My 1st ever seizure last month, in airport waiting area
Kindly leave comments or any thoughts you might have on my case.
I'm an old guy (just 10 months away from leaving behind me the last of my 70s) living in one part of the US and traveled alone last month by plane to a distant part of the US where I don't know anyone. The plane was supposed to land ~ 12:40 PM Pacific Time but I've written to the airlines to find out the actual time of landing. I had a number of things to carry-- I got all of my stuff off the plane and vaguely recall sitting in a waiting area, sitting to use my smartphone to figure out how to use the city's public transit system in order to reach my hotel. I might have only been sitting a minute or two when I was stricken with my 1st ever seizure in life. Though I was unconscious when the seizure struck, two people - a young female acupuncturist and her boyfriend - did a great deal to help me even though I had no idea what was going on. She found my name, address, email address and 2 phone numbers on my luggage tags and soon wrote to me to find out what had happened to me after she or someone called an ambulance crew to take me to the ER in a local hospital. We wrote back and forth to each other over several days: she told me she was in an airport bathroom when my seizure started but her boyfriend was present for the start. The boyfriend told her that I suddenly yelled out or cried out at the start. Due to breathing in some odd way, he massaged my chest and both used my 1st name since they knew it from the luggage tags. She told me that as soon as I heard my name being uttered by one or both of them, I began to greatly improve in my breathing. They were being called to get on their plane but they told the airline that they weren't leaving me 'til an ambulance crew arrived. They also watched all my stuff which of course could have vanished if they weren't there to help me. I asked her if I was violently thrashing about and she said "Yes, you were violently moving and shaking". Maybe ~ 9:30 PM or later I awoke in front of a young MD who didn't say too much to me except something I thought was humorous: he said "We're all allowed to have (or maybe said "we're all entitled to have...") one seizure in life." While alert and awake, I saw someone remove an IV line from each of my forearms. The discharge report handed to me had the MD's diagnosis as "seizure-like activity" but remember, I don't know what the ambulance crew learned from my 2 helpers in the airport and I don't know what the ambulance crew told the MD in the hospital ER. The hospital ER discharge report told me 2 drugs were administered (I suppose one drug in one forearm IV port and the other in the other forearm's IV port): ondansetron (ZOFRAN) "last given at 2:33 PM", and midazolam (VERSED) "last given at 2:56 PM. Sodium chloride stopped at 3:14 PM". Studies done by the hospital ER: 12 leads attached to my chest to study my heart, CT scan of my brain/head without IV contrast, and 1 view chest X-ray. With all my stuff now inside a Lyft or Uber, I checked into my hotel maybe 10:30 PM or so. I turned on my tablet, went to Mayo Clinic webpage on seizures and noticed an important thing for my case in the section on Causes of Seizures. One reason Mayo states for a seizure is NO SLEEP. In the hours before my very early morning flight from the airport in my home city - hours when I should have been sleeping - I never went to bed because I was fiddling with packing, I was looking up sights/sites to visit in the West Coast city I went to (and where the seizure occurred), and due to my usual anticipation before important travel or an important meeting. Of course I hope that young ER MD is right: "We're all entitled to have one seizure in life" but I wonder if I'm at some maybe slight risk for another. Factors you should know: 1) 2 yrs ago I had a TIA which was a visual one that was very brief, and 2) every night I use a CPAP machine PLUS require an additional 2 liters/minute of oxygen from an oxygen concentrator (a tube from it feeds the oxygen into the fat CPAP tube going to my nose).
Yesterday my MD called me by phone. I told her I've been OK since that seizure last month but want to know more so she's sending me to a neurologist who might have an idea what kind of seizure I had. Today the epilepsy clinic called me to say I'll first have an EEG done before I suppose I meet with a neurologist. [I don't know yet when the EEG will be done but it might be weeks from today.]
Kindly leave comments or any thoughts you might have on my case.
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@louissc
Thanks Louis for that tip-top advice on taking a plane later in the day, not one so early in the morning as I did when I left home for my trip. Since this seizure happened, I said to me that next time I'll not fret over the high ticket price for a plane leaving later in the day. Those later flights are more costly while the first-one-in-early-morning ones cost less.
I'll write here next week about my EEG.
I found what methel wrote here to be very important: methel wrote that in my case something's gone wrong in my body and it has to be found/detected in order to have proper, correct medical treatment. I know in medicine, too many trivialize medical problems thereby making patients suffer longer or make their condition worsen, with numbers of them dying from encountering medical people who aren't sharp nor diligent.
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2 Reactions@musicbart
First, I'd like to correct something I mentioned in my first post.
I suggested your seizure was provoked. But sleeping issue seizures are considered to be unprovoked and unprovoked seizures have a higher rate of reoccurrence. I would suggest you stop driving. Like me, my brother also has epilepsy. His first seizure happened while he was driving. He was in a severe car accident, and both his femoral arteries were severed, and his legs were crushed. He's basically metal from the waist to his feet and required braces and crutches to walk. Currently he's in a wheelchair. Just an example of what can happen if a seizure strikes.
Don't be surprised if your drivers license will be suspended. If you were visiting California which is where I live, maybe the doctor didn't report it if he wasn't sure what happened for sure. I believe we are required to contact the driving authority in the state they are from even if the doctors are not required to report it to the state like California is. States require 3-12 months restrictions for seizures.
All but twice my suspensions were for 1 year.
Take care,
Jake
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1 Reaction@jakedduck1
Thank you Jake for your latest comments and remarks. I'm sorry to hear about the ghastly thing that happened to your brother. Yes, even though I wondered if I'd have another seizure, I did also realize that a seizure can certainly strike anytime, even when driving. I only use the VA for medical care-- I don't know what the VA would report to the state (which isn't California) if the VA's sure that I'll have future seizures.
Since I don't know various things about epilepsy, do you know if epilepsy can begin at any point in life or does it usually begin when a person's young or very young?
Maybe you read here what methel wrote. Methel told me and others here that I've got to be aggressive in trying to figure out what changed in me to cause big-time sleep troubles. I certainly know that there's indifference, neglect, dealings with incompetent and non-sharp people in US medicine and that all of that leads to prolonged physical and mental suffering, to worsened medical conditions, and to the worst of all as a final outcome. I tell people I *LOVE* medical mysteries but I always hate my own.
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1 Reaction@musicbart @jakedduck1 Jake, you mentioned your brother had a seizure while driving. Same happened to me on a two-lane road 50 mph speed and very fortunate, I had a passenger with me who calmly turned off the key, let the car drift slowly to side of road. NJ State Police came along, pulled me from behind the wheel, I woke up in the ER. That was my second seizure, first one was on our honeymoon 2 months prior to second one. I stopped driving, went to a neurologist who notified the state DMV. At that time two-year suspension however, with 2 letters from neuro docs who said I was clearly under control with Dilantin my license was returned in one year. And 7 years to follow I had to fill forms every six months certifying I had no following seizures. Many times, my wife drove as I still had some hesitation. On med seizure free for decades but faithfully take my Dilantin every single day. One neuro doc wanted to take me off until I asked him if he would stand liable for anything that happened IF i agreed. No reply. I changed neurologists. Ed