..as Steve Martin said in "The Jerk!" ha ha!
Please tell me you remember that line from the movie!
But I mean that in a totally different way, trust me.
Wow. This Elavil has totally kicked my hiney. But I guess I needed the sleep. My last CP was August 23rd. Actually, 6 days without one of those isn't that great but I've been feeling better, but I don't like feeling so drugged and stupid. Actually, I've felt clear-headed enough to write, which is the point of my post. I am pretty psyched that I have been able to write something that could perhaps benefit people who suffer from E. and are frustrated with the myths and stigmas surrounding E. and seizure disorders.
Here's the backstory...
About a month or so ago, the front page story in my local paper featured how a Pizza Hut employee "Saved" a man's life by cramming a spoon down his throat while he was seizing. I brought that article to the attention to the folx at the EFA E-Communities website. Normally, I go to that site to try to "steal" people looking for people who have questions who have recently been prescribed Topamax and I try, via PM, to come here. Oh, I'm so sneaky!
Anyway, what has transpired in the weeks since my outrage over this front page article is that my friend, who is also my neighbor who works for the Five County Mental Health Authority, managed to contact the big kahuna over at the Epilepsy Foundation and he took a 1/2 hour out of his life to tell what you really SHOULD do in the event you witness someone having a seizure. Like NOT stick anything down the seizing person's throat. We CANNOT swallow our tongues, thankyouverymuch.
In additon, I wrote an article, which I submitted through the Five County Mental Health Authority, where my friend and good neighbor is employed. She told me she sent my article along to to six other newspapers. As far as she knows, they have all printed my article.
I only know that the local paper printed my article this past Sunday, and I found it humorous that not only did they spell my name wrong , but they gave me a fancy title to boot! I would LOVE a paycheck from the Five County Mental Health Authority, as I haven't been able to work since my diagnosis.
Anyway, I thought maybe some of you would like to read my article. It felt good to write and be published again...well, I've written since my diagnosis but it hasn't been on a personal level.
It's the first time I've written about my epilepsy. Rick has made copies for me to send to his dad, mom and my sister so she can read it to my mom, if she remembers that I have epi.
If you're interested, pour some tea...curl up w/your kitty or doggie and prepare yourself for a four-column bore-fest! It's all about me, me me....but I wrote it with my demographic in mind. Just a regular joe who suddenly, out of nowhere, had her life changed by epilepsy. And the most important message is to let people know what the RIGHT thing to do if they see someone having a seizure.
Seizures can strike anyone at any age local resident learns
BY SHELIA MARSHALL
FIVE COUNTY MENTAL HEALTH AUTHORITY
My dad always said I was one in a million. Actually, Im one in nearly three million.
Thats how many Americans are affected by epilepsy and seizures. Approximately 200,000 new cases of seizure disorders and epilepsy are diagnosed each year. The year 2005 was my year.
My husband and I moved to Henderson in the spring of 2004 after we sold our home in Raleigh. I didnt think things could get any better. I landed a job as a copywriter that enabled me to work parttime from our home on Kerr Lake. I was only required to drive into the big city two or three times a month for meetings. Other than the usual pressures of meeting deadlines any writer experiences, I considered my life idyllic. Inexplicably, in the spring of 2005, insomnia crept into my happy little world. I was lucky if I slept four hours a night.
I had ridden the insomnia train once before, during the 17 months it took for our Raleigh home to sell while I was working at my pressurecooker of a job. It was during this stressful period, when all I could think about was getting out of dodge (Raleigh) and moving into the home we had purchased on Kerr Lake, that I started to occasionally experience odd sensations in my abdomen that would rise up to my throat, and then turn to nausea. On more than one occasion, I had to pull over to the side of the road and park until the feeling subsided. Other times, my left thumb and hand would misbehave and start to jerk back and forth and I could not control the movements. I didnt realize it, but I now know that I was having simple partial seizures.
The day I became one in three million in late 2005, I was seated in an exam room at the Henderson Family Medicine Clinic. The reason for my visit I just felt lousy. My new bout with insomnia had been going on for about five months, I was nauseous and experiencing odd tingling sensations in my left hand and toes, and my head ached constantly. And then there was that jerking movement that would occur occasionally. I didnt know what to think except, perhaps, that I had inherited my moms diabetes.
She was diagnosed at 56 and I was 42 years old so it was feasible ? The morning of my appointment, a nurse drew a vial of blood and thankfully my blood sugar level was 79. Phew! Dodged that bullet! While my doctor was writing out a prescription for a drug that would help alleviate my nausea, my left arm started to really jerk, and then it was lights out for me.
I had a secondarily generalized tonic-clonic seizure, what is commonly referred to as a grand mal seizure.
