Tuesday, January 5, 2010

If It's Not One Thing....

Daughter called about 12:45 today, sobbing. She was obviously very anxious. When I got her calmed down enough to explain the problem, she told me that she'd been sitting in the lunchroom, eating, when all of a sudden she had all these people hovering over her. It sounds like she had a seizure. It was not as bad as some of them have been, and I don't think she completely lost consciousness, but she suddenly started shaking all over. She is now tired and has sore muscles. She didn't chew up her tongue, though, so that is a plus.
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I was planning to pick her up within the hour to take her to see Therapist, so I offered reassurance and diversion-- telling her to go blow her nose and wash her face. By the time I got there, Daughter was sleeping and staff quickly came out to fill me in and seek my opinion. The more I hear about what happened, the more convinced I am that she is experiencing seizure activity again.
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Therapist agrees, and we discussed the choices we may be facing. The cymbalta has been a wonder drug for her. Once she got out of her lethargy and such from the seizure, she was the best Therapist has seen her in months. I just looked it up, and cymbalta has not been studied in people with seizure disorders, so caution is suggested in prescribing it for anyone with a history of seizures. So do we risk her having additional seizures? Do we try to medicate for possible seizures? Do we shift her to a different antidepressant/anti-anxiety medication? Do we try to get her back on the name brand of her seizure medication, since the tremors and such got much worse when we were forced to go with the generic? Why can't anything be easy with Daughter?
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If there is a bright spot in all of this, it is that tomorrow she has an appointment with the neurologist I saw last month. I liked him, and decided to see how he did with Daughter. He's 24 miles away, and her current neurologist is 100 miles away. It would be wonderful if we could shorten the mileage to one of her specialists. I hope he knows his stuff and is up to unraveling the mystery that is Daughter.

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