He was upstairs taking a nap and started having a seizure and fell out of bed. There’s a large mark on the side of his face from when he hit the ground. It lasted for at least a minute and even after it was over it was awhile before he was responsive to my questions. I called 911 and by the time they got there he was protesting and not wanting to go to the hospital but I talked him into it. He seems mostly ok now, but they’re keeping him for observation and an MRI in the morning. Apparently this is the third seizure in his life. He has hydrocephalus according to a cat scan. I just looked that term up now that I’m back at his house. Bad idea. I am very scared and worried right now.
Wow, all I’ll say is that I know that must be very scary and I hope he’s OK. Don’t make yourself crazy looking things up, just try to get some sleep so you can deal better with things in the morning. Hang in there.
He is lucky to have you. It sounds like you were competent at the time and knew the right things to do. I can understand that it is scary for you know, but you did the right thing then when your bravery was most important. Let the docs take care of him while they have him. You take care of you.
Let me know how this turns out.
SSG Schwartz
{{{Purplkid_Caterer}}}
Thank you. I’m trying to mellow out enough to head off to bed. I’ll post more tomorrow when I can.
Wow. That must have been scary for you.
Sending supporting thoughts your way.
Well I’ve got both hyrdrocephalus and epilepsy so if you need me to answer any questions, just shoot. I can understand your boyfriend’s reluctance to go the hospital(after a while, it gets to be really old, and expensive), but you definitely did the right thing! If I saw someone having a seizure, I’d call 911.
My hydrocephalus shows up on CAT scan, whether it’s controlled or not. When it’s controlled, I have what they call slit ventricles.(even smaller than normal). When it’s not, I could have usually told you before(that is a pain like no other), but my ventricles are wide open, so the CAT scan is also a diagnosis tool.
-Lil
Thanks. We’re back home now. They put him back on dylantin and want him to follow up in a week with his family doctor and two weeks with the neurologist. He’s stil a little bit out of it today, but we think it’s because they gave him WAY too much dylantin yesterday. One possibly good thing may have come of it, though, they wouldn’t let him smoke in the hospital and gave him a nicotine patch. With any luck, he’ll be able to quit.
percypercy, does the hydrocephalus affect your vision?
Purplkid_Caterer, you did a great job in response to your boyfriend’s seizure. He might be a little out of it for the rest of the day, even into tomorrow, but he should normalize soon. I have a seizure disorder, but not hydrocephalus as well like your boyfriend and percypercy. You’re welcome to ask me questions, too, but I probably wouldn’t be as helpful. Still, from personal experience, it can take a few days after a seizure to feel completely normal, regardless of what meds they give you. Sometimes the effects from the seizure just last a little longer than you’d think they would. Just hang in there and good luck.
I’m not really sure what you mean by hydrocephalus affecting my vision…
I have glasses because I’m slightly near-sighted and have astigmatism, but that runs in my family. I don’t wear them all the time.(I’m not wearing them now). They’re for driving and chalkboards.) I also have a tendency to get migraines, and there’s often some visual disturbances associated with those. Same thing with a seizure, but I’ve not found my seizures to be as cooperative.
-Lil
Thank you. Actually, though, we just had a bit of a disagreement ending with me in tears because he said that I over-reacted and shouldn’t have called 911. Unfortunately, I *never knew * that he had this problem previously, so how could I possibly know what to do. Grrr…
Sorry, I wasn’t very clear. I was wondering if it had caused you to have poor vision. For instance, as a result of it he does not see well enough to drive. I was wondering if this was common or just something with him.
P.S. He apologized and said that he wasn’t trying to upset, insult, or second guess me but that in the future I know that it isn’t necessary to call 911 immediately. I should simply wait until he is back to ‘relative normal’ and ask him if he’d like to be taken to the hospital. I’m still a bit wary of that solution, though. **overlyverbose ** and percypercy, what normally happens when you have a seizure… Call doctor, go to hospital, do nothing, etc?
I’ve never lived with anyone who has had seizure issues before, but I can’t imagine reacting any differently than you did. Hopefully as the hours go by, your boyfriend will see your point of view. Even if it’s no big deal to him, you did the right thing.
ETA: I posted before I saw your last post. Glad to hear he’s a bit more understanding now.
I don’t go to the hospital normally, but I’m never surprised when someone calls 911. Since you didn’t know he had epilepsy, it was the right thing to do.
I know that after I’ve had a seizure(and I try not to have them), the state of Tennessee says I can’t drive for 6 months. That doesn’t have anything to do with my vision, it’s just a precautionary thing.
So, like I said, definitely wouldn’t be mad, but I don’t usually go to the hospital after a seizure. I’m guessing he’s really tired and frustrated right now and pissed that he had a seizure. I wouldn’t take what he said too personally.
-Lil
I think you did exactly the right thing, given that you’d never seen it before and weren’t aware he already had a predisposition for seizures. For all you knew, something much more serious could have been happening.
I’ve been seizure free for more than a year (last seizure was when I had ecclampsia after delivering my son - before that, it had been five years), but the last time I had a seizure, the standard procedure was to call my doctor when I was able and go in for a checkup and some bloodwork. My seizures are controlled by medication, so they check my blood sometimes to make sure I have enough of it in my body to control them.
Nope, I think you did exactly right. And even better, it’s great that you didn’t try to shove something in his mouth to prevent him from choking on his tongue. In general, doing that is a good way to lose a finger or introduce a new choking hazard to the person having the seizure. The best thing you can do is just make sure that the person is laying down and that stuff is out of their way so they don’t bash into it during the convulsions, if they have that type of seizure.