Epilepsy: Adulthood diagnosis – Medical News Today

There was absolutely no warning before the seizure came on. One moment, I was trying to open a door and feeling a bit weak, and the next thing I knew, I was being taken to the hospital by an ambulance. I lost almost an hour of my memory and have no recollection of what happened.

My colleagues told me that I fell into a perfect recovery position, and then, there was a lot of shaking. Once that stopped, I was sort of “awake,” walking around aimlessly and even giggling. It made me feel uncomfortable hearing this story, and I wasn’t keen to find out too much about what had happened.

In the hospital, they did a few tests, and I was told that it could have been an isolated seizure, which can happen to anyone once during their lifetime. To be honest with you, it didn’t feel like a big deal. I felt okay that same afternoon, so I brushed this experience off and moved on.

I wanted to be positive, and I definitely didn’t want to have epilepsy. I always assumed that it was a condition that people develop during their childhood, so how could I suddenly develop it now?

One afternoon, about 10 months later, while I was walking outside, I suddenly started feeling really scared, like I was about to lose control over my body. I knew something really bad was about to happen, and I didn’t know what to do.

I looked around, but there was nobody on the street. I was completely alone. I felt a huge amount of panic and started walking really fast. I didn’t know what was happening, and the panic was rising.

Now, knowing more about epilepsy, I know that this feeling of extreme dread was a symptom called aura that some people experience before they have a seizure.

The smart thing would have been to sit down rather than keep walking, but I couldn’t think clearly. I had never felt like this before in my life.

I woke up about 50 minutes later — again, in an ambulance. Because I was walking so fast while the seizure came on, I fell very hard, hitting my face on the hard concrete pavement.

I was bleeding on one side of my face, and I could taste blood in my mouth. My lips were swollen, but luckily, I didn’t loose any teeth.

The paramedics asked me whether I knew my name, what day it was, and the other usual questions. I was definitely in shock, because I started taking selfies of myself and of my bruised face, so I have this …….

Source: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/through-my-eyes-epilepsy