Hello everyone.
When I was 23 years old and in College having lunch I had this very memorable attack. Both my arms & my whole face went numb. I remember not being able to taste the chicken I was eating. I thought I had a stroke.
I went to emerg who then took ct scans. They found a left temporal sub-arachnoid cyst. They told me I was born with it. anyway, after that first sesure episode I started having horrible episodes every day. I would get this strange feeling before it started. I cannot even explain what I went through with each episode. IT was visual, inability to focus, sort of dream like.
I was so exausted after each episode. I was never quite the same after this started. I seen a nuro surgeon. He did further scans and decided to operate. I had a shunt put in the first time. Before surgery I was put on both 400 mg/day dilantin & 800mg/dy tegretol. I still had sensory seisures once a week or so. The shunt did not work out. It kept blocking up with dried cerebral spinal fluid. They tried 3 more procedures with different sorts of shunts. One of them had a plunger just below the skin at my stomach area. When the shunt got blocked, Id push on this plunger under the skin, sending air up the tube to hopefully clear the tube. All it ever did for me was give me headaches. Finally, they broke the tissue around the cyst down which caused it to scar. The spinal fluid would not penetrate the scarred tissue & therefore not fill the cyst up. So far it has worked. It has been 15 years since that 4th surgery. The damage to my temporal lobe has been done. IT got pressed inward from the lifetime of pressure against it. I still have sensory seisures. I also have memory issues, I have to write stuff down, deep depression, anxiety, inability to focus properly, Inability to remember directions, even though Ive driven there 30 times. Inability to recall time frames. If someone asked me when I was last at the doctor & it was just 2 weeks ago, I would not know if it was 2 weeks or 2 months ago. I have trouble with faces & names. I also have trouble fully following a conversation. I have also been left with a chronic light headedness. It never goes away. Sometimes it gets worse but never leaves. Life sucks!

Rick