Seizure
Oh, man. Tuesday morning I had a seizure for the first time in a long time, which took me out of work for about two days.
I wish my skill in manipulating English were sufficient to describe what happens to someone who hasn’t experienced it. (Not looking for a pity party; I’m doing fine, just think it might be interesting to try to describe.)
Many people who have seizures experience something called an “aura”, a signal that a seizure may shortly happen. This generally is a physical change or an altering of how the person perceives the world. Some people may experience déjà vu or get an unusual taste in their mouths. For me, the effect is having auditory hallucinations: I hear incomprehensible, speech-like sounds which start faintly and begin to crescendo. For the first minute or so, I’m generally in control of myself and can communicate with the outside world while the head voices are fainter than ambient noise. Then I lose the ability to talk clearly, and for some reason, never have the wherewithal to think of writing down what I’d like to have said. By the two minute mark, I’m ignoring input from the outside world even as I’m aware of what people are saying. The cacophany of pseudo-voices start to become torture, not because they’re loud, but they are preventing the brain from working at even marginal effectiveness, and I’m 100% aware of this. For 30 sec, I’m lying down, just asking for the seizure to happen…
After an hour or two, I’ll regain consciousness, but feel very physically tired, and have generally sustained some strains and bruises from the spasms. For the next few hours, food or drink has a metallic taste, but it’s especially strong with water, which makes it hard to drink. Thirst is prominent; hunger is almost non-existent. Rather than sleeping 7 hours a day, I can sleep up to 14 hours a day for the next couple days, and have little physical strength (yes, even less than usual).
The next few days are spent being extra sure that I didn’t miss a dose of medicine.
Hopefully others were around when that happened. Did it happen at work? If so, did they call 911 again?
Comment by Allen | 12 October 2007
Yowch. Bummer, man.
The description is very interesting. Is this all physiologically well-understood? I have a friend who suffers from seizures of some sort and I’m not sure they’re all that clear on why.
May you go another LONG time without!
Comment by Derek Slater | 12 October 2007
@Allen: Yeah, it was at work, and no one called 911, thankfully. Andy’s seen it enough times.
@Derek: In many cases, the reason behind seizures are unknown. They know what happens in the brain, but aren’t sure why.
And thanks! They are fairly well controlled by medicine, so I get one or maybe two annually.
Comment by Donnie | 12 October 2007
Wow, I might possibly be wrong but I doubt that I have experienced anything as unpleasant physically as that, sorry you had to go through it, I’ll be praying.
Comment by l3rucewayne | 12 October 2007
DONNIE! Oh my God. Good to know you are all right. …
So, you don’t remember the ACTUAL SEIZURE in and of itself…you just remember the before and after. Interesting.
You should use one of those pill box thingies. I forget to take my blood pressure medicine and the box helps - if it’s empty, i took it. I also have an alarm on my cell phone.
Comment by annie | 12 October 2007
There is an epidemic problem of neurological diseases in the US and quite possibly (in my opinion, it is the reason) the culprit could be the vaccinations given to children under school age. Check out mercola.com and type in “vaccinations”, then click “vaccinations and neurological damage” to see the connection between neurological problems and vaccinations. Had I known, my kids would never have gottn vaccines until 10 years of age. It explains a lot about Donnie’s first years of life and his subsequient problems with seizures later in life.
Comment by jeanette (mom) | 13 October 2007
@l3rucewayne: Appreciate the sentiment!
@Annie: I have one of those boxes, except it’s crappy and accidentally pops open every so often. Might be worth investing in a decent one.
@Mom: Great, now I have to explain about my first few years of life. Thanks, Mom.
Comment by Donnie | 13 October 2007
Well, if you can remember the first 5 years of your life, you’re doing pretty good.
Comment by jeanette (mom) | 13 October 2007
True, I only have a few solid memories. But you’ve told me some of the highlights.
Comment by Donnie | 13 October 2007