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I had my first grand mal seizure about 3 weeks ago. I am 30

Customer Question

I had my first grand mal seizure about 3 weeks ago. I am 30 years old. About two years ago I was diagnosed with ADD and had been taking adderall since. After my seizure- I had my MRI and CT Scan and both came out fine. My EEG however, came out abnormal, my neurologist said that I have abnormal activity every 30 seconds and a petit seizure about 1 once a minute which was causing my inability to pay attention and be wrongly diagnosed with ADD. So the diagnosis was epilepsy. I have been place on Lamicital XR and still on the 25 mg dose and next week I begin the 50 mg and so on.

Why wouldn't my epilepsy been diagnosed or realized at an earlier age?
Why would my first grand mal seizure be at 30?
What are my chance of having another grand mal seizure? - I have not have another since my first one 3 weeks ago.

Optional Information:
Person's Gender: Female
Person's Age: 30

Submitted: 294 days and 23 hours ago.

Category: Neurology

Value: $59

Status: CLOSED

Expert: DrBrain replied 294 days and 23 hours ago.

DrBrain : Hello welcome to just answer.

DrBrain : My views are for educational purposes only.

Customer :

I understand.

DrBrain : Diagnosing epilepsy depends upon symptoms and testing at the time when one has symptoms by EEG.

DrBrain : So it depends upon your neurologist for diagnosis.

Customer :

Yes my neurologist diagnosed me with epilepsy based on my EEG

DrBrain : Having seizure activity is not dependent on age. Moreover the causes are unknown.

DrBrain : You stated that you were diagnosed with ADD before.

Customer :

yes- however my neurologist believes that was a misdiagnosis. Thinking that my seizures I was having every 1 minute were causing my distractions and inability to focus.

Customer :

he also stated that the adderall was lowering my resistance to a seizure- and i have stopped taking it

DrBrain : Ok so at that time EEG evaluation was necessary. Yes it's possible to have lack of concentration after a seizure activity. Yes it's true adderall can lower the threshold.

Customer :

what are my chances of having a second grand mal seizure or more than that for that matter

DrBrain : Your chances of having another is relatively high that is why you would need anti seizure medication which you are taking already, this would help in preventing seizures.

Customer :

even with this medication - my chances are still high?

DrBrain : No. As I stated the medication your are taking would help in preventing seizures.

Customer :

I understand that. I just wanted to know if the medicine even at the lower beginning dosage of 25 mg would prevent a grand mal seizure completely?

DrBrain : You would need to strictly take lamictal as per the dosage recomendeYes by your doctor. Stress should be avoided and good sleep is very important. First you need to start with low dosage and then gradually increase the dosage which would help in preventing seizures.

DrBrain : Yes 25 mg dosage can prevent grand mal seizures completely.

Customer :

Is it true that menstruation can trigger seizures?

DrBrain : Mensturation would not but certainly homronal changes can trigger seizures.

Customer :

ok- and there isn't any way to figure out why my first seizure was at 30? why i didn't have it a younger age?

DrBrain : As I said before seizures can occur at any age. So any abnormal activity in the brain can result in seizure so it can occur in a new born babay as well in a teenager to person who is old.

DrBrain : Let me know if you have further questions, thank you.

Customer :

I felt the answers were a little too vague and I could have found them online.

DrBrain : I have tried my best to privide you answers.

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