[NowIsAll]

Hello everyone,
At the age of 9 going on 10 years I was involved in a car accident and had injury to the head.

After this I developed epilepsy.

Around my teenager stage my aunt (a nurse) visited my family and she said to me, you are taking too much medication. Stop them and you will get over your epilepsy.

This I did and I have not had a seizure since.

Fast forward. I am now 45 years old and having some strange experiences. For example, today I took my son (who has a number of illnesses) to have an ultrasound to check his nodes in order to find out if he was no longer in remission.

Incidents that occurred today: (To cut to the chase)

1. Entered pharmacy knew what I wanted, walk about in pharmacy and could not remember what I came to purchase in a matter of minutes. Bought a few items then on reaching home remember all the items I really needed.

2. Met an old friend and in talking to her forgot things that should have been easy to remember and ended up staring at her not speaking (this has been happening a lot lately). This is quite embarrassing and the person I am speaking to usually gets a weird look in their eyes and on their faces .

Night time

Sometimes at night my whole body jumps during sleep.

Lol I cannot remember the other things I wanted to write.

Anyhow, can epilepsy return or is it plain stress?

[Ellie]

It can return, yes. But keep in mind that stress can trigger seizures. I'll write more hopefully this evening, but I have to run to an appointment!

Check on some of the posts here, you'll find that your symptoms are pretty common amongst all of us here (forgetting everything).

*Hugs*

[Porkette]

Hi,
Take my word epilepsy can return. I started having seizures when I was 10 yrs. old I'm now 44 yrs. old and I have both absence (petit mal) and complex partial seizures. I had 2 brain surgeries to help reduce my seizures in 1994 but since I started going through my change my seizures have gotten worse and now I sometimes have tonic clonic seizures (grand mal). Stress and lack of sleep are the 2 main things that can trigger seizures. Another major thing that can cause seizures is hormonal changes. The type of seizure you're describing sounds a lot like my absence seizures. I just stare and have a look on my face like someone daydreaming but sometimes I won't say a word when other times I will talk and if I'm cooking a meal I just do it not remembering anything.
My advice to you is to see a epileptologist (Dr. specializing in epilepsy) at an Epilepsy Center. Also get a calendar and write down each time you have a seizure. Be sure to write down what time the seizure happened, with a discription of the seizure. By doing this your Dr. may be able to see a pattern in your seizures as to what days of the month or what time of the day or night you will have any seizures. I always have seizures 7-10 days before my period and then during ovulation. Check out these websites for more info.
www.epilepsy.com

www.http://neuropat.dote.hu/neurology.htm
When the main page come up click on epilepy.

Also stay away from nutra sweet (aspartame) ex.diet soda it's been proven that nutra sweet causes more electrical activity in the brain which can cause seizures. I found that out the hard way drinking diet soda.
I wish you the best of luck and May God Bless You!

Sue

[Julie]

I've heard this before where people have had no seizures for years and then it just comes back. Have you made an appointment yet? Do as Sue says and keep a diary. Write down everything, no matter how minor it seems.

Good Luck and keep us posted.

[NowIsAll]

Thanks for your responses.

I have not made an appointment with a doctor in relation to this problem as yet, as I am scared.

[jingle]

Awhhhh, NowIsAll, of course you're scared.
Not knowing what's going on can be very frightening.
And being worried about what the doctor might say is understandable too. I think all of us have been through that and are facing it again.

However, the best way, IMHO, to face this is to get it over with... to hear what a qualified dr has to say. Maybe, just maybe, it will be news that you can easily handle.
So go ahead like Sue and Julie said and keep a diary, a log, about what's happening to you to show to a doctor. It will make an appointment so much easier and more complete.
Good luck .... keep talking to us, please. Here's a big hug from the group

[Aeolusblue]

Based upon my own experience, I know that head and neck injury can cause seizures and I believe they can return. My own seizures were caused by a neck injury from a fall from a ladder. After the ruptured disk was repaired, the seizures disappeared.

I also believe seizures can be caused by sinus problems and know someone who's seizures went away after they had a tumor removed from their sinus.

I suggest you have an ENT do CT scans of your sinuses. I would insist that your doctor do MRI's of your head and neck. I will bet you will find the cause.

Besides my seizures, the neck injury was also causing me migraine activity. This causes light headedness, and weird sensations in the head due to muscle spasms. This can also cause spots, flashes, and streaks of colored lights.

Most neurologists believe that seizures only originate in the brain and don't believe stories like mine. However, I know other people who have gotten rid of their seizures by fixing neck and sinus problems.

The "stress" diagnonses is used all too often by doctors who are guessing what is bothering us. When I first sought help for my seizures, I was given the "stress" diagnoses for about three years. Then we found the ruptured disk in my neck. And unless a doctor has eliminated all possible causes and performed EEG testing, he is just guessing, which is normal for modern doctors. I would recommend that anyone with these symptoms to see a neuroligst who will hopefully do proper testing. Just remember though that they will probably not look for causes unless you insist.

Good Luck...

[beckyboo]

Aolusblue,

I can't fully agree with what you had to say. I had brain surgery twice to have scar tissue removed from the left temperal lobe. The first one was back in 1986 and the second one was in 1998. They both went well. After the first surgery, I went from barely being able to talk due to speech and memory loss to being able to talk like a normal person. The seizures came back due to technology not being good enough to be able to remove all of the scar tissue so that's why I had the second brain surgery.

When I started seeing a new epileptologist due to some new problems, I went to see an ENT also. The first ENT talked about doing surgery to straighten out the bone in the middle of the nose. I also have some polyps that need to be removed. After talking to someone who had the surgery done, I turned it down because I have sleep apnea and wouldn't be able to use my CPAP machine for 3 days. When I went to see a new ENT, I brought this subject of to him and he told me that I'd be better off not to have the surgery because it could cause me to have problems with more seizures. As you can see, there are two sides to the story. Just because things went well for you doesn't mean that everyone should be doing the same thing.

[NowIsAll]

I am still following the thread. Thanks to everyone for your responses.

I am still awaiting my complete blood count results etc. in order to make a choice or even change doctor.

[Aeolusblue]

Well, I don't think I was implying that there were not other causes of seizures, such as brain damage, etc. However, it is interesting that your ENT doctors found polyps in your sinuses.

It is complicated, for despite what the cause of the seizures might be, brain surgery sometimes cures them. So your I don't think your experiences have really proved anything regarding the sinus problem. For instance, consider this: removing the polyps from your sinuses might have cured your seizures and you might not have had to have brain surgery.

Regarding sinus surgery, you can have the polyps removed without straightening out the septum--the cartelage down the center of the nasal passages. Straightening that out is the worst part of sinus surgery and should be avoided if possible.

Wayne