A grand mal seizure is when a person loses consciousness and their whole body starts jerking uncontrollably. Now you you can see why this is so dangerous. People with epilepsy have no way to stop it and no telling when the next one will occur.
My second seizure happened at home in my parents bed. I was getting ready for school when I started having tremors in my arms. I went to the kitchen to tell my mom and she told me to go back to bed. As I turned to leave my legs gave out from beneath me so my mom walked me to her bed where my dad was sleeping. Before she left she woke up my dad and told him to watch me. Once again I had a bad headache so I closed my eyes to go to sleep. That's all I remember.
My dad said he was on the verge of falling back asleep when he heard me call out "not again". He rolled over to me and I started seizing. He then called for my mom. She timed it, saying it was under three minutes. She said I stopped breathing, my lips were blue, I was shaking, and I was foaming at the mouth. She said when I stopped I didn't open my eyes for five minutes. She then called out my name and tried to talk to me but I had a blank stare on my face and didn't respond until after fifteen minutes.
Until the doctors got my medication and dosage right I continued to have partial seizures at school. I would be in Chorus trying to hold our music when I would have tremors in my arms and I'd throw the paper every which way. Then I'd get a pass to the nurse's office where I'd call my mom to come get me. Another time I was in Health class. We were walking down the hallway to our classroom when my legs gave out from beneath me. My friend, Jon Lewis, walked with me to the nurse's office and stayed by my side until my mom came.
It never got any easier. They're always embarrassing and for a moment you wonder what happened. After I would have tremors in my arms I'd have a pins and needles sensation coursing through my arms.
My grand mal seizures often took place in public places because I'm stubborn and don't want epilepsy to control my life. Fortunately they never occurred while I was driving or on the stairs. I've had one at Pizza Hut, Pine Ridge High School, my work (Convergys), and at the airport. My friend said she looked up to me because if she had Epilepsy she'd be too embarrassed and afraid to leave the house. My response to that was that my fear was being alone while having a seizure. At least in public there's people around to help.
However, now I'm lucky enough to be seizure free since December 2008! My neurologist is keeping me on Keppra as it works for me and there's no bad side effects! As there is no cure for epilepsy I'm glad that western medicine has come this far! I only hope that their medicines and knowledge of epilepsy keeps evolving so that maybe one day there will be a cure for epilepsy.
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