I've had E all of my life, but my sz's were unrecognized and untreated until I was 27 y.o. and had my complex partial secondarily-generalize into a tonic-clonic.

I tried many medications and combinations, without gaining control over my seizures. In 3/06, I had surgery to remove the part of my brain always causing the seizures. The "seizure focus". Recovery from the surgery was difficult in several areas for me and my depression deepened very significantly. One year later, 3/07, I slipped on the ice and fell hitting the left side of my head (where the brain surgery was done) on icy pavement. Unfortunately, the damage was pretty significant. A very strong "mild" TBI, which increased side effects of surgery and brought up a couple of new issues. Throughout this time, my seizures were controlled though. Just occasional auras, but doctors weren't concerned about the electrical activity within my brain anymore.

After a couple of years of deep depression, doctors pulled me off my anti-epileptic medication ~ phenobarbital. A bad med to be on when suffering major depression. My epileptologist has continued to see me annually since recovering from the surgery and brain injury. He's been very hesitant to put me back onto med's, to control my simple partials, since I'm both highly medication resistant and depression has continued to plague me.

Sorry about all of the information, I just want my post to be more understandable by general population. Many people with E can't even relate to the many set-backs that I've had.

Well, a few weeks ago, I woke up early to go to work in the morning. I got up and a couple of minutes later, I lost my sense of hearing and then sight. Completely black, and silence (minus a quiet ringing in my ears), lasted a minute or so. The sight sense slowly came back, and then the hearing (with the ringing becoming more and more loud). Precisely the same types of auras I used to have before being diagnosed with E. It happened twice, I called in sick to work, and then passed out for several hours. When I woke, I was still exhausted, but otherwise felt okay. Had 2 more seizures, so I called my doctor's office and was advised to go to the E.R.

My epileptologist did an EEG, which showed some abnormal activity deep within my brain, just below the area removed in the left hippocampus. He then put me back onto medication. Depakote ER this time. It knocked me out big time at first, so the doc put the dosage down a bit. The night of my lower dosage (past Saturday), I had a seizure when returning to bed from the bathroom. I called my doc on Monday, to see if we could put me back up to a higher dosage, just at different times. No go. He wants me to come in for intracraneal testing again. A LONG EEG, where you stay hooked up to wires, and on video, 24/7, until activity is seen and treatment decisions are made. Fudgsicles!!

I really shouldn't be surprised, I guess. Treating my sz's has NOT been easy at all. That's why I went to Mayo Clinic. My old neurologist tried everything that he could think of, but he couldn't control my sz's. I'm SO worried that I'm going to lose my driver's license, which will have such an impact on being active with my daughters! My depression is already low, going back onto phenobarbital isn't tempting at all. The Depakote ER is a real tricky med for me. I got pulled off it back in 2000, due to really low WBC count ~ which is when I was put on it's opposite, phenobarbital. These two meds were the best at controlling my sz's. Other meds, and combo's, no luck.

I don't go into Mayo until 6/1, so I have some time to worry about the sz activity and avoiding driving, worry about working, etc. until then. UGH!!

So sorry that this post is SO long! It's all just very complicated. Thank you for reading! Any words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated.