Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy - Epilepsy Message Board

mommajessibelle · 10-29-2003, 06:42 AM

what exactly is this? i have seen a couple people that were diagnosed with this at about 14 or 15 years old so i was just kinda curious i know there are different forms of epilepsy but i dont really know much about them i was diagnosed at age 15 and all i was ever told was i have epilepsy just kinda curious thanks

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

diagnosed with epilepsy jan. of 97

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

radasjewel · 10-30-2003, 06:33 AM

I am not 100% sure on this type myself as I don't have this one. But I visit this other great site that is on Epilepsy and there are definitions for each type and this is the one they give for that particular one.

*Myoclonic seizures involve brief and abrupt jerking of one or more limbs. These often happen within a short time of waking up, either on their own or with other forms of generalised seizure.

The webs site is: [url="http://www.epilepsynse.org.uk/"]http://www.epilepsynse.org.uk/[/url]

I have found there to be a lot of very useful information there and some very interesting reading.
Lori

MandiX · 10-30-2003, 07:38 AM

I was first diagnosed w/ temporal lobe at 15 but they redianogsed me last year with JME. Characteristics of JME are:
-seizures begin b/w the ages of 10 and 20
-grand mal and absense seizures
-myoclonic jerks, especially in the morning before waking
-and the worst part is it requires lifelong treatment, very very few cases of JME ever grow out of their epilepsy.

It's also genetic, which makes sense bc they figured my epilepsy was inherited anyways.

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Mandi
"there's no such thing as normal, just a lot of weird people with things in common."

timbercat · 10-31-2003, 09:01 PM

Mandi,

We were told by my daughter's neuro that JME is NOT inherited, is usually brought on by puberty (more girls affected than boys) and often is outgrown. Many only have the myoclonic jerking and never have grand mals, thus are never diagnosed. Just goes to show the medical community STILL doesnt know much about E. I guess we will keep our fingers crossed that someday they will.

Terri

MandiX · 10-31-2003, 10:34 PM

Terri, I don't want to say your neuro is wrong but I've been told my not just my neuro, but read countless articles on it. Even the one where they have figured out the mutant chromosome (its sketchy there bc some studies say #6, others #15) that causes it. Oh and once again everything I read and my neuro has said it is NOT outgrown. emedicine.com has a good definition of it. Even on EFA's website (http://www.******************.org) it says it is not usually outgrown... maybe you misunderstood your neuro?