I was diagnosed with anxiety and PTSD when I was 13 or 14 years old. I’ve never suspected that I had claustrophobia. I’ve never been uncomfortable playing in a closet or even a box, standing in a crowded elevator or airplane. After having two seizures a couple of years ago, I was given an MRI. I was post-ictal at the time, and I have no memory of that first MRI. So when my new neurologist wanted me to do a … Read the rest

I’ve written quite a bit about my own seizure history and epilepsy diagnosis. Something that sometimes surprises people, is my dad also has epilepsy. Of course, everyone then wants to ask if it’s genetic and I really don’t know.

My dad’s seizure history is quite different from my own. In a nutshell, I had seizures from birth through my first year or so of life. I had a difficult birth and had a subarachnoid hemorrhage as a result of birth … Read the rest

I had my annual epilepsy appointment yesterday. I had two seizures back in 2014, and I have been on Keppra ever since. You can read about my first epileptic seizure and my second epileptic seizure if you’d like.

I’ve been seizure free about 3.5 years now. I’ve had people ask me when I can go off of seizure medications, or whether I have epilepsy anymore at all. One of the more frustrating things about having an epilepsy diagnosis is how … Read the rest

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional of any kind. This is just my personal experience as a person with epilepsy.

I had two seizures seemingly “out of the blue” back in 2014, when I was 23. The seizures were just 2 days apart, and were enough to qualify for me for an epilepsy diagnosis. I don’t believe that I had fully recovered my memory and cognition between the two seizures. Once hospitalized after the second seizure I continued to … Read the rest

I’ve blogged about my own experience with epilepsy in the past. I’ve also made brief mention to the fact that my father had seizures for about 8 years while I was about 10-18 years old. My seizures started at age 23, so our experiences didn’t overlap.

However, a few weeks ago he had another seizure, after being seizure free for about 10 years and off of medication for about 8 years. At least, he is confident that he had a … Read the rest

When I talk about how I’ve had seizures, or how I take seizure medication, I freely say that I have epilepsy. I have family members who have also had multiple seizures with an unknown cause, who avoid the word epilepsy. Some of them almost wince when they hear me say it. I think many feel that epilepsy sounds “worse” or more sad, difficult, etc than simply “having a couple seizures”. In reality, both are true for me. I had a … Read the rest

I went in this week for my yearly well visit with my primary care doctor. I’ve been on Keppra (an anti-epileptic drug) since November of 2014. I was in for my yearly well visit in March of 2016. Yet it was just at this visit this past week that my doctor told me that she likes to do a yearly blood test on patients who are on anti-consultants. They can be hard on the liver or kidneys.

I don’t mind … Read the rest

Last week I had my annual neurologist appointment. I have well controlled epilepsy so I have only have to go once a year. It’s been almost 2.5 years since my last seizure. When I first had seizures, the hospital I went to afterwards told me that alcohol is known to lower the seizure threshold. As a result, they told me I should avoid alcohol. To date, I haven’t drank since I was diagnosed with epilepsy, roughly 2.5 years.

My dad … Read the rest