Epilepsy Talk
What’s the worst accident you’ve ever had? | June 13, 2023
The worst accident I ever had was the one that caused my seizures.
I was at an ice rink, speed skating, when some jerk put his foot out. (A real funny joke.)
Into the boards I went, flying over the ice.
Only to land up laid out in the lap of the skating coach for who knows how long later.
After that came the falling that became my trademark.
I fell upstairs, downstairs, on the pavement (resulting in some lovely concussions), but my parents refused to recognize them as seizures.
I was just clumsy. And not diagnosed until two years later. (Tonic-Clonic and Absence Seizures.) And then treated like a leper.
It was a long journey to become who I am today.
What was YOUR worst accident?
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Reblogged this on Disablities & Mental Health Issues.
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Comment by Kenneth — June 13, 2023 @ 9:59 AM
Worst accident has to be in dad’s car as a boy where the car had a blow out in front tyre and went straight into a lorry. Because passengers were wearing seat belt’s it was minor injuries only but car was a right off!
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Comment by Kenneth — June 13, 2023 @ 10:04 AM
I had a Tonic-Clonic seizure while I was driving home from work and took down a pole on an expressway..
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Comment by donscuda — June 13, 2023 @ 10:15 AM
Biking over the Longfellow Bridge in Boston, I had a complex partial seizure. I got off my bicycle and waited for it to pass. When I was cogent enough to recite the alphabet backwards to my friend, I hopped back on the bike. Then I had the first tonic clonic seizure I’d had in 15 years. I wasn’t badly hurt, luckily. Wound up in ER due to the seizure. I subsequently stayed off the bike for a while, to make sure bigger seizures weren’t a recurring pattern.
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Comment by lauraberetsky — June 13, 2023 @ 12:53 PM
I drove a bike into a tree. That was it for me. 😦
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Comment by Phylis Feiner Johnson — June 13, 2023 @ 12:57 PM
Crossing the road that had a thirty miles per hour speed limit, I was struck by a car travelling at sixty miles per hour. This left me with depression in my skull along with a twisted brain as well as post-traumatic epilepsy .
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Comment by maxwell1957 — June 13, 2023 @ 1:14 PM
I had 2 CLOSE CALLS, which 1 later turned into a GRAND MAL after driving at least 8 miles on a road where I knew I was when the seizure AURA started but I knew the pattern. I later after 7 miles turned onto a road & 1 mile away a friends home was there but NOBODY was home that night as their house was dark, when there was always lights on at 9:15PM. SO at 9:17 I noticed the time & later I looked at my clock in the vehicle & it was 9:32. So I sat there after taking my LOBELIA HERB to prevent another 1 from happening, with the keys on the passengers seat, and at 9:40 I started up my SUV & went home for the last 2 miles, got to the back door & walked over to the recliner, sat down then went to bed at 10:30, all that happened in FEB 2017. Another time I was coming home from work ”earlier” than normal as it was SUMMER of 2000, with the HOT & HUMID weather we had that triggered a seizure feelings & ALMOST, a GRAND MAL happened, as my LOBELIA HERB I took then did what it was suppose to do, after i pulled off the road 1/2 way home of 20miles, & I sat there for 30 minutes. When I knew all was okay I drove the rest of the way home & nothing was ever to been worried over since until that night 7 years later. Since then I am ALWAYS on my guard of the DRUNKS & OTHERS on the roads with cell phones & talking on them & eating while THEY DRIVE. I always look at my EYES as they tell ”me more than anything” what is going to happen in the next 5 to 10 minutes when seizure aura may start. XCOPRI seems to be stopping that for now for the past 19 months. PRAISE GOD !!!
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Comment by James D — June 13, 2023 @ 2:15 PM
James, thanks for the Lobelia tip.
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Comment by Phylis Feiner Johnson — June 13, 2023 @ 2:33 PM
Had a seizure just two blocks from home while I was driving. When I came to, I noticed my legs were inches from the motor and later learned that was because the car was about six feet in the air and came down on the front end.
Then I noticed my back was bent at a 90-degree angle…in the wrong direction. To this day, I still get steroid injections to control the spinal pain.
