Well, and here’s where this gets very interesting.
My firstborn child has always been a mover & shaker. I knew she was going to be a pistol when I felt her first movements at 13 weeks of my pregnancy. Throughout the 40 weeks, she moved constantly, never seeming to sleep.
When she was born, those first three months were pure h***. She slept in 3-hour increments at night. During the day, naps were 20-30 minutes. She was awful to try and settle down especially in the evening. One of us constantly held her/wore her/rocked her. We found swaddling to be of help, and having her upright to see everything. She fell asleep usually from exhaustion late at night, and awoke before 6am for years. We attributed the way she was to her being wired as a person who wanted to absorb it all, be everywhere, learn everything,who loved being around others.
When this child would sleep throughout grade-h.s., she was all over the bed all night long; moving, flopping, stretching, the same as en utero.
She graduated hs above 4.0, with a 30 ACT and 10 college credits. She played varsity vb on winning team w/personal awards, state champ in track, choir, intern for state Rep., Mayor’s Council, student council & body president, unquenchable reader, volunteer, academic awards, K-life, on and on.
Ffw. to April of last year...this is still so difficult to recall so please pardon that I need to speed through this.
Actually going back to fall semester, my daughter did very well in gpa considering all she did and attended. All home football games, intramural sports, going through sorority rush, 1st semester in college. She drank lots of coffee, studied all the time in the library, attended labs and study sessions with student leaders.
Then second semester, in April, she had a sz and fell from her loft bed at 2 in the am, sustaining a pretty bad concussion. Nothing showed on any neuro tests for a sz cause, so the neurologists chalked it up to a high-achieving, very stressed out, way over-caffeinated, reduced immune-system, extremely sleep-deprived freshman student. She wound up making the Dean’s list then came home for the summer, taking two summer courses while working. She did complain that she didn’t feel rested in the mornings, that she often had trouble falling asleep.
During the summer, three months later, she suffered two more (generalized t-c) seizures while at home in my presence each lasting about 5 minutes. Tests still indicate nothing. She was put on keppra a week before returning to school as a welcome-week volunteer. She insisted on going back.
Fall semester, she increased her dose two or three times, and overall could be considered a success as she earned a 4.0. Sorority, football games, all of it. Slept a little more knowing that was a trigger for szs, and for the first fall in maybe 5 or more years, she wasn’t sick - no colds, sinus infections, nothing bronchial.
Semester #4 which she’s in currently, the side effects from medication have begun kicking in. She’s forgetting very simple information. Her mood had been depressed, starting to feel like she isn’t cut out for a career in medicine, isn’t smart enough, wants to stay home instead of socialize. Not like her at all. Drs have tried switching her off the keppra, but she’s reacted to the two new medications by vomiting and developing a large rash. Her grades this semester have suffered. I don’t think she has even one A due to her memory impairment.
A few weeks ago, she suffered some very bad auras in close succession. Enough so they got her attn and her friends drove her to the ER. Her neurologist increased her dose again, even with the side effects being as they are, so her szs could be controlled and she could finish the semester and we then will have time to come up w/a gameplan.
All of that said - just as a mom looking at her life. She stayed very active in the transition from h.s. to college. However, her intense training in sports went from a 9 or ten for at least six straight years to maybe a 2 or 3. She never has been a fluid drinker, but her fluids of choice have mostly been water and gatorade. In college, she stopped drinking gatorade and only drinks water. She isn’t a salter of food. I also think her restful sleep has probably been reduced while she’s been at college.
I find the brain is more foreign to scientists than the moon. We feel like forensic investigators looking at every detail for a clue to learning what went wrong anyhow to fix it. While I may come across as emotionless, I assure you, it’s only to keep myself together explaining my interest in this thread.
If anyone wants to throw this to a relative or friend who’s a neurologist, plz have at it. I’m completely open to one of you being placed in my path as God’s blessing to us. Thanks for reading all this. :)
I know very little about seizures other than the neurons in the brain begin firing excessively creating an overload on the brain rendering processing impossible. Since she was always active in sports it could have been from an injury she sustained many years earlier, and may have been finally triggered by excessive caffeine intake. But of course that is all conjecture on my part, obviously due to no training in the medical field.
I also conjecture that her lack of desire to socialize is due in part to her not wanting to embarrass herself in public, which is perfectly understandable.
The problem with seizures is that you can be fine one second and at a total loss of control the next second.
That alone would be enough to make anyone think twice about going out in public because not only could it bring about embarrassment but it could place that person or others in danger. Such as walking out into traffic, or driving causing an accident.
You're correct that we really do not know enough about the brain other than a simple understanding of how the brain functions. When it comes to functioning abnormally is where we lack knowledge. We have made strides for sure, but not enough and we probably will never get there, though I hope I am just being overly pessimistic as usual on that thought.
If just saddens me to no end that someone with such potential is afflicted with this, while other perfectly healthy people cannot even motivate themselves to work, and instead rely on others to provide for them.
I will say prayers for your daughter that the cause at least will be discovered so that the proper treatment regime can be established. I will also pray that someone on this board sees this thread who either possesses or knows someone with knowledge to intercede on her behalf.
May God Bless you and your family and bestow a miracle that will enable your daughter to return to her former productive, engaged, self.