Please Help, I was Wondering Seizures vs. Puffing magic Dragon...

[purplehazemaster]

Hello everyone,

My life blows, its been going fine until lately, I had all this shit going perfect for myself, until now, i mean, i graduated highschool, I just turned 18 several monthes ago, and I was just on the verge of moving out of my mothers house and into an appartment with roomates, to finally get out on my own and be able to work, andhave a fun party life. I started smoking when I was like 15-16, and loved it, and then what do you know? The week before I am going to move out, I am diagnosed with 'seizures' or epilepsy, some kind of convulsion bull shit! So I was forced to take 3 weeks off of work, stay in the hospital for 4 days, on all these crazy meds and iv's and shit, and I get out of there and they tell me I can't drive for 3 monthes! (a DMV law where I live) so everything I had been looking forward to is smashed to shit, and now i walk every where I go, I was just wondering if anyone else on here has ever has a seizure, and still smokes? I mean It sounds funny but other than this I am like A+ heath , so, I am curious if any of you have heard about any dangers of smoking weed while you are in this condition OR maybe if it would interact with (the weed) my med's which I am taking "Phenytoin SOD" and I already read all the sheets on drugs.com, it says not to drink and shit, but not one thing about using marijuana or even smoking TOBACCO,? which I unfortunately do as well, I didn't bother worrying about smokeing cigarettes becuase I needed them, it wasn't an option, 1st thing I did when I got outa the hospital. lol. Please read this though, and let me know it you know any one that is as unlucky as me, I think this is such bullshit, and I may have to go in for some damn brain surgery for dis shit! very scary, wish me luck, thanks guys, peace out-
prple.:rasta:

[birdgirl73]

Hey there, PurpleHazeMaster.
Sorry to hear what you're going through, but look at it this way. All this testing and medicine and the driving restrictions are to make it so you're safe to proceed with the rest of your life, which you'll likely be able to do very shortly. With as much wide-open future as you have in front of you right now, the last thing you'd want to do is get out in a car, drive someplace, and have a seizure and kill yourself or someone else. Seriously. Giving up driving temporarily while they get your diagnosis and meds straightened out is a fairly small sacrifice compared to that, right?

Phenytoin is a very common seizure drug, and it's wise to heed that advice about not drinking while you're on it. Actually, any drinking you might do isn't good for the seizures themselves (it can trigger them), and then there's the drug interaction with phenytoin on top of that. I think it'd be wise not to smoke weed right now, either, just for good measure. It probably wouldn't hurt you, but no one knows, and if you're going to be facing surgery, your lungs and entire body need to be as clear as possible, both from weed smoke and tobacco smoke, so you can tolerate anesthesia well and heal once any surgery's over. Some doctors believe cigarettes can be seizure triggers, too. It doesn't matter how much you think you need cigarettes, your body needs you not to smoke more right now. Exercise will help you deal with the stress you're under if you need a stress-reliever.

I don't have a seizure disorder, but I have had brain surgery to correct a malformation that I apparently was born with. I had to go through all that same stuff you're going through, only fortunately seizures weren't what started it. Visual trouble and balance problems were. I know several people who do have seizure disorders, however, and they manage quite well. Surgery is scary, but it's not as scary as living with the consequences of not doing an operation when it's necessary.

Yep, brain stuff is scary. It's heavy-duty, too, because that's where you live. That's why you have to do everything the docs and medical folks tell you. Because it's serious and practically everything you do starts with--and in turn affects--the brain. Let me know how you're doing!

[purplehazemaster]

hey, bird Girl,

Thanks for your post, yeah your right about those things, I understand I shouldn't be doing much of any kind of illicit things right now, but as you said things like this are very stress full and I think I have been feeling sorry for myself too much, (I've heard that alot lately;) ), you sound like you know what your talking about. That medicine sucks well I don't know if its the pheny, or maybe side effects from the seizure, but for 2 days after i got out of the hospital, I was fuckin up talking real bad, like for example I would say can 'you pass me a ....(thinking of coffee cup) a....a....shit!" and i couldn't think of what I was gonna say, sad shit like that, but now its been 3 weeks and I am perfectly acting 199% normal, nothing wrong at all, except what I can't see (on thee inside)., And another think too when this shit was happening 3 weeks ago, like you said I wouldn't want to kill anyone driving, I thank goodness I wasn't because I was completely like unconcious when it was about to go down, and i was talking and shit (so says family and doctors)
they asked me to do like hand motions and dumb shit to see if I was on drugs and so they say I did most of them but afterwards had NO recalection of them whatso ever, my mother tells me the 1st thing they thought was that I was drunk or high on somthing, and luckily I hadn't smoked in like3-4 weeks prior, so my blood test came back100% clean, and my mother was all happy and shit, haha and the doctor goes "well this new drug called ecstacy sometimes is untraceable in drug tests" and my mother was like, what the fuck? he don't do ex, but that shit was nuts then they say a X-ray or some cat scan and the other doctor runs in and shit and he goes 'u got one sick guy here" and they told everyone what was happenin, and keep in mind Im 100% outa of it, so they have to rush me an hour away to a real good hospital cuz the one we were at did'nt have equiptment for treating "brain" issues, and i get put on life (lung breathing support) to lower blood pressure and ridin in an ambulance doin a buck, and I am sleeping through the whole episode, so it was some pretty crazy shit, and the reason I asked about the trees weather or not I should burn them, was because in the hospital they doped me all up with percaset and vicoden, and then the phenytoin on top of it, do I thought maybe it wouldnt' effect me much but rather be safe then speechless, you know?

-------------SORRY I WROTE SO MUCH------------------------------------

I will deffinately be having the surgery if possible though, doc says I need an MRI , this friday, and they are gonna see the source of my seizure area (hmmm, I dont know what im talking about) gonna see the source of whats caused my seizure, and they will do the operation (brain surgery :confused: :confused: ) like you said, and he said, the only reason they wouldn't be able to do it is if:
1. The spot is to close to the speech coordinating center of my brain, or
2. its to close to the memory coordinating center of the brain,
in which case the surgery could screw up my brain as far as me talking and remembering my family,....so Im on my knees hoping that its far enough away so I can get this bitch out and be back to my fun somewhat healthy, happy life! haha, if not and the doc says no surgery, than its Phenytoin for life :( which means probably only beable to smoke once in a great while, (monthly) and probaly on be able to drink 1 beer :( :( but I also thought about another scary though these guys could totally overestimate them selves and go right ahead chop open my head and fuck my brain to shit, where I end up comming out not remembering my frieds and talking "yike dis, an sthhhlerring myy ssssthpeech up wwreell wweelll bad" so I am very un certain about much of my near future but, here in the expensive state of CT, today is monday, and alls i know is i got four days til, this shit goes down... so I will deffinately let you know, thanks again for your time and posting hope I didnt bore the crap out of you, im just not doing much at the moment and can type quite fast, thanks though, lata'
:rasta:

[birdgirl73]

Don't worry about writing too much, hon, and don't try and write a whole bunch more. You've got a lot going on, and you're communicating great considering everything you've got up.

Do they think you have a tumor or a vascular malformation that's causing the problem? And heck no, you didn't bore me! Having had brain surgery myself, I enjoy reading about this stuff. I'm going to be starting med school next month, and I'm a former paramedic. My husband is a heart doctor. So I like medicine a lot and find the detail interesting.

My mom had a benign brain tumor and had evidence of seizure trouble before and after, and the surgery affected her memory a lot. The brain is such a scary, central place. She can only have a glass of wine now. Same single-drink restriction with her meds and with not wanting to trigger a seizure.

All the wackiness and speech strangeness you encountered is probably just lasting effects from the seizures themselves. That's what I was taught in paramedic training. Basically, it's like you're having an electrical storm in your brain, and that electrical storm sort of fries you for a little while after it's happened. The phenytoin tends to just flatten out that electrical activity and not cause new wackiness. Try not to be offended that they thought it might have been due to drugs. You're just at an age where they routinely suspect that.

Purple, hon, are you now at a big and well-qualified enough hospital to be dealing wtih this stuff, I hope? Are you in a good-sized city? This is heavy duty, and I hope you have access to really good care. I know your mom must be worried sick but is probably trying to act like she's not so she can keep herself together for you.

Take care of yourself and let me know how you're doing!! I'll be thinking about you!

[Captain Hanks]

wow!, thats a real bummer man, im 15 and just started toking a little less then a year ago, want to get my own place and do the things i want to do, cant imagine finally being free and then something like that happening, hope you get better soon

P.S. smoking weed will only make it better, and dont worry about mixing it with your meds, actually back when it was legal almost all meds had cannabis in them!

