What does everyone make of this: first seizure in 18 years?

@bradeby
Why seizures happen is a mystery for half its victims, myself included. I've always accepted I'd never know the cause of my seizures.
Hopefully those seizures were your last.
If you used to take the same medication 18 years ago that you're taking now chances are they may not be as effective now as they were then.
There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason when it comes to seizures. They can stay the same, get better, or get worse as you age. Have you had your medication level/s checked?
My seizures stopped at age 59, provided I not miss my medication like last Friday.
My last Neurologist refused to give seizure patients immediate release or generic medication. If you were taking generic medication, had you recently gotten it refilled from a different manufacturer?
A Stanford University study recommends if using generic products to always refill them using the same manufacturer.
You might try time release seizure medication.
Please keep us informed of your upcoming test results. Try not to worry about the cause of your seizures. Chances are you'll never know the cause of your epilepsy/seizure.
Best of luck,
Jake

I did. I was diagnosed with complex temporal lobe epilepsy at 13yrs old. Went through a few different meds, also settling on Tegretol. For many years (15+) seizure free then at the age of 49 I started having seizures.

Hi @restisaweapon
As @jakedduck1 has said, seizure patterns and medication effectiveness can change over time.
As it is well known there are triggers to seizures: both physical and emotional ones. There is a great book on that called "Taking Control of Your Epilepsy": https://www.andrewsreiter.com/newbook.html. Through this book and also some sessions with Dr. Andrews, I have learned what my major triggers are and also learned how to better manage them. It has helped me a lot.
I myself was managing my seizures well, but then I had quite some stress because of severe health issues of both my parents, having tonic-clonic seizures. Stress is a well-known emotional trigger to seizures and many times difficult to manage and control.
I do also have temporal lobe epilepsy with mesial sclerosis. My seizures were simple partial and complex partial ones, but with the family stress I am currently facing, I had 3 tonic-clonic seizures, something new to me.
Try to evaluate if something has changed in your life recently: sleep; stress and other emotions; environmental conditions, etc.
I share here a link with you about the most common triggers to seizures: https://www.epilepsy.com/what-is-epilepsy/seizure-triggers#What-are-some-commonly-reported-triggers?. But as I have learned myself there are many more, it depends on each person. For example, low sodium or low magnesium not reported on this list can also be triggers to seizures. I for example have learned that gluten is a trigger to my partial seizures.
I hope you find the answers to why you have restarted to have seizures and can bring them under your control again very soon.
Chris (@santosha)

So yes, I was seizure free for over 30 years, and then I was attacked and suffered brain injuries, and it immediately started the process of both absent seizures and tonic clonic seizures. Unfortunately, I’m told that when your head suffers any kind of an injury, it leaves you vulnerable for this to happen. I know this is so disheartening, I read your story and I can totally relate. It is like having to start all over again, which is hard because you don’t know what medication’s to take. It’s an unpredictable situation. I wanted you to know that you’re not alone. I had something very similar happen and have been dealing with it since. Do not be discouraged, just continue to do everything you can and I’m sure many people on this forum will be able to help you in so many ways.

Hi again, I was interrupted yesterday and unable to finish my post so had to send what I had entered lol.
Following these seizures at age 49 I discovered a friend at the same age who was also starting to have seizures after being controlled many years. I have wondered if hormones (menopause for her) and a male hormone change for me. Was possibly the trigger. My original diagnosis included the doctors suggestion that the damage to my brain that caused my epilepsy, was from a 1yr old high fever that climaxed with a seizure. At 13 my hormone changes triggered the beginning of my life with epilepsy. So I was curious if @bradeby is at that age (40-50).
I went on to have the surgery to remove the damaged spot. But had already been back under control with no seizures after my tegretol levels were increased.

@restisaweapon
Good Morning!
The same happened to me. I had an accident when I was 5 years old and epilepsy started to show its face in puberty. The doctor at that time explained to me that epilepsy has a silent phase in which it develops itself, not manifesting itself right after the event like your fever or my accident. This process may take years.
Very well thought of you! As far as I know, hormonal changes can be a trigger to seizures, especially in women. The link I share here tells more about the impact of changes in hormones on women's seizure threshold.
https://www.epilepsy.com/what-is-epilepsy/seizure-triggers/menstruation
As the link says seizures in the menstrual cycle of women occur due to changes in progesterone and estrogen. Men do not have progesterone but they have estrogen. So, I assume that fluctuations in estrogen in men can also be a trigger to seizures. But do please ask your doctor (I am not a doctor, just a curious person who tries to learn more about epilepsy) and share this information with us. I am curious to know about it.
Chris (@santosha)

That was a question that I asked my neurologist after being seizure free for over 30 years. He said that yes, that plays a role in seizures reappearing. I also learned by my neurologist the estrogen affects the medication that I was taking, therefore making the threshold very low for having seizures. Then, of course when factoring stress, environmental issues, and other factors, and it can make for an unfortunate situations. Also things like hormonal changes, particularly in women, when reaching menopause, post menopause, etc. these were all things that my doctor was able to pinpoint when I gave him the entire history of the time periods of which I had seizures, and then the long length of time that I had none at all, and that they were controlled, and then after I had been attacked and suffered a brain injury, then they started back up again. He was able to pinpoint correlations as to when, my body changed, and when the brain suffered injuries, and then having to go down that path of trying all different kinds of medications to control the situation, however, even years after this has happened, I am now having them in my sleep, whereas I didn’t used to have them in my sleep before. I’m not sure why that is happening. The medication protects me during the day but in my sleep it does not. Does anyone else have this issue?

Hi. @closetmonster93 - if you've not yet checked out this discussion on Mayo Clinic Connect, also in the Epilepsy & Seizures support group, you might be interested:

- Am I having seizures in my sleep?
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/am-i-having-seizures-in-my-sleep/

Your situation sounds very similar to mine, my seizures started 25 years ago, it took years to get under control then went 20 years with only minor issues.

I had a bad fall 18 months ago that left me with a big lump on my forehead, my seizures came back with a vengeance after that, worse than ever before and getting worse.

I recently had one at 2 a.m. seizure resulting in an ambulance ride to the ER, never before was an ambulance called because of a seizure. I was out for 10 hours, ER took unrine sample, blood work, an MRI and CAT scan, I remember none of it.

Don't be surprised if your MRI and EEG don't indicate aeizures. My understanding is an EEG only shows seizures when there is at least minimal seizure activity. I've never had a positive EEG, unfortunately my last MRI showed some seizure related brain injury.

Don't let the seizures get the best of you and don't get stressed because of them. Stress is seizure trigger.

My PCP told me something important recently, low sodium levels can cause seizures. Some seizure medication can cause low sodium and at the same time control seizures.

Thank you. @lisalucier