I’m not cheesed off enough to post this in the Pit, but I’m annoyed & feel like whining.
I have epilepsy. I’ve been seizure-free for about three years now. Well, I was, until this morning.
I was sitting here at the computer, and I was just getting ready to update my profile to include a link to the thread about the Dopefest at my house. Next thing I know, my husband is standing over me, and I’m laying on the floor. I’m confused and my head hurts a lot. I feel like I’m going to throw up. “What happened?” I ask. “You had a seizure,” he said. “Oh, dammit!” I said. He helped me to the couch & got me some ibuprofen. That’s generally all the treatment that’s necessary, for me anyway.
I have a mild headache right now, and my muscles are sore. And I bit the inside of my lip. I hate that. My lower lip is a little puffy, too.
The thing about this that pisses me off is that I went for sooooo loooooong without having one. Grrrrrrr! And it’s “that time of the month,” so I know exactly why it happened.
Anyone else out there got chronic conditions that just annoy the crap out of you when they flare up after long silences? I know a few of you have mentioned things, but my memory isn’t great even when I’m fine. Share with me! Let’s talk like a bunch of old people discussing their medical problems!
Just a question out of curiosity Persephone, I don’t know much about epilepsy.
Can a seizure be brought on by stress? For example, could the flooded basement have played a roll (on top of the stress of buying a house and the discomfort of sloughing uterine material)?
I’ve got epilepsy as well, and I must say that it tends to flare up at the most obnoxious times. I’d have to say that my favorite seizure was the one I had in my Junior year English class. You see, the teacher was an old, er, biddy that was generally accepted to be the spawn of the devil. That one was doubly good because I still don’t remember anything about the actual seizure(It really is a freaky experience). I just woke up in my mom’s car with the usual major headache. Of course, the part that made it especially good was that it apparently really terrified the demonic teacher who I suppose I’ll let remain nameless. ah well, enough babbling, anyway, just wanted you to know that I know what you’re talking about, Persephone. Oh, one last thing, all of my seizures but one have happened at school, so apparently that’s the part of my brain that triggers them. the only other one happpened while I was playing solitaire on the computer…
My son has a seizure condition as well (altho not epilepsy). He has been seizure free for four weeks now and Im hoping so much that he doesn’t have anymore. Hopefully his meds are working. I’m so sorry this happened to you, hope you are doing okay and hope it doesnt happen again any time soon.
I have gallstones. Not quite in the same league as epileptic seizures, but still a bastardy painful annoying irritation that I wish wasn’t so unaffordable to remove.
Being a poor person with no insurance, I have to suffer for a while yet.
sigh
Still. I’ve not had an attack in about 18 months. That’s a good sign, though I guess I’m due.
Back when I was in college I had a pretty nasty flare up of some kind of depression/anxiety thing. For what seemed like ages, but was in reality only a couple of months, I couldn’t sleep, would have nights filled with the shakes, and was convinced I was going to spend the rest of my life in a virtual hell (yes, btw, I saw my doctor about it and was medicated for a while).
Fast forward past all that icky stuff. I’m fine now, dealing with periodic bouts of depression like everyone else in my family but generally ok. Except, every now and then (not for over a year now), I will have one of Those Nights. It’s probably stress triggered, but it pisses me off so bad. Used to make me feel like I was losing ground, but I eventually realized that one night now and then is way better than every other night for months on end, plus I’ve learned how to make myself relax when I feel it coming on.
My dad, who’d be thrilled to hear that I’m discussing his medical issues on line, has kidney stones. He hasn’t had an attack in a long time, but the first time they struck he looked so bad my mom thought he was having a heart attack. Not something he looks forward to repeating; last time I checked he was consuming cranberry juice by the gallon to ward them off!
percypercy: I had my first grand-mal seizure my junior year of high school, not in English class, but a related class–debate! No, I wasn’t debating at the time, just researching. My teacher was really nice, though, and the guy that sat behind me just so happened to have a sister with epilepsy, so he knew exactly what to do. They did take me to the hospital, because I’d never had a grand-mal seizure before, but after talking to me & my parents, my neurologist came to the conclusion that I’d been having petite-mal seizures for several years. Just little episodes where I’d space out for a few seconds. No one thought anything about it, really. People just thought I was a little drifty.
Rosebud: I’m dealing with depression too. I’m taking Celexa, and I must say, it’s kicking a**. My depression was not huge. I was just kinda bummed most of the time, or so I thought. I never realized the depth of my depression, and just how long I’d had it, until I started taking drugs, and the drugs worked. I feel better now than I have in probably six or seven years. My work output has increased, and I’m motivated to do things again. It’s like a freaking miracle.
GuanoLad: Ouch. I’ve never heard anything good about gallstones. A friend of mine had them several years ago, and I remember her pain. She was miserable. Especially because she was diagnosed with gallstones about a week after she’d given birth to her first child. Ow, ow, ow.
