My mother had a seizure sometime Friday the 13th between noon (last time she was seen) and when I found her unresponsive on her bedroom floor at 9:30 pm. She was put in the ICU for a couple of days and she was unresponsive until the middle of the next day. She has lost her STM and she moved to a new house in Sept 2002 and she thinks she lives in her old apartment. There are alot of other things she can't remember. They have transferred her to the psych unit because they can't find anything medically wrong with her. Since she has been in the psych unit she was having some smaller seizures and when I brought it to the attention of the nurses, they said they would note it. When I was asking the social workers about getting treatment for the seizures, she told me that they aren't sure if she is actually having seizures because "most people become unconscious and urinate". At this point I started calling around to see if I could get her transferred (I can't she is on a hold). They did call in a neurologist and they did an EEG (they said it was fine) a MRI and a contrast MRI. They have not told me the results but they start her on Keppra in addition to Topomax. Her memory has gotten a little worse then it was, but it is slowly coming back. We have until July 7th when she has a civil commit hearing. I do not want her to get commited to the state system.

The psych ward staff pretty much just babysit her and they aren't really helping her with her memory. I have taken her note pads and markers and some childrens activity books just so that she can work on stuff to stimulate her brain. I don't really know what I can do. Some of the other patients that are in the psych ward for psych reasons take advantage of the fact that she can't remember stuff, and take her stuff and she can't remember what she had to tell the staff.

Does anyone have any ideas of something we can do to help her. Visiting hours are limited noon to 1pm, and 6 to 8pm. I work during the day so I pretty much only visit at night.

Dusti

I'm so sorry that this happened to your mother. It sounds like it was a bad seizure. Memory loss is very common with grand mals. I had one in October where I had to drop all of my classes and move to my parents house because it wiped out both memory and basic orientation/navigation skills within the city. Don't worry to much.
It was a good idea to buy her the notepads. Maybe buy her a nice little journal and try to get her to write things down, perhaps she can keep of everything there, at least until she feels better.
P.S. I do not like the side effects of Keppra, but it seems to very effective, I don't know about the other drug...
Best of luck and I hope sincerely
that things improve,
C

[This message has been edited by cbb (edited 07-01-2003).]

im sorry for what your mother is going through ,after reading that she is having memory problems i felt i needed to post this ,i understand she had a bad seizure but still topamax does some crazy things to your memory i was on it for a while and was just taken off of it on wed. so i could do an amblatory eeg after i was unhooked from the eeg on monday my dr decided not to put me back on topamax because of the awful side affects from it i have now been off of it for 6 days and am feeling much better my short term memory that i thought was gone is returning and that is only after beeing med free for 6 days it takes about 3 weeks to get it fully out of your system but now that im not on anything i feel like a whole new person im not having problems with my memory is the biggest i mean when i was on it i could go 2 blocks from my house and get lost it was horrible this might be something worth checking into i know every one reacts differently to meds but it still might be worth checking into

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mother of 3
ages 4,3,and 1
my pride and joy

live life to its fullest you never know when it may be to late to do all the things you would have done tomorrow

Hi Datroubl,

My names Lisa and we deal with both Epilepsy (my baby) and Alzheimer's (my father in law) in our home.

Can you answer a couple of questions for me about your Mother?

How old is she?

Before the day that you found her on the floor had you noticed memory loss on a smaller scale? You mentioned that she had moved and thought she was still in her other home... Does she forget people? My FIL often calls my husband by his uncles name, because he looks so much like his uncle when he was younger. Missed placed items?

Has she ever had seizures before, in her youth, during stressful periods in her life?

The reason I ask, is that people with Alzheimer's can have seizures that are not related to Epilepsy. We have not had to deal with seizures in my FIL (he lives with us, so I think that we would have seen them), but we know that they could come on at any time.

You might want to ask along those lines before going the way of the Pysc unit. Remember that Alzheimer's can start in some people as early as mid 50s. There is an Alzheimer's board on Healthboards you might want to look at. I don't go there often - but if it's like the E board you could get a better idea.

Hope that helps and let me know.

Hugs

Lisa and Jake

My mom is 48, and she has been having seizures for a few years now. She did have a little memory loss, but it was kind of minor. Probably from the topomax. She can still remember people, not the ones at the psych ward because they are still fairly new. She remembers a lot of the people from the past, but anyone that comes in she remembers.

It sounds that your Mom is coming along. As you've heard some drugs are terrible on the memory & of course seizers don't help.
I suggest not only bring photos to your Mom to get her brain working, but also any mail she may be getting while in the ward. If she takes care of her bills & such, let her see them. I hope she is watching T.V. while you are not w/ her. CNN will bring back memories & keep her up to date on what is going on "outside".
Before getting on Keppra I had BTW 5-6 seizures a year. I have only had 2-3 minor auras while on Keppra & am now taking Keppra only. Prior I had dilantin & neurontin.
I'm sure you've read of the side effects Keppra has, so don't be shocked if your Mom has a few. They tend to get better in time.
The last big seizure I had before getting on Keppra, left me in ICU for more than a week. My Dad had a hemmorhage bleed prior to that & the stress & lack of sleep nailed me. To this day I still do not fully recall Dad's bleed, his hospital stay & his surgery. A lot I recall is what I have heard from family. That was well over a year ago. I may never remember those terrible months, but what matters now is today.
Good Luck!

Hi,
It sounds like your mom might of had a status sz. which can last for hours and can cause memory loss and brain damage. I also wonder if your mom isn't beginning to get alzheimers if you notice that her math isn't that good and she can remember yrs. ago but not recently those are the first signs of alzheimers and the one thing you can do to slow it down is get her on vitamin e. If it's related to her sz. it could be that the hippocampus of her brain is shrinking a little which can lead to memory problems and learning problems. The reason why I say this is because I've had seizures for 31 yrs. and I've had 2 brain surgeries to help reduce my seizures and when they did surgery they found out that the hippocampus of my brain had shrunk from all the sz. I had over the yrs. now I have a hard time remembering a new persons name but I can remember names from yrs. ago.
I wish your mom and you only the best of luck. May God Bless You Both!

Sue

Originally posted by mommajessibelle:
im sorry for what your mother is going through ,after reading that she is having memory problems i felt i needed to post this ,i understand she had a bad seizure but still topamax does some crazy things to your memory i was on it for a while and was just taken off of it on wed. so i could do an amblatory eeg after i was unhooked from the eeg on monday my dr decided not to put me back on topamax because of the awful side affects from it i have now been off of it for 6 days and am feeling much better my short term memory that i thought was gone is returning and that is only after beeing med free for 6 days it takes about 3 weeks to get it fully out of your system but now that im not on anything i feel like a whole new person im not having problems with my memory is the biggest i mean when i was on it i could go 2 blocks from my house and get lost it was horrible this might be something worth checking into i know every one reacts differently to meds but it still might be worth checking into


Hello,

I was reading your response & saw that you used to take Topamax. I just started taking that. Is is really as bad as all that?
I was maxed out on all of my other meds (neurontin, tegretol) so now i take a mixture. I am seizure free for about 3 mo's, but that is not a miracle I usually go for 2 to 3 mo's w/out one.
I have noticed that my short term memory seems to be getting worse & sometimes I can't remember the simplest things. It's scary.

Joanne