Personal Narrative: Unexpected Seizure

Seizures or epilepsy are brain disorders where the person has repeated convulsions over a period of time. They’re episodes of disturbed brain activity that cause changes in attention and behavior. Seizures are considered the most common observed neurological dysfunction in children. They are very sudden intermittent episodes of altered consciousness lasting seconds to minutes and include involuntary tonic (stiffening of muscles) and clonic (altering contraction and relaxation of muscles) movements.

I will be talking about a time in my life that was not easy that i had to go through. When I was around age 5 my mom noticed a lot of twitching and blinking of my eyes she was worried and had no idea what it was, so she took me to the doctor. They said I had focal seizures, as a little kid you don’t really understand or know how to feel. But I could just remember my mom constantly worried about me. The reason behind me having these seizures, was when I was born there was a part on my lower brain that didn’t form so it left scar tissue and was causing them. But at the time we were still living in Texas the doctors tried multiple surgeries, but none of them helped so we moved to Tennessee for better doctoring. That’s when I started going to Vanderbilt and ever since then it’s been a journey.

I sat there in my room with tears flowing down my blush pink cheeks. Wondering what was wrong with me, as a salty tear ran along my dried out chapped lips. I thought to myself,” Why am I so miserable? What did I do to deserve this? How am I going to escape this life?” I started to ponder that this was the end of my life, this is how I was going to be, sorrowful. At the lowest point of my life, mother came barging through the door with the look of cavernous concern on her face. She knew that it was time for something to be done, whether I agreed or not.

I awoke in terror. My sister was shaking uncontrollably. Screaming in fear, I jumped out of the bed we were sleeping in to go get my parents. The next thing I knew I was sitting bedside in my sister's hospital room. This is what I experienced when my sister had her first Epileptic Seizure. Although there were many questions and fears running through my mind, the skills and characteristics I possessed allowed me to live life unaffected.

When I was just seven-years old, I was diagnosed with epilepsy. I’d been having small and frequent seizures my entire life without ever knowing of it until one day when I was shelling walnuts in front of the fireplace. Everything I ever knew was being stripped away from me. I no longer had control over any of the muscles in my body, my ability to speak, my actions, nor my sight. All I could do was relax and wait for my brain to catch up and regain control over my body. My life has been changed by epilepsy, but I will never let it control my life.

Seizure: Origins, Text, And History). The second was the importance that prohibition-era cases began to place on requiring a warrant to search and seize evidence (Search and Seizure: Origins, Text, And History). Third was the rising standard of probable cause need to achieve a search warrant (Search and Seizure: Origins, Text, And History). This effectively made Fourth Amendment law standard while ensuring that probable cause was needed to achieve a warrant.

Several people suffer from grand mal seizures but what if you suffered from another seizure and never knew anything was happening, this is called an absence seizure. When a absent seizure occurs the regular electricity of the brain is interrupted. although absent seizures do not look like much when they occur they still can be as dangerous as grand mal seizures. These absent seizures, formerly called petit mal, have impacted my life and I have several gaps of time missing from me. Absence seizures most likely occur at a young age but are often outgrown by 18. With later onset of absence seizures there is a higher chance that they will stay into adulthood. The signs that someone is having a seizure are very subtle and happen only for a few seconds at a time, so the chances of catching one is small.

Seizures occur when abnormal signals from the brain and changes the way the body functions. Many people have seizures but they have different effects on them. Some people have a little shaking of their hands and do not lose consciousness, while others have a lot of shaking and do lose consciousness. While seizures have a range of life changing effects for adults, more needs to be focus on children.

I have no idea what it is like for someone to be battling with epilepsy and I cannot image seeing my love ones go through that. It was interesting listening to Peter Aguero’s humor as he describes his perspective of his wife battling with epilepsy. I thought that the worse part was seeing your love go through a seizure. But Peter shared his story about the postictal stage, “after the seizure,” as he described his wife as a computer trying to reboot herself back online. I can image the vivid image and the loss of hope that Peter had as he holds his wife thinking that she was never coming back and already thinking about who to call in her family. It also was heartbreaking to hear that Sarah’s parents gave no support. That burden and the pressure

Seizure disorders, according to the Mayo Clinic (2015), affect approximately 1 in 26 people in the United States. Persistent, or chronic, seizures result from a condition called epilepsy, a neurological disorder of the central nervous system. It can affect anyone regardless of age, but is more common during early childhood and after age 60. Given the number of people that seizure disorders, such as epilepsy, affect, it becomes helpful to gain a foundational understanding of the disease, including some of the causes, symptoms, and treatments available.

Epilepsy is not what you think. It is a complicated disease, a disease that doesn't just affect one type of person or age. Over fifty million men, women, and children cope with this disease daily. Epilepsy is a mysterious disease to those who are unfamiliar and uneducated about the disease. Many people have preconceived notions about Epileptics. Researching the topic thoroughly, the five preconceived notions I explored have been proven to be false.

Seizures as a general whole suck, because you have these time gaps which can range from a minutes, hours, weeks, or longer. Nerve damage isn’t very much fun either it is very will crushing and difficult as a whole with both positive and negative side effects. It was Father’s day when I was sixteen I ended up having multiple seizures after going to bed the following night I don’t know when they started or how many as a whole, However I got Nerve damage from it in my entire left arm. When I awoke I was in a Hospital bed this time act least, and I was there for Several weeks, and they put Charcoal in me, because of a bad habit of keeping empty old prescription pill bottles. It was my first day awake after the Incident and it forever changed

Electroencephalography (EEG) has a broad use in both medical practices and medical research for diagnosing and identifying epileptic seizures, syncope (fainting), cognitive psychologies, and psychophysiological research (Niedermever, 2004). Commonly used in identifying epilepsy, the EEG helps the doctors to distinguish types of seizures, the reasons to trigger the seizures and also the treatment needed. Types of EEG are different according to test aims, facilities, medical and patients’ situations, and are generally separated into 4 types: Routine EEG, Sleep EEG, Ambulatory EEG and Video EEG. All of the types would record electrical activities of the brain, investigate their potential fluctuations and brain waves, and perform analysis to convert the data into useful information in identifying the seizures. Usually, the EEG test will last for 20 to 40 minutes, and will be conducted by attaching scalp with the electrodes which are connected to an EEG recording machine (NHS, 2017).

Epilepsy, also called seizure disorder, chronic brain disorder that briefly interrupts the normal electrical activity of the brain to cause seizures, characterized by a variety of symptoms including uncontrolled movements of the body, disorientation or confusion, sudden fear, or loss of consciousness. Epilepsy may result from a head injury, stroke, brain tumor, lead poisoning, genetic conditions, or severe infections like meningitis or encephalitis. In over 70 percent of cases no cause for epilepsy were identified. About 1 percent of the world population, or over 2 million people, are diagnosed with epilepsy.

Epilepsy is a condition in which a person has two or more seizures affecting a variety of mental and physical functions. Epilepsy is one of the oldest conditions of the human race. Epilepsy Awareness is important because Epilepsy is a widely misunderstood disorder. The reason that Epilepsy has been misunderstood has been mainly due to research not being conducted until the middle of the nineteenth century. There are six main types of seizures and many treatments that can assist an epileptic patient. Many facts and myths exist about a person who has Epilepsy, which, is why it is an important disorder to understand. A person living with Epilepsy can typically have a normal life after seeking medical advice from doctors.