I had my first seizure around the end of August. After that I had one
about every 4-6 weeks. These were grand mal and always at night while I
was in bed asleep. Starting at the end of March, I began also having
episodes during the day of numbness on my right side - usually just my
right hand and arm, and sometimes my hand shakes. Sometimes my whole
right side goes numb and I fall, but do not lose consciousness or have a
convulsion. About the same time as the numbness episodes started, I
began having the nighttime seizures much more frequently - it quickly
went to multiple seizures every night (in spite of the medicine I was
started on - Zonegran). When the local doc didn't seem concerned, Mom
and Dad took me to Children's Hospital in Columbus. They did a regular
EEG, followed by an overnight EEG with video monitoring - they got 2 good
ones on camera, and made the diagnosis of epilepsy. Followed the next
day with a brain MRI, which showed an "abnormal structure" on the left
side of the brain, which is evidently the cause of the seizures. The doc
says it is NOT an aneurysm or tumor, but she didn't know yet WHAT it is.
They also did a spinal tap, to rule out infection "and other things"
(didn't specify what they might be). I was started on Depakote, but
continued to have multiple seizures - went to 6 in one night a week after
discharge. Doc sent me to local ER, instructed the ER doc (by phone) to
start Dilantin (300 mg at bedtime each night) on top of the Depakote (500
mg morning and night). The nighttime seizures stopped, but I continue to
have the numbness - I fell twice at school yesterday (all the teachers
and office staff have been informed so that they know how to react
properly). So - after all that intro, my question is - if the med is
controlling the grand mal seizures, why am I still having the others?
Thanks for any advice you can offer.
Tom
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