Sue: How old is your son? Is he young enough to maybe grow out of the seizure condition? My doctors thought I might, even though I was 16 when I was diagnosed. Didn’t happen, because my seizures are related to PMS. So, I’ll probably stop having them, oh, after menopause. Yay.
Got two here. Depression, which flares up occassionally, especially right around my period. Luckily, I’m on Paxil to control it.
Second one is lupus. That one comes and goes…I’m in remission now. Hope it doesn’t come back, as I don’t feel like being exhausted 24/7 and having pain in every bone in my body for a while.
Persephone, that sucks. Do you drive? Will this mean that you can’t for an X amount of time? And, yeah, the depression meds these days do kick ass!
My daughter had been siezure-free since mid-May, until this past week. One a day, since then.
Guano, you TOTALLY have my sympathy. Yeah, after 18 months you’re due. When you can afford it, have it out laproscopically. Itty-bitty scars, faster recovery, less pain.
TC, I can’t kick your ass for health problems you created. One of mine is likely to kill me if I don’t change it SOON.
Seizures – Yikes! I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that this is the last seizure for a loooong time, Persephone.
I haven’t had an asthma attack in quite a while, but the possibility is always lurking, especially since I seem gradually to be becoming allergic to the whole world. I also have mild attention deficit. I’ve been rolling along without drugs for a while, but now that my workload has tripled, I think I might need them again
Anxiety. From about 17 to about 27 or 28, I had a problem where, after the cause of the stress was relieved, (final exams over, etc.) I would throw up for about 12 hours with terrible stomach cramps. Then it would take about another 24 to 36 hours before I recovered enough to feel good. Better now, and I’m on meds for it. Still have a problem occasionally, tho.
My knees are shot, it’s called bilateral patellar dislocation which simply means that my kneecaps don’t stay where thay are supposed to. There is a lot of damage to the cartilage due to this. Imagine a long knife being rammed under your kneecap and you’ll get an idea of how it feels.
One of these days I will have them replaced, isn’t medical science wonderful?
They always hurt but some days are much worse than others. I can only blame myself as I refuse to slow down when I should and probably have built up an abnormal tolerance for pain. I coach Special Olympics Track and Field (of all things) and after an evening of running at the track I am wrecked for days.
I feel ya, I really do. I’ve had epilepsy all my life. It was bad as a child, and it went away. It struck me 10 years later at a very stressful time. It was the same thing, I’d been seizure free for SO long and I let myself down bad by letting things in my life get to me enough to reduce me to having a seizure.
I was at work in a mall, at christmas time! what a mess. I woke up on a stretcher 45 minutes later, and commenced to fighting with the EMTs(love that post-ichtal wake-up).
Then I sat in an ER for a few hours till they decided it was time for me to go. The next day was rough, the commencing hypersensitivity, headaches(and I mean MEAN ones), I bruised my shoulder taking out a CD rack in the fall.
I’ve now been seizure-free for over 3 years again, and I’ve recently been cleared to have my license for the first time in my life!(I’m 24)
I’m diabetic. It’s a constant pain in my ass. Pricking my fingers for drops of blood, injections, hypo and hyperglycemia, and all the diet restrictions. Possible vision and sensation loss and kidney failure. And it causes complications to ALL illness’s, icluding colds. Damn family genes.
I fell off a bus about six years ago. I had just gotten off of work and was scrambling to catch my express bus home, so I guess I was distracted by the time. My ankle jammed neatly between the curb and the edge of the bus’s step. I heard a loud crack! and I fell forward. I saw stars, and little blue birdies danced around my head.
I hobbled over to the bus stop bench and sat there for about five minutes, wondering how the hell I was going to limp over to the bus terminal and then, once home, to my house from the bus stop. I did lurch over to the terminal (fortunately, I made it in time for my bus) and somehow I got home. The ankle was bruised a neat dark purple all over. I soaked it for about three hours in cool water, stayed home from work for a week, and recuperated. It felt much better within three days, so I didn’t see a doctor until much much later. Mistake.
Every now and then, it gets re-aggravated. Whenever I walk on uneven ground I really have to monitor where I’m walking. I did get a little physical therapy for it eventually, but it’s really just a matter of strengthening up the joint. But there are days when the whole leg just aches- my ankle, and my knees and hip. And it makes a cool clicking noise.
Damn recurring dizzy spells that wipe me out at least once a month for 6 hours to 3 days. Doctors can’t find out what is causing them and the medications that I take do nothing but make me sleepy. I’ve been having them for 22 years. Although they only have been really bad for the last 19. They’ve almost cost me my job several times.
I had a bad wreck a few years ago. I sprained my neck. Was too dizzy to do anything that first week, then went and got help. 4 years later, it doesn’t hurt all the time. But every once in awhile, I’ll pop my neck for some odd reason, and ohmygodthepainjustrushesbackin. It’s like getting kicked in the neck for no reason, at random times. Sucks.
Oh yeah. Pain Pills. I love them. They had to up my dosage just about every time I needed more. I can eat asprin, and all I’ll get is an ulcer and liver problems, probably. Fun.
