Has anyone seen a sudden onset of seizures in an adult?

Posted by 1990mom @1990mom, Jan 13 6:24am

My son is 34 years old. He had never experienced a seizure or had any family history of seizures until a week ago. We are looking for a cause but only seem to get treatment for symptoms at ER when have an occurrence...can't get appointment with neuro until January 24th in Colorado and can't get an EEG until the 30th....does anyone have experience getting into Mayos quickly and getting answers quicker?!
Thanks!

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@hippele

Hi....I had a tonic clonic seizure for the first time at 69yrs old a year and a half ago and another seizure about a year after that because I forgot to take my keppra. Since then a year later no seizures and I have been weaning off the keppra gradually on my own. I am down to 125mg once a day and no effects so far. A lot is unknown about seizures. Some is genetic and some sudden onset like mine. Maybe in a 100 yrs we will know more. God Bless
ray hippele

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That is so encouraging to hear that you have been successful in weaning off the Keppra. Hopefully my husband will be able to start that in a year.
We wish you the best!
Curtis and Tami

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Sorry I’m late to the party, but yes, me, I was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of 27. This was in 2009 and I still have no idea what caused it and likely never will. I have no history of TBI’s, never abused drugs or alcohol and all my CT scans, MRI’s etc have all been normal. My EEG however was definitely not normal (which I kind of thank god for that because if it had been normal I’d have been dismissed completely. What many don’t know if that you can develop epilepsy at ANY age. As you get older it’s more often caused by injury or brain tumors, etc, but many many many adults are diagnosed with epilepsy every year with no known cause. Unfortunately it seems healthcare providers don’t understand this and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been accused of faking it for attention (it’s been 16 years now, a ton of injuries needing care - broken bones, stitches, etc. I can’t drive, haven’t for 16 years, I can’t work and I have to take 2 awful meds at the highest dosage possible just so that I have seizures less often, nothing has stopped them completely. So if I’m faking this I might be the craziest, most committed, attention seeker that ever lived🙄). But you should know it’s really common for an EEG to be normal and still have epilepsy. And unless your son abuses substances (it doesn’t sound like it:) or has some sort of brain injury that’s able to be seen, you will likely never know what caused it. It sucks, I’m sorry. Never stop advocating for him, I hope you find a great Dr, but if not, like myself, don’t give up. Don’t let them say he’s fine or blow you off. Demand to be seen at an epilepsy center if you aren’t getting the help you need (not sure where you’re located but I can tell you where they have them if you’d like). I wish I had a mom or dad to help me navigate this, but unfortunately I don’t so your son is lucky to have you. Please let me know if you have ANY questions, as I too randomly had my first generalized tonic clonic seizure when I was 27 and I've had them ever since. Also, since my neurologists (I saw 4) were basically useless and literally told me nothing helpful other than, “yep you have epilepsy, here try this medicine…” I have used the last 16 years to learn absolutely everything I can about epilepsy and non epileptic seizures, the brain, all of it. I’m a registered nurse so luckily I had a medical background and have been able to get a ton of info from medical research and journal articles. Anyways, hopefully you’ve found your answers already.

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