10 Years Seizure Free

It’s been 5 years since I wrote an update about my epilepsy diagnosis. I can’t quite believe it’s been 10 years since my brain last malfunctioned. My last seizure was a tonic clonic on 18th July 2014. I imagine what it would be like if I had a general or partial seizure now; what would it be like? I bet the memories of life with seizures would come flooding back. I’d have to stop driving. My practical and personal independence would be crushed.

During one of my annual neurology appointments I asked my Doctor if I might ever know the cause of my seizure activity. Because no-one in my family has any history of seizures and mine have responded really well to keppra, he believes my epilepsy is not genetic but likely the result of damage in my temporal lobe.

I had an MRI of my head before my diagnosis in 2013 and I haven’t had any scans since then. Doc explained I’m unlikely to need another one because the image scanning technology hasn’t changed in the years since. The interesting thing is, it’s possible these original images might one day be re examined and my brain abnormality evident, because every couple of years research advancements allow radiologists to extract more data from previous scans that wasn’t identified previously. Isn’t that cool.

I like thinking about how research is constantly evolving medical science and in the future we’ll hopefully know more about seizures and why people develop epilepsy.