Seizures

[Chris1082]

What about seizures... My partner is having seizures and they are having difficulty getting them under control... They don't seem to be as frequent or as long now but it has been about a week now... Has anyone experienced this...

[melred]

My husband suffered a cardiac arrest with a downtime of 45 mins, just over 6 months ago. He was put into an induced coma and also cooled for 3 days. When they tried to reduce the sedation, he started having seizures. They had to introduce a cocktail of anti-epilepsy drugs to control the seizures in order to reduce the sedation. This was a very slow process. We would count the minutes, then hours between seizures, along with the length of time without sedation. He eventually came out of his coma and was able to respond to command after 19 very long days. He thankfully made a great recovery although he spent 15 weeks in various hospitals. We were constantly told the 'worse case scenario' by the doctors and consultants, but the nurses looking after him were slightly more optimistic. The experts do not want to give you false hope and they really don't know for sure what the outcome will be, but I have read about lots of great recoveries since joining this site. My advice to you is never give up hope, and remember the consultants are only giving you their opinion. My thoughts and best wishes are with your partner,and don't forget to take care of yourself x

[Chris1082 in reply to melred]

Oh my... Thank you for this.. I had a very long reply and hit a wrong button and lost it all... I am very tired tonight. Had a very long, very bad day at the hospital. Very long story. I will finish it tomorrow. LOL Have a good night.

[RogerCMerriman]

It is incredibly early days, Epilepsy does take time to get under control, it’s only been weeks since your partners brain injury?

How are you and partner doing? Remember to look after your self!

[Chris1082 in reply to RogerCMerriman]

Hey Roger... The seizures are under control now. He had developed a slight pneumonia so he has had a lot of lung sectretions, so he has required a lot of suctioning which seems to cause him a lot of distress. But they finally have that under control today. He is waking more often but obviously vegetative and a bit combative. I keep hoping and looking for any little sign that he is coming out of it. Several days ago I had an issue with one nurse and a doctor, but this nurse particularly seemed to have the attitude with me that he is a hopeless case and not worth the effort. Almost as if they just wanted to warehouse him and be done with him. But they have now given him a new nurse, who was special requested by the doctor and she is absolutely heaven sent. He is so so much better today.

[RogerCMerriman in reply to Chris1082]

That’s good to hear, it is very early days but it’s good he’s improving, do make sure you have a friend/family to look after you, one of the brightest things my wife did was ring her sister, to get her to come to the hospital to help deal with well my self in a hospital, and my work and family and so on.