Generally when you think of a seizure, this is what you imagine. During a tonic-clonic seizure, the person will lose all consciousness and motor control. The person will fall to the floor if standing or collapse if sitting upright. He or she will stiffen, then begin to convulse. When they awake, they will not remember the event. The convulsions should last less than two minutes, but it may take several hours for the person to regain full awareness.
Indeed, it was a few hours before I came to my senses in Maria Parhams Emergency Department. I asked my husband what had happened and when he told me about the grand mal seizure, I was very confused. Theres nothing grand about malls!
I hate shopping, I thought.
Thats how little I knew about seizures. But after all of the testing was done and an EEG (electroencephalogram) report revealed that I had a predisposition to seizures...
my education about seizures and Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE) soon began.
What is a seizure?
The general public is still widely confused about many aspects of seizures and epilepsy. A seizure is a brief disturbance in the normal electrical functions of the brain. But, not everything that looks like a seizure is a seizure. And not every seizure is an epileptic seizure. Fainting, collapsing and confusion can also result from other disorders or even from emotional stress. Withdrawal from alcohol or addictive drugs can also cause seizures. Technically, you dont have epilepsy if youve only had one seizure. But, if youve had a seizure, you should see a neurologist to determine the cause.
Epilepsy can be inherited, or may be caused by a stroke, head trauma, brain tumor, birth defect, an infection of the brain, Alzheimers, and in almost 70 percent of the cases, such as mine, no cause can be found.
What does it feel like?
It varies, depending upon which type of seizure Im having. Luckily, the anti-epileptic drugs I take three times a day have kept the tonic-clonic, or grand mal, seizures at bay. When I had that one big seizure in 2005, I felt nothing. I have no memory of the EMTs tending to me or what transpired in the hours I spent at Maria Parham Medical Center.
Partial seizures are the most common type of seizure experienced by people with epilepsy, and those are what my epileptologist (a neurologist who specializes in epilepsy treatment) and I are trying to get under control through medication. (So far, no luck in that department, but were working on it!) Treating partial seizures is all trial and error, and finding the right combination of medications can take some time.
The simple partial seizures do not interfere with my life; they are more of a nuisance.
I could be walking my dog and have a seizure and barely miss a beat. It starts with a funny feeling in my stomach that progresses upward and turns to slight nausea.
Sometimes Ill suddenly smell something foul or get a metallic taste in my mouth. Simple partial seizures are often referred to as auras, but in reality it is a small seizure.
They do not affect consciousness.
A complex partial seizure, however, does alter consciousness in that it includes some degree of confusion. It spreads to more areas of the brain.
According to my husband, I act fairly normal. I continue to stand, walk and sometimes even talk, although my words are slurred and I dont make sense. He says I look like Im in a trance and Im totally unresponsive to him. I tug at my clothing, and often tears roll down my cheeks, even though Im not visibly upset.
When its over, I have no memory of what has occurred. Ill have a killer headache and I will normally sleep it off for two to four hours. My doctor has instructed me that I am to refrain from driving until I have gone six months without having a complex partial seizure. Ill see you on the road in February, folks!
Maybe
What to do if someone is having a seizure
First aid for epilepsy is basically very simple, and is designed to protect the safety of the person until the seizure stops naturally by itself. If you see someone having a seizure, stay calm and follow these rules: Dont hold the person down or try to stop his movements.
Time the seizure with your watch. Clear the area around the person of anything hard or sharp. Loosen ties or anything around the neck that may make breathing difficult.
Put something flat and soft, like a folded jacket, under the head.
Turn him or her gently onto one side. This will help keep the airway clear.
Do not try to force the mouth open with any hard implement or with fingers. A person having a seizure cannot swallow his tongue. Efforts to hold the tongue down can injure teeth or jaw.
Dont attempt artificial respiration except in the unlikely event that a person does not start breathing again after the seizure has stopped.
Stay with the person until the seizure ends naturally.
Be friendly and reassuring as consciousness returns. Offer to call a taxi, friend or relative to help the person get home if he seems confused or unable to get home by himself.
If the seizure lasts longer than five minutes or another starts soon after the first, call an ambulance.
For more information about seizures and epilepsy, contact the Epilepsy Foundation of North Carolina Inc. at 1-800451-0694 or (919) 876-7788 or you may contact the Epilepsy Answer Place at 1-800-EFA1000. For more information, contact the Five County Mental Health Helpline at 1-877-619-3761. Listen to the Doctor Is In radio program with Dr. Mooney and the National Epilepsy Foundation Director, at www.fivecountymha.org.If you would like to request a topic for the Doctor Is In radio show, contact Gina DeMent at gdement@org
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© Copyright 2007-The Daily Dispatch
Please tell me you remember that line from the movie!
