QuestionHello again. I have some new information that may be useful. First, I've decided to get checked out with or without insurance only because I'm worried for my health. But my best friend managed to confront my mother about the situation and she said that when I was younger I had little seizures and I was diagnosed with teleglobal epilepsy and had liquid on the left side of the brain. The medication I was on was tegretol(sp?) I dont know if that helps. I'm trying to find information on anything i can because i don't have seizures no more, and i was too young too remember them, these things run in my family, and it says some people grow out of them, does this mean I'm still at risk for seizures if i haven't had one in around 15-16 years?
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The text above is a follow-up to ...
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I'm going to try and make this brief... I'm female, 20 years old, when I was around the age of 11 I was diagnosed with something on the left side of my brain. I'm unfamiliar with the illness because my mother don't talk about it, all I know is it was causing me to sleepwalk and I went for all kinds of testing on my head. I was on medication for it for 3 years and it worked, i was no longer sleep walking, then my mom took me off because it was getting expensive. My doctor said I was never supposed to be taken off it but as long as I wasn't sleepwalking he said it was ok for now. I don't remember too much about any side effects, but recently I've found myself being very forgetful, I have loss of memory at times. Like If I'm distracted I have no recollection of my last conversation, I have to think hard about things I've done within the passed 48 hours, and at times I stutter. My head throbs for no reason, more on the left than the right, and just the other day I hit my left side of my head on the door and my whole attitude changed, I just got angry, and I felt the change but for some reason couldn't stop it, I cant see a doctor because I have no insurance, but I didn't know if this is a matter I should worry about or perhaps it can just be caused by stress. But I didn't think stress can do all this to you. I need help. I don't feel like myself no more, I feel trapped and I feel like curling up in a ball and crying. I cant talk to nobody. I need advice. Please help!!!
p.s. im aware this is not professional advice, i just need someone to ask about this.
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Heather,
Insurance or not, you need to see a neurologist in the emergency room right away. They can scan your brain. You are smart to think these symptoms are associated with your brain, because I think you are on the right track. The new onset of stuttering is most alarming, and the personality changes and throbbing also sound serious and very ABNORMAL.
You may have a brain bleed going on.
This hotline appears to be one that you can call with your symptoms to see if you need to be seen right away:
MGH Subarachnoid Hemorrhage (SAH) and
Intracranial Hemorrhage HOTLINE
1-800-888-1SAH (TOLL FREE, 24 HOUR ACTION)
I think you should go to an emergency room because it needs to be evaluated soon and because they have to treat you, even without insurance.
That hotline may be able to give you a second opinion, but if you were my daughter, I'd take you to the ER right away, in case it is a brain bleed.
--Maggie Smith, RN, MSN
AnswerYou know it could be that your memory loss is actually absence seizure (petite mal) activity--small seizures that you don't realize you are having. The neurologist can piece together all the information better than I could, but I'm glad someone asked your mom about your medical history. This website is super helpful. Sounds like they are likely to do an EEG on you, as you might remember, a simple and painless way of measuring the brainwaves.
http://www.epilepsy.com/epilepsy/seizure_absence.html
Maggie Smith, RN, MSN
