Two questions:
1. Can you get a doctor to attest to any of this in writing? If you can, you
should consult a lawyer ASAP. It sounds like someone needs to get b-slapped
across the face with a warning letter on legal letterhead. One needs to go
to your landlord. But someone is continuing to administer Cipralex when your
allergy is listed right on your record, to the extent that they have
Benadryl on hand to handle the known complications that will result. A
doctor should lose his license for that.
2. Why are you going to the hospital for seizures? Or letting people send
you there? What kind of seizures are these? I could never afford that. I
learned the hard way to always have seizures in private because when people
call 911 I get sucked into an ER like a fly in a carnivorous pitcher plant.
It happened over and over and over again in my twenties; I was always
bankrupt and starving.
First the ambulance comes and if you tell them to go to hell it's going
to be AMA, as if you have no insurance. So you'll get socked for full cost
otherwise (i.e. 500% cost since you are not an insurer), and you basically
have no choice but to go along. The needles in the plant only let the fly
move forward. You land in the ER, and if you tell the ER to go to hell
you'll get socked (for the full 500% cost for that too). According to the
EOBs I get from the insurer, an ER visit for this "costs" about $6000 as the
no-insurance price. The co-pays for all this nonsense end up in the four
digits after every 911 call. And it happens every time you're within sight
of people who have never seen it before; someone calls the ER on every
seizure.
My next medical bracelet is just going to say DO NOT CALL 911 / MEDICAL
ASSISTANCE IS REFUSED. Frankly I've gone into status a bunch of times
(that's when my wife has called) and I told her I don't care anymore, just
leave me alone and wait for my face to turn blue. The hypoxia is much better
at stopping it than anyone else, and those expensive clowns never arrive
until it's over anyway.
I had a seizure late last night, around 3-4 AM (this seems to be a pattern).
My wife made sure I fell off the bed "correctly" and then I went into a
fugue. But she's getting better at figuring out how to handle epileptic
fugues.
She led me by the hand to the sofa, where she resumed surfing the web with
her left hand while holding my hand with her right. She's gotten really
comfortable doing this stuff because she knows what to do: hand holding,
quietly leading me around, and shouting monosyllabic commands at me if
necessary (these usually penetrate). She tries to just go along with things
I do as long as they're harmless; and usually I don't do much. I don't trash
the place, but I do engage in bizarre tasks like carefully turning glass
lamps over on their sides or moving chairs around in weird ways. She follows
me straightening up.
Anwyay last night after fifteen minutes or so I got up from the sofa, and
went to the bathroom. I often disappear into the bathroom for a while during
fugues and it's a relatively safe place with furniture fixed to the wall, so
she doesn't worry too much. Then I floated out of the bathroom; she heard
the back door open and immediately went into WTF mode.
She found me outside in the back yard stark naked and crouched down behind a
bush, trying to fiddle somehow with the electric meter underneath. She took
my hand, led me back in, and put me to bed. AS she was making sure I was in
place she said, you know, you had a seizure, and I said, yeah, I figured, it
sure feels like it.
It reminds me of the time I was in the freezer getting ice cream when it
suddenly dawned on me that I was just emerging from a fugue. (I was still
mostly in the fugue when I opened the freezer.) So I looked up and she was
crying. I asked (already having figured out at this point, duh) "what's the
matter?" And that was it; I was back. I sat down and talked about the parts
I remembered as I ate my ice cream; seeing her crying as I passed her and
not knowing who she was but hugging her anyway. I think seeing her crying
really helped me snap out of that one.
When a fugue happens in an ER (usually manifesting itself as an unconscious
but utterly sensible attempt to walk out of the hospital "AMA") they charge
an extra $3000.
-Jason
On Sun, Nov 8, 2009 at 4:00 PM, gaelic_darkwater <gaelic_darkwater@
> wrote:
> Most of us know our triggers for seizures, or at least a few of them.
> According to Dr. B. Windham "Seizure triggers include low blood sugar,
> dehydration, fatigue, lack of sleep, stress, temperature extremes,
> depression, flashing lights, allergens, caffeine, alcohol, aspartame,
> pesticides, toxic metals. The most common allergen triggers are wheat,
> milk, and petrochemicals (41)." For me, mine are low blood sugar, fatigue,
> stress, flashing lights, aspertame, alcohol and pesticides. Right now, the
> pesticides are a problem. See, someone in another BUILDING at my apartment
> complex was found to have roaches. This made my complex to decide on
> MANDATORY spraying for bugs in every apartment. I don't have bugs. I've
> never had bugs. But whenever I'm in a place that has recently been sprayed
> we know it because I have seizures. The last time they snuck in here and
> sprayed I had chain seizures for three days! I don't know if it would have
> lasted longer because the hospital finally stopped sending me home. My
> husband scoured every inch of our place and removed all the traces of their
> chemicals. Now, on Tuesday they are going to come in here and spray again.
>
> I do not have health insurance. I can't afford more hospital visits.
> We're already considering bankruptcy because of the astronomical amount of
> our health care bills! We get no state tax refunds. Those go to the
> hospital. But now, because someone else in another whole building couldn't
> maintain a clean enough house to avoid bugs, I have to suffer through this
> again. I can't afford a hotel. ALL of my friends live in the complex. I
> have no where else to go.
>
> I'm angry. These people have never had a seizure. They've never woken up
> confused, scared and in pain. They've never faced the injuries that are all
> too common with seizures or had to explain to someone that no, my husband
> doesn't beat me, I was hurt having a seizure. To make matters worse, the
> hospital here has a policy. Uninsured epileptics get Cerebrex. (I think
> that's how you spell it....) I'm allergic to that medication. They know
> it. Now they bring in the benedryl and other allergy medications in at the
> same time so that when I start screaming in pain they have it on hand to
> give it to me. They know I'm allergic and that it makes my entire body feel
> as though it's been submerged in a fire ant mound. They know it, but they
> insist on it anyways. When I refuse they just wait for me to fall asleep
> and hook up the IV then. So not only will I have seizures at home, but I'll
> have to suffer through the hospital's "treatment". I'm in for a week of
> pain, and frankly, I'm a little pissed off about it. I'm not a litigious
> person. I usually will just let things go and have never sued anyone, even
> when we've had really good grounds. I'm tempted though. I'm tempted to sue
> the apartment complex for my hospital bills, pain and suffering. They're
> making me go through a week of hell because someone ELSE has bugs. I'm
> angry and want to hurt them back. The only way I can see to do that is
> through their wallets.
>
> For now though, I need to go and start preparing. All my tables need to be
> padded with an extra layer of foam. Anything that can be knocked down and
> could then hurt me has to be packed up and put in a closet. I feel like I
> need to prepare my house for a war zone.
>
> Why is it that people think it's perfectly ok to create a situation that
> WILL cause someone pain as long as they aren't actively hurting the person
> themselves? If I went and sprayed acid on their chairs so that when they
> eventually sat down they would be hurt I'd be a criminal, but it's ok to
> fill my apartment with chemicals that will cause me to seize... They
> thought I was mad when they asked me to remove my black out curtains even
> though the bus (complete with strobe lights on top) parks outside my windows
> every morning and afternoon...
>
>
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