I cannot trace back my history to pinpoint on any of my family members, neither have I had any injury or things of that sort. Mine started when I just entered my teens.

But mine is not the shivers type. Mine is when I have an episode. But I know exactly when I am getting it. It starts with the flickering of eyes, then slurry speech and then unconsciousness.

But well the fact is I have it and know what to do about it. I am 29.

I am currently taking lamictal and am happy with it as the medication is keeping me under control. I have had no side effects from it.

There are many different types of epilepsy. You might want to do a google search on epilepsy and get tons of info on that. Actually even this board has lot of info.

Hi, I believe I have at least 2 types of seizures...1 of them I start shivering, my teeth start chattering and I feel out of it...............Go to a doctor and check it out, if you are having seizures they'll put you on medication because this could be the beginning and you don't want to have anything happen while your driving..............Good luck and if I can help let me know ..............Susan

Nobody in my family has had any history of epilepsy. Mine started when I was about 14 years old and I am 21 now. I have only had 2 seizures durning that time. The first one , I blacked out, the room was spinning and I couldnt speak, the second time, I felt it coming on, and I fell out of my chair, bit my lip, wet myself ,everything was fuzzy and I couldnt speak. My neurologist put me on depakote and I hate the side affects. I get horrible mood swings, sometimes I m really depressed and other times im super happy, I zone out alot, I get frequent headaches and dizzy spells. I have a really bad memory and it is hard for me to take in alot of information. Does anyone ever feel this way or have the same problems? Does anyone take depakote? Would it be a good idea to get my medication changed? Please let me know
thanks so much
laura

I have been on depakote for 7 years. Did your son ever complain of getting sharp pains around his temple area of his head? I am taking 500mg twice a day. My dosage was doubled after I had my daughter because I had a seizure. He said he wanted it doubled because of my stress and lack of sleep (new baby).
What does your sons neurologist tell him about his epilepsy? Meaning, when he has an eeg, what do they tell him that it shows? Whenever I get one , they tell me, "you still have abnormal brain waves, and you had a partial seizure here..." I think anyone would when someone puts a strobe light right in your face. How did his neurologist know that he would grow out of it? Did anyone in your family have epilepsy? I dont know how I got it, nobody in my family has had it. I just have so many questions and I can never get a definate, clear answer..
I'm so happy for your son, he must feel so relieved and estatic that he doesnt have to take pills anymore or have a horrible seizure.
Take care,
laura

My son has been on depokote for 8 years no side effects . Sleeps alot it seems. But he was on a low dosage just 750 mg a day . What dosage are you taking?
He recently was told by his doctor that depokote can cause liver damage.

So he took hisself off med . He is scheduled for a eeg in november. He first had his seizure when he was 12 he is now almost 20 ( december)

he has always been told by 3 different neurologist that they feel he will out grow epilepsy.

There are so many different types of med now for seizure disorder . I would first see if you can take a lower dosage . And if you still have side effects then try other meds
good luck
adamsmom

I suffer from partial epilepsy, the complex type - or so the doctors say.

I get two distinct different types of attacks.

One is only a slight one that causes me to start vibrate (on the inside) and I feel very weak for no obvious reason.
The second one is where I lose conciousness but do not collapse or anything like that. I am not aware of anything that is going on and I seem to continue 'normally' with what I am doing at that point. If unfortunately something happens apart from the norm in that period I will ignore it and still automatically try and carry on with what I am doing at that time. If I am talking at the time of the start of an attack I will continue talking but mostly pure rubbish or even some gibberich but all somehow related to the topic prevailing at the time of the start of the attack. It continues for a few minutes and I slowly come to my senses and it is only about ten minutes or more afterwards that I will be able to tell that I had an attack or be really awake.

Medicines do not always seem to work and at the moment I am trying to go it without any medication but with avoiding things like alcohol and caffeine.

I have found one specialist that has stated my epilepsy is more due to stress than anything else. There seem to be some thruth in this because when I am away from stress related issues (e.G. On a hike in the mountains away from work and everyday hassles) I do not get any attacks at all. Even at my worst times I did not have any attacks when I am on a hike in nature or when I am working say for a full day in the garden (which I liked doing at one time).

