Seizure 8 months after TBI

[Threefortea]

Good morning, my husband who is 33 years old suffered a TBI. He was in a coma for a month and it then took him another 3 months to start to wake up. The prognosis was poor from a mobility point of view but in the last 4 months he has absolutely amazed the medical teams and started walking unaided. His memory was very poor and he was very confused but over the last month this has really improved and he even had a discharge date before Christmas as they believed he could live independently. On Wednesday last week he moved rehabilitation centers and within 24 hours he suffered a large seizure. We are now 5 days on and my husband seems to have digressed back around 4 months. It's heartbreaking. This is the first seizure he has had. Has anyone else had a similar situation? Any advice would be very welcome.

[cat3]

I'm so sorry your man has suffered this setback after making such good progress ; it must be an awful blow for you. But although seizures are common after brain injury they're not usually a permanent setback and there's every chance the doctors will get control of them with the appropriate medication. I've no direct experience of seizures so I can only suggest you trust in the medical staff to get the your husband stabilised and, hopefully, back on track with his rehab.

Maybe you could contact the Headway helpline for some guidance and support. The number is 0808 800 2244 (free calls - office hours) and they'll be happy to provide helpful information to help you better understand brain injury and its after-effects.

I just wanted to wish your husband well and I hope you both have better days to look forward to. Cat x

[DTBI]

Sorry to hear of your husbands seizure. I had my TBI 6yrs ago and to start with had seizures, which always set me back. However, whilst they made me go backwards, my recoveries became quicker. As such, I would hope your hubby is making progress, although any seizures are not likely to convince you of any progress he’s making. I’ve not had a seizure in the last 3yrs, once I got a grip on what I needed to look after and changed my medicine. Good luck with it. x

[Mikey48]

I suffered a SAH in Dec 2015 and had 3 months rehab. I did suffer a seizure but not until Jan 2018 so there appears to be no pattern to this. I was put onto Levetracetum and have been seizure free since. I'm sure your condition can be managed and I wish you a healthy future.

[happytimesahead]

Hello cat3,

Sorry to hear about your husbands situation at the moment.

I too went through The similar situation.

I had my surgery around 5 years ago.

I was in hospital for 6 months.

I had my first seizure after around 4 months if I remember correctly.

Anyways you’re husbands recovery will take a long long time with ups and downs along the way.

Seizures are a horrible horrible thing to deal with.

It takes me around a week to get over the ones I have/had,Having said that, I haven’t had one for around 8 months.

I think the most important part of seizures is getting the correct meds/brand to control them.

It took my doctors around 3 years to get me on the correct pills.. the brand name is KEPPRA levetiracetam.

I’ve since found out the nhs are more reluctant to supply these as they are expensive for them to buy them from the drug company’s.

What epilepsy pills does you’re husband take at the moment and dosage?

I would recommend you ask for these pills for your husband.

Anyways I hope this message helps?

Keep going up with get there in the end.

Best of luck to you.

[WinB]

I have had Epilepsy since puberty, as I got older and older they slowly went to 1 a year approx then had a real rough one after my SAH. Told Epilepsy Doc and he said "I'll book you in for MRI" results came back "Nothing to worry about a small chronic bleed that has healed itself" I was in panic mode and it said chronic ..Now to me it's bad..I was dead in my mind. Didn't want to know about it. Eventually I looked up Chronic in brain bleed = mildest of 2 ie 1 is acute the other was chronic . A lot have epilepsy after a TBI /Brain bleed and some don't. Our Brain has been through hell and back excuse my phrasing once hubs is on correct pills they should help xx I know how you both feel as they are scary to have and scary to watch ..after seizure/ fit just let him lay there and make him comfy. Not nice things but ask Doc about it and Good luck to you both xxxxx (My bad seizure /fit felt like I was that girl in the film The exorcist it was that bad) xxxxx