No, seriously. I was diagnosed with epilepsy in 1998 and despite having tried 5 different medications over the course of more than a decade my seizures have gotten better, then worse, then changed to a different kind, then got better, then worse, etc.
My new neurologist wants to take me off one of the medication I’m on now, and if things don’t improve he wants see if they can chop off (a very small) part of my brain. Maybe not exactly “chop off” as much as “remove,” “subtract,” or “resection” part of it.
The idea is to find exactly where my seizures start, find out how important that part of my brain is and (if it isn’t too important) take it out. Heh, fun.
It now seems the Mrs and I need to have a serious talk.
-Have any Dopers here had (or performed) some kind of brain surgery?
Is it going to be the kind of surgery where you’re awake, and they poke your brain with electrodes (which doesn’t hurt, because your brain doesn’t have nerve endings)? Because if I had to have brain surgery, that’s the sort I would go for.
Which is not to say I’m not totally terrified on your behalf, but hey, silver lining and every thing.
I’ve had several brain surgeries for hydrocephalus(the last one almost 20 years ago now). I have epilepsy, but I didn’t qualify for the surgery because I had seizure foci on both sides of my brain.
If you are a candidate for this newer procedure that offers the possibility of a real cure, consider yourself lucky and investigate the success rate where this work would be performed. Facilities that do greater numbers generally have better success rates.
Of course you will consider the risks more than anything. Much depends on whether you have young children, whether the wife works, health insurance, and life insurance. I tend to be a risk taker myself, but never put others at risk because of my behavior. You might take that risk to gain a better life for the family if you are backed up by insurance.
I think, probably, yes. That is how they find the location that is triggering the seizures, so they can cut out just that small bit, and leave everything else intact. They are looking for the brain area that that produces the “aura” (the feeling or image that the patient gets just before a seizure) when they stimulate it, and, by all accounts, the effects that occur when they stimulate other nearby brain areas can be very interesting (and mostly not unpleasant).
At least, that is how they used to do it. Maybe with all the new brain imaging techniques they now have an easier way.
Anyway, good luck Gedd. I believe many people have had good outcomes from this sort of surgery. The brain is weird, but often remarkably resilient.
I remember a story on some news magazine show (20/20? 60 Minutes? I don’t recall) some years ago - it featured a young woman and musician that had had nearly half her brain removed, to seemingly little effect on her daily life. She had a first surgery, and all was well. Her seizures returned, so she had a second. Her seizures returned again, and she insisted on having another surgery. Her doctors informed her of the risks - they’d never removed that much tissue before, and were concerned that she’d lose a lot of her regular capabilities, never mind the musicianship. (I believe she was a violinist.) Pretty amazing story.
Suddenly I’m reminded of the Far Side cartoon where the surgeon says something like “Hey, watch what happens when I touch right here!”
I did have a test a few years ago (I think it’s called a Wada test) where they “numb” half your brain at a time to see which side controls different things. When they started numbing the left side they told me to count to 10. I said, “1, 2, 3, 4 . . . umm . . . umm . . . umm . . .”
