seizures

[newbie3689]

In nov 2001 i was attacked with a baseball bat leaving work that fractured the left side of my skull. after that i've had short term memory loss, and was unable to speak correctly, knowin what i wanted to say, i was able to write it down,It took me a while to be able to speak correctly. in sept 2002 i started to have partial complex seizures which seemed to happen every other month with my menstral cycle. the partial complex siezures progressed to grand mal seizures in feb 2003 and since then i've had another grand mal in april 2003 which started out as a partial complex, withthe partial complex i am unable to speak correctly and my right side is numb. i've had several mri's and eegs, the mri has shown a 5mm sized fluid spot. my questions are, will the seizures go away or will i continue to have them the rest of my life? i am taking dilantin 500mg daily. Will the short term memory loss get better eventually? does the 5mm fluid spot need drained? does my menstral cycle screw with the medician makein me more siezure prone? and lastly does weather patterens high or low pressure cause my "dent" fracture to ache or is that coincident? thank you for time answering my questions hope i have given you enough information. i have been seeing a nurologist since the first seizure, just for get to ask these questions with i'm there, go figure. Thanks again

[CCF-Neuro-M.D.-JT]

Sorry to hear about the attack.  There are a number of complications that occur after head injury, common ones being headache and seizures. To provide a more accurate medical opinion, I would of course need to review your studies myself (need more info on MRI, not enough to say "fluid spot"). What I can tell you is this:
1. If there's something on the MRI that's the stimulus for the seizures such as brain damage from the head trauma, it's likely that the seizures will require lifelong therapy.
2.Can't make any predictions about memory loss at this point, but would get neuropsychiatric testing to see where you're at now and then followup testing down the road to see if there's been any improvement.
3.Need more info about fluid spot before an opinion can be given.
4.Menstrual cycles can affect the seizures themselves through hormone fluctuations.  In pregnancy and other fluid retention states, dilantin levels can be decreased also leaving you prone to mores seizures.
5.Not sure about the weather changes, but I have had patients tell me that joints hurt worse with them and migraines/headaches can also be affected by them.

Good luck

[jan]

Here is a forum for epilepsy, maybe it can be of some help to you:

http://neuro-mancer.mgh.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&number=33&forum=Epilepsy&DaysPrune=1000&startpoint=0

[CHADDY]

I was reading about the website regarding epilepsy.  Do you know of any support group for epilepsy?  thank you
chad

[jan]

Do you have Yahoo IM?  If so go to the user chat rooms under health and wellness.  There is "Living with Epilepsy" , it is getting off to a real slow start, but... (If you have ppl on your friends list for IM with epilepsy you can use the "invite" option and invite them to chat). There is a room called FMS/CFS/MS/LUPUS/ARTHR/ETC (always something to that effect) and quite a few there have epilepsy.

There is a very slow "classic chat" room provided by the mgh people at:

http://neuro-mancer.mgh.harvard.edu/brainchat/

It is slow in the method used, sorry don't know the tech jargon.  It is so painfully slow that I only last a couple of minutes,  but there are usually people there and they are often the people from the forum I mentioned in the above comment.
They, also, provide an "Advanced chat", which is much better, but I have never found anybody in the epilepsy room.  However, I have found people with epilepsy in the "main lobby".

If you want live support you can check out your local hospitals or EFA, or ask your dr.

I hope that is of help to you.

Hugs

[CHADDY]

Thank you Jan for the answer!  I appreciate it.  I am comfortable with the seizure disorder now if that's possible.  I mean that I don't worry much with it, when it happens it happens and I know what to expect.  I want try to support others with it so they don't feel alone.  I think all who have seizures go through a time of feeling that way.  I want to help.  That link you gave me wouldn't let me in because I have AOL, but I will look for more that are compatible.
To the original "comment poster" I hope you are getting better and if you need to talk about these things please post follows ups and there are lots of us that will pray for you and try to help.  8-)
chad