bayou_girl

First of all, I am just curious as to when you wee diagnosed with having a childhood epilepsy disorder, because 2-3 seizures don't warrant memory loss.

Some forms of epilepsy do cause memory problems and they include Simple Partial (unconcsious) seizures with motor symptoms, with somatosensory symptoms, with psychic symptoms, and with autonomic (automatisms) seizures.

Complex Partial (unconscious) seizures with Simple Partial on-set, with impairment of consciousness at on-set, and with partials that secondarily generalize.

Atonic seizures are not partial but generalized, and those can cause falls constantly that can acuse serious injury to the head messing up memory, but those are rarely seen in adults, but are more commonly seen in children.

The other types of seizures that I know about are the generalized types and they include Absence--both typical and atypical, Myoclonic, Clonic, Tonic, Tonic-Clonic.

Some childhood epilepsies include BRE or Bening Rolanid Epilepsy (on-set at 6 or 7 goes away spontaneously by age 15--has typical centro-temporal spikes), CAE or Childhood Absence Epilepsy (on-set by age 4 and is out grown by the late teens or early 20s--different from Absence seizures alone--has typical 3 per-second spike-and-wave brain pattern, and is triggered by flashing lights or hyperventilation--lasts for 5-20 seconds), JME or Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy Syndrome (Has a triad of seizures that include MYOs as main one, GMs, and Absence--has on-set during early adolescence and lasts enitre life. Controlled well by Depakote and nothing else--seizures are brief forceful jerks), Epilepsy with GMA or Grand Mal on Awakening. Wake up and start seizing--on-set at any age from adolecence on), Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome (very severe form of epilepsy that includes mental retartdation, developmental delayes, and more than 5 types of seizures that are NOT controllable--on-set 6 months on through young childhood), West's Syndrome (occurs in infants in the first 2-6 months of life, but can occur later up through 2 years of age, but not there after--carachertized by infantile spasms and an EEG reading called a hypsarrhythmia-a disorganized and completely chaotic rhythm with no pattern to it), Chronic progressive Epilepsia Partialis Continua of Childhood, Benign Epilepsy with Occipital Spike-Waves, Epilepsy with Coninuous Spike Waves during sleep, Eye-lid Myoclona Absences, Self-Induced Epilepsy, and Benign Partial Epilepsy with Extreme Somatosensory-Evoked Potentials.

So you can see there are MANY types of seizures and epilepsy.

Most of those aren't seen as much as the 15-20 that most people talk of or have.

You need to tell me what type of seizures you have, what type of epilepsy or epilepsies you have, how long you have had it, what drugs you take, etc for me to offer anything up to you.

For someone to just say they have had 2-3 seizures and ask a question is hard to know, because it isn't always epilepsy.

I have for example One type of epilepsy, but because it is a syndrome, it carries with it 3 seizure types. In addition to that, I also have 2 loose seizures that have absolutely nothing to do with that syndrome--Absence, and Myoclonic.

I take two drugs, both at extremly high doses.

I do suffer from memory loss. THe siezures fire right in the area repeatedly and have most of my life where the memory is stored, retrieved, produced, etc. My short term memory is totally shot. I can not remember to remember. I can not remember what someone told me 2-2 seconds AFTER they told me or asked me to do it, I start to go somewhere, adn before I get there, I don't remember where I was headed, and I can not bring back the memory, because of how the seizures fire.

Also if I am talking I HAVE to say it when I think of it, or it will be lost forever.

It can be very frustrating, so you do NOT want a memory problem (am not doubting you, jsut saying that you don't want one)

I also have to write everything done, so I remember things, and alot of what is written down, is pretty stupid, but that is what you get with an epileptic that has "no brain"--no pun intended.

Let me know, and I will get back to you, by tomorrow.

Nancy

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-Absence Myoclonic PLUS MTLES
-On Depakote ER-1000 mgs Neurontin-3600 mgs