Hi,
I'm new on here as well, I'm 25 and was officially diagnosed with epilepsy in February this year.
Keppra was the first medication I tried but unfortunately I had an allergic reaction and ended up in hospital covered in hives, mouth sores and trouble breathing. I have since tried 3 different medications, none of which have been able to successfully control my seizures.
Recently, I went almost 4 weeks seizure free, which was amazing considering I experience seizures at least once a week. Just as I was getting excited and starting to think about the future I had a seizure whilst at the gym and I feel like I'm back to scratch. Since then, they've come thick and fast.
This does not bode well for my escalating anxiety and depressing, which I think has come about from the diagnosis itself, the medication and my change in lifestyle caused by the diagnosis.
I have not driven since December 2012 after I experienced a seizure whilst driving. Fortunately, someone was looking down on me that day and I escaped unscathed. I live in Australia and here they tend to leave it to the discretion of the neurologists on when epileptics should be able to drive. For me, I must be 6 months seizure free before I can drive again. Even when this time comes about, I can't imagine having the confidence to get on the road but I guess I'll just need to face that hurdle when I get to it.
Like your son, epilepsy does not run in my family, nor did I experience febrile convulsions or any other seizures as a child so it also came out of the blue for me. The diagnosis of epilepsy is tricky and a lot of it comes from the actual experience of the seizure so try not agonise over those details and just look forward to your son adjusting to the medication and avoiding any more seizures.
Ask about driving because it varies country to country, state to state.
Ask how else it will affect your son's lifestyle, for example, I can't drink alcohol, I can't have hot showers, I can't scale heights, I need to be careful near edges, I can't take baths or go swimmming, especially in the ocean until my seizures are under control.
Ask about medication side effects... My experience of keppra before the reaction was it made me very very tired and very down but these vary for everyone and settle down after the first couple of months.
With some people, there is a possibility of easing off the medication if no seizures are experienced for a few years, perhaps the the neurologist could give an indication as to whether this is a possibility?
If your son is interested, I also asked my neurologist for a list of books and other support services that might help with the adjustment or just interest me about epilepsy.
I mean at 25-30 years of age, completely out of the blue, it's quite shocking and quite an adjustment.
I wish your son and your family the best of luck! I've heard of many people having great success with keppra so I hope he's got a medication and dose that suits him so he can work on moving forward.
--- In epilepsy@yahoogroups.com, "dolotsdoolittle" <rjkjak76@...> wrote:
>
> Hi, our 30 yr. old son recently had his first ever tc. He had it at work and dislocated, and broke his shoulder. He lives alone and now isn't allowed to drive because of the seizure. The hospital ran all kinds of tests and couldn't find a reason for the seizure, except his EEG showed he is prone to generalized seizures. He is now on Keppra. I don't know much about seizures because no one in our whole family has had seizures, so we're all kinda puzzled. He has his first follow-up visit after his hospital stay with his Neurologist next week. I am going to drive him to his appt. and I'm trying to prepare some good questions for the Dr. Does anyone have any suggestions of some basic info. we should ask?
> Oh yeah, and moms worried about him living alone :) Thank God he can work from home.
>
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