But I mean that in a totally different way, trust me.
Wow. This Elavil has totally kicked my hiney. But I guess I needed the sleep. My last CP was August 23rd. Actually, 6 days without one of those isn't that great but I've been feeling better, but I don't like feeling so drugged and stupid. Actually, I've felt clear-headed enough to write, which is the point of my post. I am pretty psyched that I have been able to write something that could perhaps benefit people who suffer from E. and are frustrated with the myths and stigmas surrounding E. and seizure disorders.
Here's the backstory...
About a month or so ago, the front page story in my local paper featured how a Pizza Hut employee "Saved" a man's life by cramming a spoon down his throat while he was seizing. I brought that article to the attention to the folx at the EFA E-Communities website. Normally, I go to that site to try to "steal" people looking for people who have questions who have recently been prescribed Topamax and I try, via PM, to come here. Oh, I'm so sneaky!
Anyway, what has transpired in the weeks since my outrage over this front page article is that my friend, who is also my neighbor who works for the Five County Mental Health Authority, managed to contact the big kahuna over at the Epilepsy Foundation and he took a 1/2 hour out of his life to tell what you really SHOULD do in the event you witness someone having a seizure. Like NOT stick anything down the seizing person's throat. We CANNOT swallow our tongues, thankyouverymuch.
In additon, I wrote an article, which I submitted through the Five County Mental Health Authority, where my friend and good neighbor is employed. She told me she sent my article along to to six other newspapers. As far as she knows, they have all printed my article.
I only know that the local paper printed my article this past Sunday, and I found it humorous that not only did they spell my name wrong , but they gave me a fancy title to boot! I would LOVE a paycheck from the Five County Mental Health Authority, as I haven't been able to work since my diagnosis.
Anyway, I thought maybe some of you would like to read my article. It felt good to write and be published again...well, I've written since my diagnosis but it hasn't been on a personal level.
It's the first time I've written about my epilepsy. Rick has made copies for me to send to his dad, mom and my sister so she can read it to my mom, if she remembers that I have epi.
If you're interested, pour some tea...curl up w/your kitty or doggie and prepare yourself for a four-column bore-fest! It's all about me, me me....but I wrote it with my demographic in mind. Just a regular joe who suddenly, out of nowhere, had her life changed by epilepsy. And the most important message is to let people know what the RIGHT thing to do if they see someone having a seizure.
Seizures can strike anyone at any age local resident learns
BY SHELIA MARSHALL
FIVE COUNTY MENTAL HEALTH AUTHORITY
My dad always said I was one in a million. Actually, Im one in nearly three million.
Thats how many Americans are affected by epilepsy and seizures. Approximately 200,000 new cases of seizure disorders and epilepsy are diagnosed each year. The year 2005 was my year.
My husband and I moved to Henderson in the spring of 2004 after we sold our home in Raleigh. I didnt think things could get any better. I landed a job as a copywriter that enabled me to work parttime from our home on Kerr Lake. I was only required to drive into the big city two or three times a month for meetings. Other than the usual pressures of meeting deadlines any writer experiences, I considered my life idyllic. Inexplicably, in the spring of 2005, insomnia crept into my happy little world. I was lucky if I slept four hours a night.
I had ridden the insomnia train once before, during the 17 months it took for our Raleigh home to sell while I was working at my pressurecooker of a job. It was during this stressful period, when all I could think about was getting out of dodge (Raleigh) and moving into the home we had purchased on Kerr Lake, that I started to occasionally experience odd sensations in my abdomen that would rise up to my throat, and then turn to nausea. On more than one occasion, I had to pull over to the side of the road and park until the feeling subsided. Other times, my left thumb and hand would misbehave and start to jerk back and forth and I could not control the movements. I didnt realize it, but I now know that I was having simple partial seizures.
The day I became one in three million in late 2005, I was seated in an exam room at the Henderson Family Medicine Clinic. The reason for my visit I just felt lousy. My new bout with insomnia had been going on for about five months, I was nauseous and experiencing odd tingling sensations in my left hand and toes, and my head ached constantly. And then there was that jerking movement that would occur occasionally. I didnt know what to think except, perhaps, that I had inherited my moms diabetes.
She was diagnosed at 56 and I was 42 years old so it was feasible ? The morning of my appointment, a nurse drew a vial of blood and thankfully my blood sugar level was 79. Phew! Dodged that bullet! While my doctor was writing out a prescription for a drug that would help alleviate my nausea, my left arm started to really jerk, and then it was lights out for me.
I had a secondarily generalized tonic-clonic seizure, what is commonly referred to as a grand mal seizure.
