I'm 19 years old, and it's been a
sufficiently long time since my epilepsy
disappeared -- I had epilepsy until I was
12. They were petite mal seizures, and
for the majority of the time I had them I
wasn't entirely aware what was happening.
Spare the odd memory, i've forgotten what
they were like.
But my parents and I were told that I
might have learning problems due to the
lack of oxygen in the brain when I
underwent my seizures. After having my
first seizure at the age of 3, I did
actually forget everything I learned -- my
parents say it was as if my mind was
completely swept blank. However, i've
recovered (i would say) almost fully, and
today i'm a fair bit of an "academic".
One issue I have, however, is "verbal
overload" -- that is, I often (especially
when i'm nervous) know what I want to say,
but everything gets jumbled and I can't
verbalize well. Sometimes, I
(embarrassingly) verbalize completely
different words that rhyme with the ones I
want to say, or I do the typical
"switching the first letters of words
around", etc. I'm not sure if this type
of thing could be related to the epilepsy
or not... I don't want to sound like a
hypochondriac!
It's just that i've always been curious in
regards to the role epilepsy plays in
speech. According to my mom, my speech
would slow significantly during my
seizures (which i'm assuming is normal).
However, it's sometimes a struggle for me
to speak, and this has sort of caused me
to distance myself from interaction.
Is there anyone else who has/is
experiencing this problem?
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sami_1982
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 13 Dec 2003 Posts: 200 Location: Australia
Dear Friend Posted: 10-23-05 05:41am
Ive had what you are saying.
Sometimes I would speak a million miles a
hr it felt like to onlookers. And once I
heard my self do this also before I went
into a full grand mal seizure that made me
stop the verbal gibberish and start
squeiling. Only way I can describe is it
was like that movie where jim carey made
that guy the news reader talk real fast
and jumble all his words. The movie bruce
almighty. I was taking tegretol and
epilim at the time. And now I dont take
tegretol anymore I take keppra and epilim
and I think somone says something to me
and so I answer them but no one has said a
word to me or I now say did you just say
something to me to not be rude and make
myself look like an fool just incase. But
I also have started a sentence in my head
and finished it out loud and no one knows
where that came from and neither do i. So
I feel like my seizures must be close to
my speach area. Because ive been told ive
been thought to have temporal lobe
epilepsy. I also forget what I am saying
and go blank. And the first time I had
seizures I talked like a robot with low
batteries. And I still do it sometimes.
But latley I smell a weird smell like
smoke and its grose its like burning hair
or something like a hairdressers shop.
But I live in the country its all so
weird. And I never knew I had seizures
till I was 21 which was the first time
that I ever had a seizure that was a grand
mal that lasted 40 minutes and I was out
of it. The er didnt believe that I had
one because I said that at the begining I
thought I was going to die. And the first
neurologist I saw said my eeg was normal
except for 2 electrodes that showed weird
things and that my eeg was really showing
a stressed out brain. It was only for 20
minutes. And when I told him that I could
speak like a robot through the event he
said its not epilepsy and said I needed to
see a psychologist so I did. And the
psychologist said I was fine so I saw
another neurologist and they believed me
that I had epilepsy but still the eeg for
20 minutes was normal and my ct and mri
were normal and then he didnt believe me
and I still have seizures I am on
medication still and ive seen another
neurologist and he believes me that I am
epileptic and I am having a extended stay
at a epileptic hospital for video eeg for
one week in december. Because he wants to
help me get my life in order. He says
that the other neurologists were too quick
to shut the door in my face.
|
Cirquel
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 21 Oct 2005 Posts: 5 Location: Canada
Re: Dear Friend Posted: 10-25-05 15:22pm
Thank you very much for your reply.
I sympathize -- i'm lucky to have only had
petit mal (or so was the diagnosis). It
took a long time for the doctors to
diagnose my problem as epilepsy, too. I
hope things are progressing for you, now
that you know what the issue is.
Having something far less severe than
grand mal, my speech isn't effected to the
point that I blurt everything out
extremely fast. Rather, it's difficult to
string my words properly. : ( or
verbalize in general what's on my mind.
I've read somewhere that petit mal is not
supposed to effect the area of the brain
dealing with speech, but this has not been
the case with me I think.
Best of luck in the future. Take care,
and thanks again~.
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sami_1982
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 13 Dec 2003 Posts: 200 Location: Australia
Dear Friend Posted: 10-29-05 23:38pm
Prehaps you do have temporal lobe
epilepsy. As the neurologists have
suggested that I do.
