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post-op seizures

Fri, 03/19/2004 - 09:27
Hi. This is my first post. I'm a 27 year old male living in NJ. I had surgery 6 months ago to remove a cavernous angioma leison, which was believed to be the cause of my simple/complex partial seizures. The angioma was found a little over 3 years ago, but was considered not operable based on how deep it was, nestled in-between my motor and sensory cortex's. I was placed on Dilantin, and told to "have a normal life." Well, anyone who's been on dilantin knows what constitutes a normal life once being placed on the "mother of all mind-messing" medications. After 3 years of constant switching of medications from Dilantin to Keppra, from 300-3000mgs of Keppra daily, to the additions of Tegretol, Lamictal (my body seems to build an immunity to any anti-convulsant after roughly 3 months, give or take), it was decided to try surgery. As I mentioned earlier, I had the surgery to remove the lesion; done by two of the best-neurosurgeons in NYC. My 6 month recovery was a cinch, no long term motor or sensory loss, some tiredness, but on the whole, not too bad, aside from now having ice-pick migraines (but at least the meds for those are fun...lol). But alas, once I returned to work (which is a toxic environment in itself) my seizures have returned; them being solely complex partials with some consciousness lost or altered. So now we are exploring new options, as I can't constantly be changing medications (aside from being on an inhuman dosage of them) for the rest of my life. I have no problem having epilepsy, but it's the med issue that makes it a problem. Anyway, I'm glad that I found this site, some of your stories have helped me tremendously. And I'm glad that I could get my story off of my chest; not to complain about it or scare others from surgery (actually I just had my 6 month post-op MRI, and it showed a completely succesful removal of the leison, which in itself is a positive, with no more risk of nerve damage) but hopefully I can help others with their situations. Aside from all of the b.s. of this, I am glad that I had the surgery, as at that point, I thought that something had to be done, and its unfortunate that removing the lesion didn't result in no longer having epilepsy, and would do the surgery again in a heartbeat; risk is always part of the game. I just am thankful that I have an amazing support system, and have learned how to cope with this, I probably intellectualize it too much, but I find that it seperates feelings of "why me" and depression. So if I can offer anything to anyone, I'm a good ear.

Comments

Re: post-op seizures

Submitted by dgpatel on Sun, 2007-07-01 - 19:33
Hey Bryan, I was originally from Jersey and had some of my testing done there, but now I am in Atlanta,Ga. I am 27 as well and beleive the simple partial complex seizures started at the age of 10. My RTL surgery ended about 3 weeks ago. I am doing well, but I too have experienced some seizures after surgery. From what I have read and beeen told, it is a common thing. If you know anything else about this, please do share. Thanks much! David P. -DP

Re: post-op seizures

Submitted by nmt209 on Sun, 2007-07-08 - 09:23
I had a similar surgery 4 years ago to remove an arteriol vascular malformation, roughly in the same area as yours. MRI after MRI comes out clear, with the exception of scar tissue. My seizures returned (partial focal, left hemisphere) about a year later. I was told this was due to scar tissue from surgery. My seizures seem the same as those which I experienced before surgery. As they have gone on over time they worsen. I was prescribed ativan in case of a seizure. I have been using this more than I would think "controlled epilepsy" would require. My seizures are triggered from lack of sleep, caffeine, and stress. I fear that this will never end.

Re: Re: post-op seizures

Submitted by dgpatel on Sun, 2007-07-15 - 23:17
Thanks for sharing your story, I am still getting these simple partials leading to complex-partials.... hopefully the docs can do something, because they last less than 5-10 seconds! But hey! Don't worry....we will get thru this in time! Be Well, David

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