Generally when you think of a seizure, this is what you imagine. During a tonic-clonic seizure, the person will lose all consciousness and motor control. The person will fall to the floor if standing or collapse if sitting upright. He or she will stiffen, then begin to convulse. When they awake, they will not remember the event. The convulsions should last less than two minutes, but it may take several hours for the person to regain full awareness.
Indeed, it was a few hours before I came to my senses in Maria Parhams Emergency Department. I asked my husband what had happened and when he told me about the grand mal seizure, I was very confused. Theres nothing grand about malls!
I hate shopping, I thought.
Thats how little I knew about seizures. But after all of the testing was done and an EEG (electroencephalogram) report revealed that I had a predisposition to seizures...
my education about seizures and Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE) soon began.
What is a seizure?
The general public is still widely confused about many aspects of seizures and epilepsy. A seizure is a brief disturbance in the normal electrical functions of the brain. But, not everything that looks like a seizure is a seizure. And not every seizure is an epileptic seizure. Fainting, collapsing and confusion can also result from other disorders or even from emotional stress. Withdrawal from alcohol or addictive drugs can also cause seizures. Technically, you dont have epilepsy if youve only had one seizure. But, if youve had a seizure, you should see a neurologist to determine the cause.
Epilepsy can be inherited, or may be caused by a stroke, head trauma, brain tumor, birth defect, an infection of the brain, Alzheimers, and in almost 70 percent of the cases, such as mine, no cause can be found.
What does it feel like?
It varies, depending upon which type of seizure Im having. Luckily, the anti-epileptic drugs I take three times a day have kept the tonic-clonic, or grand mal, seizures at bay. When I had that one big seizure in 2005, I felt nothing. I have no memory of the EMTs tending to me or what transpired in the hours I spent at Maria Parham Medical Center.
Partial seizures are the most common type of seizure experienced by people with epilepsy, and those are what my epileptologist (a neurologist who specializes in epilepsy treatment) and I are trying to get under control through medication. (So far, no luck in that department, but were working on it!) Treating partial seizures is all trial and error, and finding the right combination of medications can take some time.
The simple partial seizures do not interfere with my life; they are more of a nuisance.
I could be walking my dog and have a seizure and barely miss a beat. It starts with a funny feeling in my stomach that progresses upward and turns to slight nausea.
Sometimes Ill suddenly smell something foul or get a metallic taste in my mouth. Simple partial seizures are often referred to as auras, but in reality it is a small seizure.
They do not affect consciousness.
A complex partial seizure, however, does alter consciousness in that it includes some degree of confusion. It spreads to more areas of the brain.
According to my husband, I act fairly normal. I continue to stand, walk and sometimes even talk, although my words are slurred and I dont make sense. He says I look like Im in a trance and Im totally unresponsive to him. I tug at my clothing, and often tears roll down my cheeks, even though Im not visibly upset.
When its over, I have no memory of what has occurred. Ill have a killer headache and I will normally sleep it off for two to four hours. My doctor has instructed me that I am to refrain from driving until I have gone six months without having a complex partial seizure. Ill see you on the road in February, folks!
Maybe
What to do if someone is having a seizure
First aid for epilepsy is basically very simple, and is designed to protect the safety of the person until the seizure stops naturally by itself. If you see someone having a seizure, stay calm and follow these rules: Dont hold the person down or try to stop his movements.
Time the seizure with your watch. Clear the area around the person of anything hard or sharp. Loosen ties or anything around the neck that may make breathing difficult.
Put something flat and soft, like a folded jacket, under the head.
Turn him or her gently onto one side. This will help keep the airway clear.
Do not try to force the mouth open with any hard implement or with fingers. A person having a seizure cannot swallow his tongue. Efforts to hold the tongue down can injure teeth or jaw.
Dont attempt artificial respiration except in the unlikely event that a person does not start breathing again after the seizure has stopped.
Stay with the person until the seizure ends naturally.
Be friendly and reassuring as consciousness returns. Offer to call a taxi, friend or relative to help the person get home if he seems confused or unable to get home by himself.
If the seizure lasts longer than five minutes or another starts soon after the first, call an ambulance.
For more information about seizures and epilepsy, contact the Epilepsy Foundation of North Carolina Inc. at 1-800451-0694 or (919) 876-7788 or you may contact the Epilepsy Answer Place at 1-800-EFA1000. For more information, contact the Five County Mental Health Helpline at 1-877-619-3761. Listen to the Doctor Is In radio program with Dr. Mooney and the National Epilepsy Foundation Director, at www.fivecountymha.org.If you would like to request a topic for the Doctor Is In radio show, contact Gina DeMent at gdement@org
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