Anybody else out there with attacks that seems to be stress related????

Hello everyone,
am I glad I found you guys, I do think it has to do alot with stress. When I have my petit seizures I have a warning that its coming. I feel very strange before it comes. About a min before, then my body feels tingiling inside, deja vu, my hearing goes weird, I can't respond most of the time, funny smell, metalic taste in my mouth, feels like i'm going to a have a bowel movment but never do, stomach ache. This last for about a min or 2. Then after brain surgery they are lasting longer. But not as frequent.
The doc. Put me on depakote when they first diagnosed me in 98 for 2 and half years. 1500 milgrams a day. Gained weight, mood swings, tired, and they had to checked my blood every month for the liver. Then I went to dilaton, reaction to that one, next was tegritol, reaction to that one, switch me to topamax was on it for 2 years had surgery, then I still was having g.M. Again so they added trileptal cousin to tegritol, with topamax did that for 3 months until the next check up at u.C. Davis. Told the doc. I feel like i'm on spped then I come down in the afternoon and crash. Then again at night but i'm so worn out my body is so tired of taking drugs and going up and down all day I crash. I did go back to work 2 days a week part time back to my old job. Which is great. Oh yeah the doc changed the meds to keppra with topamax. So I did loose the weight I gained from dep. I was 155 before all this started went up to 176 topamax dropped me to 132 right before b.S. Because I was pretty scared I think, and going thru the big 5 year divorce. Now i'm back to 164 but i'm 44. I'm 5'10' I should weigh 155 so I guess i'm not that far off now.
I would like to know all of your experiences of your seizures. What you guys feel when you have them. Thank you jamie

Hi everyone,\
I am 21 yrs old I started having seizures 2 months ago. It began without warnin I would fall back wards into a grand mal that would last 2-5 minutes. Then I would sleep for 15 minutes after but they would wake me or try asap.Then I would feel very weak all over esp my arms and legs probably from the jerking all over, then went to neuro he said I was normal had normal eeg he said I couldnt have epilepsy and that it was all in my head.But I was very stressed it showed on eeg then I still was having episodes where I would find myself staring or doing something stupid and I would think what. I would get headaches in the front of my head going across from temple to temple then back to front and it would kill. Then my eyes would have weird squiggles and lines in them and dotts. Then I would feel like I was sinking in to the floor coz my feet would go numb and tingly and I would feel like dejavu was happening all the time. Went back to doctor telling him I was still felling weird sometimes I get a feeling like I am sick in the stomach like I have to vomit. The doctor put me on tegretol and its not working I am new to all this so I dont know. Then they told me that I have a rare temporal lobe epilepsy and that I am very photosensitive. If I am exposed to flickering light s my eyes flutter and I go like I am frozen sometimes I fall back and go into a grand mal from that. After I cants speak properly its like I am talking like a robot and my walking is all weird I usually fall down because my legs are like jelly and I get the worst headache and then when I can I sleep for hours after that. I know I may look weird but waring dark glasses helps me. Usually I cant remember much but this is what I can remember I have started to write down in a journal how I feel sometimes when I can if I can so I can remember later. I have started to get a longer warning of 5 minutes of severe headache b4 an eoisode so I guess its the tegretol letting me have a warning and I still have alot of those dejavu feelings all through the day and I hate that feeling its sickening.
Well thats my story.

Hi sami,
I started having the same things happen to me. Funny smell, stomach ache, hearing was odd, could'nt respond, sometimes I tried and it would be nonsense or moaning, deja vu, flickering of the left eye, and the weird feeling thru the body. It would last for about a min. This went off & on for 20 years after a blow to the head from a car accident in 1977. Then they started to get worse when my marriage was falling apart (stress)!!!!!! Then I left my marriage in march of 98. 2 months later I had my first gran mal. With 6 different meds tegretol was one I finally went for brain surgery in 2001 of june. My seizures are less. I'm back to work part-time. I still don't drive. I take the short bus to work. They pick me up at my front door for 1.25 one way. You just find ways to deal with it. I'm fortunate I have a good group of friends. They found scar tissue on my right frontal lobe. M.R.I.S and lots of e.E.G.S at u.C.Davis and alot more testing. So find out as much as you can. Take care jamie

Hi,
i'm 13, and I just started having seizures a year ago. My mom thinks that I might of gotten it from her mom, but she never really talked to her mom, so we think I got it because my mom dropped me on my head when I was a baby. I have only had petite mal seizure (when my eyes roll to the back of my head and I lose conciousness for a few seconds), up till a few days ago when I had a grand mal seizure. I have been taking depakote, but it really hasn't helped at all.