One thing I think we’ve all been through – an ambulance came and this time I needed one, but I kept thinking about all the times I didn’t need one and told them to leave me there. Good thing my son was there to transport me to the hospital. I ended up with a cracked toe and the spinal issue.
But here’s why I can’t call this the worst accident I ever had. The accident led to my desire to get really serious about controlling seizures. That led to me watching neurosurgery on TV and deciding that was my best shot. That has led to 22 1/2 seizure-free years.
So let’s call it the day I made the best of the worst!
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Comment by Ed Lugge — June 13, 2023 @ 6:57 PM
You ROCK Ed!
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Comment by Phylis Feiner Johnson — June 13, 2023 @ 7:14 PM
I had a tonic clonic seizure and fell down the stairs… and went into statis epilepticus. My boyfriend and I had just broken up but he texted me that morning and I hadn’t responded. He asked me to please respond or he would have to drive over to check on me. And thank goodness he did or I would have died. I lost a lot of my memory and didn’t even know who he was when he visited me at the hospital. My parents were talking about finding long term care for me. But thankful I did get better. There is a lot of memory that never came back. I struggle with a lot of memory issues anyway but that accident was definitely my biggest.
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Comment by Kelly Falk — June 13, 2023 @ 8:20 PM
i was in charge of a class at the swimming baths, epilepsy had just started so I didn’t know what might happen, had a tonic clonic seizure in the pool, no life guard on duty, but one of my girls, just 10 yrs old, had been taught how to rescue, got me out, and I came round in hospital, my life was truly saved by her
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Comment by Miss Gail Barry — June 14, 2023 @ 3:36 AM
That gives new meaning to a “life saver”!
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Comment by Phylis Feiner Johnson — June 14, 2023 @ 9:25 AM
I have been in a few car accidents where the pain of the injury caused my seizures. But those weren’t my worst injuries. Those were usually from landing face-first on a sidewalk. I was walking 2 large dogs once and woke up on the sidewalk with my dogs standing guard. My jaw was out of place and my face bleeding in a couple of places. The dogs were sort of helpful. They wouldn’t let the meter reader approach and assist. But I managed to speak well enough to let him know to contact a neighbor who knew my dogs. She also had my husband’s phone number. (Never did find out if the dogs pulled me down or I seized and fell.)
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Comment by maralou1 — June 16, 2023 @ 1:48 AM
I’ve fallen down lots, but usually end up on my face or head, with a few concussions. But I didn’t have anything as radical as you! My heart goes out to you.
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Comment by Phylis Feiner Johnson — June 16, 2023 @ 10:44 AM
The worst epilepsy seizure that I have ever had was in the flat. I got up from the couch, and fell over on my left ankle, and broke it . I didn’t hear a crunch or a snap, I thought that it was just a sprain. I didn’t think that it was that bad, until I had to go to hospital at 5.30am about seven weeks ago. I have a moon boot on my left ankle, and I have to do excersices four times a day. I have to start having my first physiotherapy appointment this week.
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Comment by Samantha Lidster — June 17, 2023 @ 6:24 AM
Two broken ankles here. One on the left, one on the right.
I put off going to the hospital with the left one until I was doubled over in pain.
Then it was the good old boot for me and physical therapy, too.
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Comment by Phylis Feiner Johnson — June 17, 2023 @ 9:12 AM
My wife and I were in Key West, FL for our 30 wedding anniversary. Went jogging approximately 10:30 a.m. A bridge was nearby and I slowly jogged as usual, looking down at the beautiful yellowish green water and the fish, stingrays. Got back to the little cottages at which we were staying. Getting ready to walk up 3 steps to the cottage landing and then the seizure. Fell on the 2nd step, loss of consciousness, leaving me with lips bleeding (swollen for 2 days after), forehead bleeding, cuts on one upper face cheek under the eye (swollen also), cuts on one arm, scrapes on one leg, one swollen knee….you know the whole gambit. We had already committed to another couple to travel to meet us for dinner. I couldn’t cancel. I looked like I’d been in a war-zone and please, not being funny, in regards to our brave men and women in uniform. Most embarrassing moment in my life was the way other diners were looking at me. I looked horrible and I felt I was actually ruining their good meals. I finally learned about ‘heat’ being a trigger.
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Comment by Roy Anthony — June 20, 2023 @ 6:06 PM