Today should've been 4 years seizure free. December 18th, 2021 I had a grand mal seizure. It destroyed me for around 4 days. The damage was bad, bit off part my tongue, my muscles were very sore, destroyed my bed (trust me there was no saving it), and we can't even talk about the finances for the ER visit. Medical costs in America are horrifying. I was in the hospital for 3 days and had many test run on me. I am going to be getting treated for sleep apnea and figuring out the cause. Even though this all seems horrible, there have been positive things that has come from this.
Not only did I learn about more about my physical and medical issues, I also realized that I am smarter than I give myself credit for. When I got home from the hospital I was in such a deep depression that I actually considered suicide. I haven't done that for years. After 2 days of hell in my head, I just kept thinking and had an epiphany. I sat and thought about what could actually be the cause of my epilepsy. Now, I thought it was the scar tissue but that didn't make complete sense. Then it hit me, why after almost 4 years I have a seizure.
A piece of information you didn't know about me - I got a Mirena around 4 years ago. I had been on birth control for years to regulate my period. I was on the pill up until I got the brain surgery. After the surgery, I started bleeding and having irregular periods again. We tried resetting the pill and tried different pills but no luck. So I got an IUD (Mirena). It got rid of my periods and helped sooo much with the cramps. Well, it also helped with the epilepsy.
There is a thing called catamenial epilepsy. It is due to a major hormonal imbalance from heavy periods. And after having my IUD for almost 4 years, it started making sense. They have to be changed every 5 years. I had no idea that my hormones had that big of an impact on my epilepsy. About a month after the seizure, I went to see Dr Alexopoulos, asked him about it and he explained it to me. He said that is part of the reason for it. The other reasons is sleep apnea and weight. Which makes sense. The amount of stress it all puts on my brain is wild. So we now have plans.
So from this, we have not only learned more of my issues but have a plan to get things fixed. It explains why I have such an issue with weight loss, why I can't sleep, depression, and more. There are many appointments and tests to come but, we got this!
As far as the brain surgery, I will never regret it. It was worth every minute. I have learned that regardless, I am strong, I am loving, I will be the person I want to be. Still got my tattoo worked on. And this seizure was a reminder of who matters in my life and that I am strong enough to fight it now. The Epilepsy will not win!
