Need Some Advice

[Riverspell]

Is there anyone here who happens to have seizures and/or complex migraines? For reference, complex migraines are basically a stroke without a known cause. Also, my mom is about 42-44. Too scattered to remember right at this moment.

My mom happens to have both. It is genetic in the family, but usually doesn't show until the person is quite a bit older. Her doctor suspects that one of her psych medications has triggered the early development of it so they have been moving her drugs around in an attempt to find the culprit.

Her seizures and migraines are usually triggered by stress, low blood sugar, or her gluten allergy (yes, she is that allergic). Sometimes it is all three. The seizures started when I was 11. I remember her first one quite clearly. Since then I have learned the signs of an impending "attack" and am able to get her seated or lying down, get one of her "protein" drinks for her to sip at either before or afterward depending on how fast it hits, and get the proper medication in her to lessen the severity of it. Afterward she is always confused and agitated and can take upwards of a hour to get halfway back to normal. We normally get her into bed if she isn't there already and allow her to sleep once we've made sure she's alright to do so.

The seizures and migraines have been getting more and more frequent over the past couple months and that's considerably worrying. What I'm asking is if anyone here knows of ways to cope with these "attacks"? Knows any good ways to prevent or lessen the severity of them?

Last night she had three seizures very close together. The last two she actually stopped breathing because her chest seized up so bad with the rest of her body. Normally, her seizures aren't the kind everyone expects with all the flailing and stuff. Her body just locks up, muscles cramping and everything. Which is why she's in a lot of pain the next day. Couldn't hardly move today.

This was quite a bit worrying. She has never had a grouping of seizures like that. Usually there's just the one and she's out of it the rest of the day. But last night there was barely a gap between them and the last one she was actually shaking really bad. Whole body trembling and she wasn't breathing for far longer than the one before. Chris actually had to shake her a bit, which we never do cause it doesn't help anything. But we were trying to snap her back, make her breath. We couldn't get to her chest cause her arms were locked over it. I didn't sleep much last night, getting up to check on her so Chris could get what sleep he could for work. Any noise she made woke us both up and she was groaning and babbling nearly all night.

Seriously, I was about to recommend to Chris that we call 911. But she settled enough we thought she might be ok. Just watched her all night.

Anyone have any ideas? I'm going to sit my mom down tomorrow, if she isn't forced by the Major at Chris's work to come in to help, and get out a plan in case I do have to call an ambulance. I know most of her health stuff, but a lot of it has changed in the past couple years so I need to have it updated. Need to know her new medications and the dosages, as well as updated allergies and health conditions as well as her new doctors and insurance information.

My mom was a former first aid worker with the Red Cross before she married my dad and her eyesight and mental health rendered her unable to aid them. So she has been keeping herself updated on everything first aid wise and CPR. She's been training me a bit in case of emergency where she is herself injured and cannot help others or I have to treat her. We seriously have a massive first aid kit with everything known to man and she's teaching me how to use it. Not just basic stuff, but ER grade items too.

But I need some general ideas from anyone that has this themselves. Like triggers for them or things that help them. Things I should make sure I have prepared in case there is a major emergency. Is there anything I should know especially?

We have a lot of black mold in this house too. Very poor insulation so the walls are always wet. Could this mold cause seizures? I have a moderate allergy myself so it makes me sick and headachey. I try to clean it up as much as I can. With a bleach mixture. We have face masks so I wear those. My mom uses the face masks when she has to go into crowded public places because her blood counts are really low, especially white blood cells cause her bone marrow is really bad. Could this do it too?

I'm actually considering that fate put me here with my mom. Chris has to work and can't be home with her. He's come home to find her on the floor from passing out and having a seizure. Her back is bad already, all twisted and shit, so falling is really bad. Now that I'm here I can help her, limit what injuries she gets with these "attacks". I help her clean up the house too and help her watch her friends kids at times when she has to babysit them.

Still really worried about the increase in these and any and all advice is welcome!

[lonelyheartemma]

Oh you must be so worried! Your poor mom. It's good she has you to take care of her.

I have no experience of this myself except that once I went to hospital and they thought I'd had a stroke but the stroke doctor said I hadn't.

I think you need to speak to your mom's stroke specialist or doctor or whoever helps her most. They will be best placed to offer advice and in my experience specialists always say if there's any change for the worse tell them about it. It might just be something small like the mould you mentioned or the weather affecting her but it's better to speak to someone and be sure. I really hope she is feeling better today but I still recommend going to the doctor.

In the meantime I would keep a record of any seizures and note what happens like how long it lasts, what happens, how long it takes to recover as it might be useful for the doctor to know that.