was in about 4th grade when I started taking Depakote on a daily basis. After I started taking Depakote, my teachers noticed my grades starting to drop. I went to my neurologist and my mom told him about what my teachers had said to her. They made me take a test, I wasnt sure what the test was for at the time, but now I know the test was to measure how good my memory was working. After taking the test I was then diagnosed with short-term memory, which was caused by the Depakote. We decided to try other medications instead of Depakote to see if it would help the seizures and not affect my memory, but the other medications did not work so I was stuck with Depakote. Today I cannot recall lots of family vacations we did when I was younger, and I can only reminisce on the pictures that were taken. Its sad sometimes when my sister will ramble on about how much fun a certain vacation was we went on and I cant remember, but I am sure I had just as much fun.
I have been on Depakote up until about a year ago. I had experienced minimal seizures being on Depakote, the only reason I would have any seizures was because I was not good about taking my medicine when I was a teenager, and the levels were not consistent. As of about a little over a year ago I took myself off the medication. I had not had any seizures for a while and I had felt I had grown out of having seizures. I recently told my neurologist that I had not been taking my medicine for about a year now. We decided we would go ahead and do an EEG scan to see if there were any abnormal activity in my brain. We got the results back and nothing was found on the EEG, he said that can happen sometimes so to be sure I would have to do three more scans and all of them to come back normal to be completely sure. I have my second scan coming up soon and I am crossing my fingers that it turns out normal!
But if not; I still do all the things any normal person would do! :]
affects how a person feels or acts for a short time. Seizures are not a disease
in themselves. Instead, they are a symptom of many different disorders that can
affect the brain. Some seizures can hardly be noticed, while others are totally
disabling.
The seizures in epilepsy may be related to a brain injury or a family
tendency, but often the cause is completely unknown. The word "epilepsy" does
not indicate anything about the cause or severity of the person's seizures.
At the age of 5, I was diagnosed with grand mal seizures. A grand mal seizure is caused by abnormal electrical activity throughout the brain. In some cases, this type of seizure is triggered by other health problems, such as extremely low blood sugar or a stroke. However, most of the time grand mal seizure is caused by epilepsy. Many people who have a grand mal seizure will never have another one. However, some people need daily anti-seizure medications to control grand mal
seizure.
In my case I was prescribed a daily medicine because I had been diagnosed with epilepsy. A lot of times seizures can be set off by the smallest inconsistency with your schedule. Such things like not enough sleep, stress or a bad diet can trigger seizures. My seizures always happened when I didn't get enough sleep or I felt stressed. Almost every vacation I went on when I was younger I had a seizure. I remember being very excited to go to Disneyland one year that I could not sleep the night before. I was up in the morning getting ready and all of a sudden I woke up with my parents standing around me yelling my name. I was not aware what had just happened, or why I was on the ground. I stood up and instantly felt sick. Now in some cases people can have a seizure and be fine the rest of the day. In my case I will have a seizure and they will continue to happen throughout the day till I raise the dose of my medicine. My parents immediately took me to the hospital so they could give me an IV with the medicine in it. Afterwards, I was fine but had to continue to take higher dose of my medicine.
One of the medications I was prescriped was Depakote. Depakote (divalproex sodium) affects chemicals in the body that may be involved in causing seizures. Depakote is used to treat various types of seizure disorders. It is sometimes used together with other seizure medications. As with any medication there are always side-affects. With strong medicines like Depakote, you can only expect stronger side-affects. Hair loss, memory loss, and emotional problems.
I was in about 4th grade when I started taking Depakote on a daily basis. After I started taking Depakote, my teachers noticed my grades starting to drop. I went to my neurologist and my mom told him about what my teachers had said to her. They made me take a test, I wasnt sure what the test was for at the time, but now I know the test was to measure how good my memory was working. After taking the test I was then diagnosed with short-term memory, which was caused by the Depakote. We decided to try other medications instead of Depakote to see if it would help the seizures and not affect my memory, but the other medications did not work so I was stuck with Depakote. Today I cannot recall lots of family vacations we did when I was younger, and I can only reminisce on the pictures that were taken. Its sad sometimes when my sister will ramble on about how much fun a certain vacation was we went on and I cant remember, but I am sure I had just as much fun.
I have been on Depakote up until about a year ago. I had experienced minimal seizures being on Depakote, the only reason I would have any seizures was because I was not good about taking my medicine when I was a teenager, and the levels were not consistent. As of about a little over a year ago I took myself off the medication. I had not had any seizures for a while and I had felt I had grown out of having seizures. I recently told my neurologist that I had not been taking my medicine for about a year now. We decided we would go ahead and do an EEG scan to see if there were any abnormal activity in my brain. We got the results back and nothing was found on the EEG, he said that can happen sometimes so to be sure I would have to do three more scans and all of them to come back normal to be completely sure. I have my second scan coming up soon and I am crossing my fingers that it turns out normal!
But if not; I still do all the things any normal person would do! :]
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