My son, now 23 has had seizures on and off since he moved into puberty. At first they were absance (sp) seizures and we discovered the problem by reading an article in a magazine. Doctors tested him and we just observed for awhile. In high school he had his first grand mal. Doctors put him on depakote and he did well as far as seizures but he gained a lot of weight and the medication really slowed him down. He complanied about feeling slow. When he was a junior in high school he decided he no longer had epilepsy and with out my knowledge, stopped taking his meds. I wondered what was going on because he lost a lot of weight. Through some prying I discovered what he had done and insisted on a visit to the doctor. Testing was done and hallelujah---he seemed to be cured.

Quite awhile down the road he had a seizure and this time they put him on zorontin, that seemed to work, but I know he wouldn't take it sometimes. Ocassionally he would have seizures. During a period of job transition and moving he didn't have insurance and I know he wasn't taking good care of himself. He would deny it because he didn't want me to worry.

In the last year he has openned his eyes to the responsibility of his malady. I only wish I could take it away for him. It makes me sad to see him challenged at such a young age. I know there are many of you out there with similar mountains to climb and it really angers me when I run across know it alls that think their answer is the only answer. If it were I believe medical science would have found a generic cure. The fact is everyone is different.

My son has also been on several other meds this last year. The doctors have recently put him back on depakote and the seizures have stressed his joints and he has had surgery on one shoulder with a probable surgery for the other. Have any of you experieced these problems?

Tell me more of your stories.

Hi everyone,
since last nov. The doc. Changed one of my meds to keppra 100 mill twice a day with my old med topamax which i've been on for about 4 years. I've lost 15 lbs in 4 months. So I know topa is a drug they are saying is being tested for wiehgt lose. Is anyone else experinceing weight lose with keppra?
I'm only getting petit mals so far. So i'm doing better.

hi my name is rebekah I got 2 types of sizures the first one is epliciy and the second one is grandmal. How I got it? Well the docotors put the wrong vaccine in me when I was a baby for my tetness shot and now im 20 years old. My doctor said if I didnt get on tegretol then I would go into a grandmal seizure....The kind of eplipicy I have is where I daze off and act like i'm in a dream I get really slow at doin things and sometimes i'll come out of it and some times I wont..And the grandmal seizure that I have is where I start shaking really bad to where I cant controll it I start to slobber and try to swallow my tounge talk about really . My dad told me about what I do when I go into one of my seizures and that's how I know what I know...Also with my emplipcy I would also shiver and my teeth will cling together like im cold. I've been on so many pills through out my life to the point that I cant remember the names of them or how many ive been on..Has anybody been on tegretol? If so what kind of side effects have you had being on it? Please reply back to me i'd really appriciate it cuz of how I feel while taking this meducation..Also do you know how it reacts while taking zoloft with it? God bless you!!!! I also dont have a family history of seizures...It was all because of the doctor that delivered me is why I got these seizures in the first place..

Hi everybody. I'm 19, had first seizures about 2 years ago. I have grand mal, petite mal, and partial seizures where i'm always consicious but I can't do anything to control it. I'm on tegretol and keppra but switching the keppra with lamictal.
~ kathleen

that is strange because I think something like that happened to me. I was sleeping and sort of woke up. I was shaking all over (kind of like a big shiver everywhere..Legs, arms, head, eyes, everything) then I "heard" my husband's voice and "saw" him...The seeing thing I knew wasn't real, but I thought I really heard him. I also felt pressure (my arms were under the covers and it felt like the covers were too heavy to get my arms out of) I remember feeling scared and not sure where I really was, but I do know that the shakes were not a dream and I really thought I heard my husband.

I am only 22 as well, have never had a seizure that I know of, and no family history