My First Seizure

I am starting this blog in hopes to raise awareness about seizures and epilepsy. I want to share with you my struggles and challenges with seizures and epilepsy. Here is my story of my first seizure in August 2014.

I was a typical 25 year old girl, working full time, and living on my own. My weekends included going out to the bars, drinking and dancing with friends. I had a bad diet and was not living very healthily. Well I was hit with some sign in August 2014.

After going to sleep on a regular Sunday night around 11pm. I woke up having no clue what happened, what year or even month it was, what I did the previous day, it was the STRANGEST feeling. Luckily, I was not by myself and my boyfriend witnessed it all. It was still very blurry. I snapped back after a long blank stare to my boyfriend, Travis (after I asked who he was) getting back to moving and then seeing the paramedics in my living room. Travis told me that I had a seizure. This was my first seizure and of course I was taken to the ER.

I was there until 2am. They did blood tests, MRI, a CAT scan and told me my brain looked fine or “normal”. Nothing that indicated a stroke or tumor. There are many factors that can lead to your first seizure and we all couldn’t nail this one down. So when I went home around 3am, I fell back asleep. Woke up and the same thing happened. This time, I felt like I got hit by a bus. Throbbing headache and sore muscles. Travis called the paramedics again. I went back to the ER, had to stay overnight with more tests. Everyone was scratching their heads. They sent me home and told me I need to follow up with a neurologist. The hospital also reported me to the DMV and I had to deal with my license being suspended.

A typical “tonic- clonic” seizure goes something like this. I started with a moan/cry, I then start shaking, clench my teeth and foam at the mouth. What really sucks is not knowing you did that and it’s also the scariest part of seizures – Having no control of your body.

So through all the doctor appointments, the diagnosis process, the tests, questioning what causes Epilepsy or seizures. There is no history of epileptics in my family, so fighting this battle is what I will be doing these next months.

Help me take epilepsy out of the shadows and aiding brain health. I also want to let the Epilepsy community know that don’t let this disorder take over your life and make sure you are “seizing” life’s moments every single day.