Are you having an aura? Get in touch with yourself!

So what's an aura? An aura is a distinct perception –- either visual, motor, sensory, or psychological –- felt around the time a seizure occurs. Although an aura may signal a seizure because it usually happens a few seconds before a seizure occurs, an aura and a seizure may be separated by as much as an hour. Auras are not experienced with all types of seizures. They are mostly seen in individuals who suffer from complex or generalized seizures. Additionally, auras vary from person to person, and can manifest in a number of ways:

• Vision – includes distortion of images, seeing bring flashes of light or dark spots, or tunnel vision.
• Smell – certain smells may be experienced during an aura.
• Hearing – certain sounds or voices, or a distortion of sounds that are already present, may occur during an aura.
• Feeling an impending sense of doom, anxiety, or fear.
• Nausea
• Weakness, numbness, or tingling of a limb or limbs.

An aura is usually consistent in the person experiencing it. For instance, if a person is seeing flashes of light before he has a seizure, this aura will be somewhat similar each time before that person has a seizure.

While auras can be helpful in signaling to the individual that he is about to have a seizure and needs to be in a safe place, they can also help healthcare providers pinpoint the area of the brain where the seizure is originating.

_Source:

Beers MH, Porter RS, Jones TV. Merck Manual, 18 ed. 2006

That being said, do you know if you have one?  How in touch are you with what your body is telling you?  I used to own a very handsome Golden Retriever that could tell if I was about to have a seizure.  That was so cool. I didn't know he had that gift of knowing when I was going to have one until the day I had a grand mal seizure while mowing my back yard.  He was walking beside me as I was pushing the mower and he started pulling on my pants with his teeth.  I didn't catch on to what he was doing until I went into a full blown generalized tonic-clonic seizure.   What I remember next was him lying next to me licking my face very lightly.   He became my constant companion after that.  It may be not possible for most people but having a dog like that for the person with epilepsy, or the caretaker of that person so if not get in touch with your body and start to to recognize the subtle changes that may be the precursor, or aura,  you need to tell you a seizure is coming.   I started to keep a detailed diary of foods I ate, liquids I drank, and on it went so I could develop a list of what may, or would, cause a seizure. What's happening now is I start sniffing like my nose is running or I'm trying to catch the sent of good smelling cake cooking.   You may have an aura right before a seizure or several minutes before having one.  Whatever it is get to know where you recognize it. 

  If you don't already, a good place to get one is:  http://seizurediary.org/ .  

Start today keeping a diary!

Low Cost Anti-Convulsant Medications - Low costs epilepsy drugs

Low cost anti-convulsants, low cost drugs for epilepsy

I found a great source for low cost AED’s I wanted to pass along.  Go to www.healthwarehouse.com .
You’ll still need a prescription but you can save hundreds of dollars depending on the amount you take

I take 1200 mgs of Lamictal, Lamotrigine  a day so I can save about $500.00 for a 90 day supply.   I do have insurance but until my deductible is met my meds are $700 for a 90 supply. 

There are different programs that will save you money on your meds but you need to pass their income limitation benchmark. 

Hope this helps!

Singers and Seizures

I read about the death of Teena Marie yesterday.  Here’s the report:

Dec. 28, 2010

R&B icon Teena Marie may have died from suffering a grand mal seizure, according to reports that are surfacing after the star was found dead in her Pasadena home the day after Christmas.

Sudden unexplained death in epilepsy, or SUDEP, is typically associated with these most intense seizures and likely results from problems with breathing or heart rhythm, said Dr. Jacqueline French of NYU Medical Center and the American Academy of Neurology. 

My wife’s brother has played with Prince on several occasions so I knew Prince has first hand experiences with epilepsy.

 Got me to thinking about the other singers that have admitted to having epilepsy.  They would be:

•  Jimmy Reed, 1925–1976.     An American blues singer. His diagnosis of epilepsy in 1957 was delayed due to an assumption that these were attacks of delirium tremens. He died after an epileptic seizure.

• Neil Young, born 1945, Canadian singer-songwriter, formerly of bands Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young disliked the effects of his medication; seeking personal stability as an alternative means of control.

• Lindsey Buckingham, born 1949.The guitarist and singer in the music group Fleetwood Mac was taken to hospital after a seizure while on tour, aged 29. His epilepsy was successfully controlled by anticonvulsant drugs.

• Chris Knox, born 1952, New Zealand indie musician (Toy Love, Tall Dwarfs) has addressed his epilepsy in such songs as "Lapse", and it is also referenced in his album title "Seizure".        

• Ian Curtis 1956–1980. The vocalist and lyricist of the band Joy Division was diagnosed with epilepsy aged 22. The cover of their album Unknown Pleasures resembles an EEG tracing, but is actually the tracings of the radio emissions of a pulsar. The condition was a primary cause of his suicide in 1980.

• Richard Jobson, born 1960, formerly the lead singer with the punk rock group The Skids, now a television presenter and film maker. He has absence seizures.      

• Susan Boyle, born 1961, Scottish singer who came to international public attention when she appeared as a contestant on the TV program Britain's Got Talent in 11 April 2011. She had epilepsy as a child.

• Edith Bowman, born 1975, Scottish television presenter and a radio D.J. Had epilepsy as a child.

• Peter Jefferies, born ca.1961, New Zealand musician (Nocturnal Projections, This Kind of Punishment).

• Vusi Mahlasela, born 1965, a singer-songwriter whose work inspired those in the anti-apartheid movement.        

• Hikari Oe, born 1963, Japanese composer who has autism, epilepsy and mental retardation and has created two successful classical-music CDs. He is the son of Kenzaburo Oe, the Japanese novelist who won the 1994 Nobel Prize in Literature.

• Mike Nolan, born 1954, singer and one of the four original members of the British pop group Bucks Fizz. Developed epilepsy after a coach accident in 1985.        

• Adam Horovitz, born 1966, member of the music group Beastie Boys.       

• Mike Skinner, born 1978, also known as The Streets, he had epilepsy between the ages of 7 and 20.

• Geoff Rickly, born 1979, member of the band Thursday, who discovered he had epilepsy while on tour.

• Prince, born 1958, American singer, who had epilepsy as a child and sang about his condition in the song 'The Sacrifice of Victor'.

You can look this up yourself and check the references at  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_with_epilepsy where you’ll also a long list of famous people with epilepsy.

The point I’m making by writing this is to remind you and other people, or tell for the first time, THAT YOU A PERSON WITH EPILEPSY – NOT AN EPILEPTIC.  

 Epilepsy is what you have, not what you are. You are not an epileptic. You are a person with Epilepsy. Epilepsy is a part of your life.  It is not your whole life.  You are not different from other people in any major way except for the brief time you’re having a seizure. Other people may expect that having epilepsy makes you different but that’s their mistake.  Given the chance you can probably live, work and function in the world just as well as anyone else.

Talk to you soon!