jl
My son had partial complex seizures for many years before he began having toni-clonic seizures. They come in several different ways...sometimes he would just diviate his head to one side and his eyes would pulse to that same side and one of his fingers and thumb would twitch. At the Epilepsy center at the U. f Virginia we met a young girl who regularly had them while walking down the hall. She would pick at her arms as if trying to get rid of lent and sometimes wave her arms in the air. She was semi-consious and could remember part of what was happening to her. My son could only remember the first few seconds of a seizure before he went completlely out. These seizures frquently have a focus or spot in the brain where they are originating. At Johns Hopkins and U. of Maryland in Baltimore, they are operating on many poeple with a good deal of success in actually curing their seizures. Unfortunaely for my son, he has too many focii and surgery would be devestating to him. Instead, he had the vegas nerve stimulator implant implanted into his chest wall, and every 5 minutes he gets a 30 second burst of current shot along the vegas nerve into his brain. This has not cured him, but it has certainly made him more alert and has reduced the frequency and severity of his seizures. Talk to you doctor to see if you would be a candidate for either of these possibilities. My son is now 25 years old, lives at home with us, and has had a very tough life because of his seizures. No amount of meds has ever controlled them. He has taken tons over the years. The VNS is as effective as any of them. Good luck and let me know what your doctor says. JL