Anyone else develop seizures while caregiving?

You must, without fail, go the ER stat!

Dear John's Girl, Heed Lilacalani's post! Lots of studies on that! After researching the topic Tonic-Clonic seizures for my son a while ago, I learned that many people who have grand mal are deficient - really low - in magnesium, so get yourself tested for that, for blood sugar, and start taking a good multi-vitamin. It helped my son... I hope it will help you.

On second thought, do not wait to get an appointment with a neurologist. Go to the emergency room. A new onset seizure is not something to play around with.

Stress is not a "trigger" for grand mal seizures. Something wrong in the brain causes grand mal seizures.

You need a total workup, MRI, cerebral angiogram & carotid ultrasound study to determine the cause of the seizures. Stress is not a "trigger" for seizures---do not convince yourself of this. You've got something else going on that needs to be diagnosed and treated. Get to a neurologist ASAP.

Get seen at your doc's or ER stat!

John's girl Please be careful when you go to the neurologists. I had grand mall seizures for seven years and almost died at 84 pounds because of all the medicine the doctors put me on. I ended up in a wheel chair unable to articulate my speech. I was turning into a vegetable. My daughter took me out of the neurologist care and in three weeks I was able to begin to regain my health.
I am not saying to not go. All I want you to know is that seizures can be pseudo seizures or a signal something is wrong. Find out that and be careful to what they prescribe you. Don't forget you know your body.

John's girl,
I completely agree. Our minds and bodies can only take so much. We push our bodies beyond their breaking point before we even realize what we've done not to mention what caregiving does to our minds. Over the course of 5 years of caregiving for different family members I too experienced 4 times my body "just said stop". All 4 times when a Dr asked where's your stress level and I held my hand over my head I was told until I got the stress level down whatever was going on was not going to get better. I hope you are under a doctors care but more important doing as your doctor suggests. Take care of yourself.

After my father passed away - whom I was very close to - I became totally responsible for looking after my mother with no opportunity to properly grieve my dad. So between the two situations my hair started to fall out and I developed a mystery rash. Months and months of tests and doctor visits came up empty so the doctors wrote it off as stress related. On my own I did a ton of research and came up with a vitamin plan - along with certain soaps and lotions and eventually I pretty much got back to normal. Yes - the body seems to be able to come up with a variety of ways to tell you it's time to slow down and take better care of yourself.

I cared for my husband for the long year awaiting his liver transplant, the 4 months it took for him to "recuperate" and did it all alone. Maybe a meal came in from a sweet neighbor who knew of the dietary restrictions we have--but basically, did it all on my own.

Hubby recovers, goes back to work ( 2 week trip) and I begin to have horrible "dizzy spells" which left me literally bedbound. I would get out of bed by "falling" on the floor and crawling to where I needed to go. This lasted almost 2 weeks (no, nobody checked on ME since my hubby was the sick one).

After a barrage of tests, it was concluded that my body had simply "given up" and was forcing me to rest. Since I couldn't focus my eyes, I was laying in bed with them closed 24/7. And I did rest, I slept and slept.

After checking to make sure it wasn't anything serious (I'm not making light of something that was truly horrible to go through) I began to realize that my body will shut down when I am over-stressed. I have had this happen a couple more times. It is my body's way of saying "STOP". And now I am older enough, I can, and I do respect that.

Get checked out thoroughly. The inner stress of caregiving (which to the uninitiated, looks easy!) can kill you.

I am sorry for your mom's decline--but that is going to steadily worsen, so you need to self-protect a little.
Good luck.

My husband has epilepsy, I was reading about what may happen as we age. I read that the most newly diagnosed are over 50. Please see a neurologist and get yourself at the top of your priority list. So sorry for your moms decline.

I had a minor stroke two months ago still recuperating. My dr said stress related.
I'm My 92 years old mom (with dementia ) prime caregiver. She lived with me for 2 1/2 years. Now in asst living.
Nobody is equipped 24/7 to be a caregiver as I did . My family ignored me or my needs for help while she lived with me.

so sorry! as a caregiver myself...i know that last one to be taken care of was me...because at the end of the day, i was toooo tired. i often wondered if i would get ill from all the stress. prayers are with you!

No, this is not "normal" and you need to be checked out by a neurologist. Do it ASAP!

The ketogenic diet was created and originally prescribed as an anti-seizure diet for epilepsy. It became less prescribed when meds were developed to do the same thing, although not as well. There’s no money for Big Pharma in dietary changes. Research is showing that the ketogenic diet is beneficial for many, if not all, sorts of brain seizure disorders. (It is also beneficial for other brain disorders, to include Alzheimer’s, brain tumors, and mood disorders. It benefits Type II diabetes, as well. It can help with Type I diabetes, but one need to be monitored by a medical practitioner.)

To stop the seizures, look up the ketogenic diet, also called “keto” diet. It’s also called the low-carb, high-fat, or LCHF diet. YouTube has a lot of information available.

Some brains do better when fed on ketones (energy produced from fats), instead of glucose (sugar).

Best of luck to you.

You probably aren't keeping a healthy intake of food and fluids, and you could have an electrolyte imbalance, or dehydration. Get to a doctor ASAP to find the cause, and try to focus on you for a change. You need to be at your best before you can help anyone else. I'm telling myself this as I type. I'll pray for you about your health and the whole situation.

John's girl, I'm so sorry that you've had this serious health issue and I'm sorry that you can't be by your mom's side during her health crises. But do heed the warning. As Pam said, upward of 30% of caregivers die before those that are taking care of - and that's not just elderly spouses. It's the strain of caregiving that undermines the health of the caregiver as well as the fact that many forego their own medical checkups and don't eat well or exercise (no time). Few people can do this alone and there is little assistance in the home.

Please take care of yourself. Your mom wants you to be healthy.
Carol

John's girl, Thirty percent of caregivers die before their patients do. You got a warning sign; heed it. I would estimate 80% of families want to care for their elderly, but only 20% have the strength to do it.

John's girl, so sorry to read about your health issues. Oh stress can cause so many health issues, I developed cancer which had no other markers... the doctor said it was stress related... oh fun.

I really believe our elders forget we are in our own age decline, that we aren't the kids they once remembered. My parents probably thought I was still 35 instead of being 70. Huge difference on what I could or could not do. Heavens, there were days I felt like I needed my own caregiver.

Curious, why did your siblings tell you caregiving was "your job"? To me this should have been a team effort with all of them pitching in one way or another.