[kiwiglowbug]

Bugger. I feel for you man. I have personaly been dealing with this shit for 15 years. And feel obligated to write you 10 pages of insight and experience but I dont Have time at the moment (wish I could type). Will be returning to your thread in coming days as I have so much to talk to you about.
The first thing you need to know is that every seisure no matter what caused it does damage to your brain and makes it far more likley you will have more seisures which in turn do more damage makeing you have even more and so on. You have to do what ever it takes to ensure you dont have any more. Lots of people dont smoke or drink and lead full lives.Hard when your young and want to party tho. Alcohol is a major fit trigger proven fact. leave it alone full stop. Weed well I think it's different for different people. Too much of it triggered one of my first seisures. and spins me out majorly now 15years later so I dont touch the shit now. I am here for my interest in horticulture!
I have heard of people who use it to controll there fits but one guy I knew that did that died from having unstopable seisures so I guess weed didnt work to well. The brain is very delicate and at the moment your no one priority is to settle yours down so focus on that dont give your brain any more crap to deal with and see if you cant get on top of it and hopefully lead a normal life. Plenty of time to experience drugs and things later. I live on epilepsy medication and hate it as it suppresses brain function so you dont want to go ther if you can help it. For the moment go with the meds as you cant risk more fits right now. Your at the begining of a twisty road and if like me you mis manage it and slip of the edge you will find it impossible to go back and try again. Will get back to you and tell you my story.

[kiwi]

:o Gosh that was a insightful read. I suffer with accute relapsing Multiple Sclerosis and with this came epilepse. I suffer with alot of seizures but I now spend alot of time in a wheelchair because the M.S has affected my legs so much that mobility is limited.

For the control of the seizures I am on Gabapentin, 900mg a day, and this has been a huge help.:thumbsup:

[Breukelen advocaat]

:o Gosh that was a insightful read. I suffer with accute relapsing Multiple Sclerosis and with this came epilepse. I suffer with alot of seizures but I now spend alot of time in a wheelchair because the M.S has affected my legs so much that mobility is limited.

For the control of the seizures I am on Gabapentin, 900mg a day, and this has been a huge help.:thumbsup:

I don't have Multiple Sclerosis, but do have Celiac Disease, which requires a gluten-free diet. Some people with MS claim to have had remarkable results with this diet, as well. It may not work but it can't hurt you to try it.

Good luck.

http://www.paleodiet.com/ms/
http://www.jsumption.com/imssf/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=listarticles&secid=36

[greenetn05]

i was told i have epilepsy on oct 31, 2003 after i had a major seizure ( full convulsive) the night before and they put me on phenytion that drug worked for a short time but then they changed it to carbamazapine that worked for a short time but then they changed it to lamictal which i take now it dose pretty well even though they just told me in 2003 that i had epilesy i have found out that sence most of my seizures are in my sleep i had it much longer maybe my whole life cause i know now that the attacks that i used to think were panic attacks were accually seizures. any way my seizures are what are known as focal they come from the right temporial reagion of my brain anyway to get to the question about weed and drinking in my case i don't drink at all cause it knocks me out and may cause more seizures as for weed i don't do it alot cause when i have done too much in the past i have had problems from too much too fast so i only do it in moderation but in your case i wouldn't do it cause if you have to have surgery it could cause major problems so i wouldn't do it at least till you get the seizures more under control then maybe you could try it in moderation and i wouldn't drink cause on phenytion it will likely cause you to fall asleep and could cause more seizures and make things worse anyway sorry for ranting so long and good luck and god bless you

[purplehazemaster]

I would like to take the 5 minutes that I have ( must go to work :( )
to thank all of you for taking the time to reply to my post, I appreciate the concern from all of you and I thank you for sobering my pityed attitute towards myself, I think I have it so bad, but I just need to be thankful that yeah maybe I cant drive an shit but at least I dont have regular siezures (only have had one) but at least i am not in a wheelchair or handicapped in some way, I must give you all a lot of credit for dealing with your situations as well, becuase I don't think I would be able to live, If I was fucked up in some way shape or form from the seizures or surgery, tomorrow is my dooms day everyone , i go off to the hospital, to get an MRI of my brain, they will tell me weather or not surgery will be done, and I found out what i have is a cluster of blood vessles that burst that is my cause of the seizures,

wish me luck everyone, I will be thinking of you all tomorrow.