Hi Marciab,

Welcome to the forum. The long lasting seizure your discribed is known as a status seizure which means the seizure lasted for more than 15 min. this type of seizure can cause brain damage if they are not under control. Just like you I've had petit mal (absence) seizures for over 30 yrs. and at one time I took klonopin to help control my seizures but it wasn't strong enough for me, I do remember that it made me very tired. Lack of sleep, stress, chemical imbalances in the body, bright colors, loud sounds, drug and alcohol abuse along with genetics, or traumtic brain injury are the main things that trigger or start epilepsy. It can also happen from difficulty at birth. I saw many neurologist over the yrs. and I didn't get that much help until I started going to an Epilepsy Center and seeing a Epileptologist (Dr. specializing in epilepsy) You can usually find an Epilepsy Center at a University Hospital. After I saw my Epileptologist life got much better for me. I learned about taking vitamin B12 once a day to help calm the nerves, I had brain surgery to help reduce my seizures and I learned about the ketogenic diet which is a diet high in fat but low in carbs and starch foods that will help reduce or stop a persons seizures. You can also have a DNA test done to find out what meds would help you with your seizures and have the least side effect. If I may ask do you use a cell phone? If you do be very careful because this can cause more chemical and neurology problems which can lead to more severe seizures. I found this out from my Epileptologist because at my job a lot of staff were using cell phones and when I was near them it would cause me to go into a seizure. This is known as being cell phone sensitive and there's nothing that can be done about it. I wish you the best of luck and May God Bless You!

Sue