what's the worst self-sustained injury youve suffered from a grandmal seizure?

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy Forums

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy forums - a peer support community for folks dealing (directly or indirectly) with seizure disorders. You can visit the forum page to see the list of forum nodes (categories/rooms) for topics.

Please have a look around and if you like what you see, please consider registering an account and joining the discussions. When you register an account and log in, you may enjoy additional benefits including no ads, access to members only (ie. private) forum nodes and more. Registering an account is free - you have nothing to lose!

petero

New
Messages
1,722
Reaction score
0
Points
0
referring to physical injuries

and just injuries you've had with no witnesses

like, years ago I woke up sitting on the bathroom floor near pitch black in the middle of the night looking down into a pool of blood
I associate that as being my first grand mal- although I was alone
and at first consideration I was thinking in terms of that being a sleepwalking incident gone awry
but after later diagnosis of epilepsy, the doctor considered that to be partial-szur ->tonic-clonic combo or something

whatever it was I still have a nice 1 1/2" scar on the bridge of my nose/brow

in the morning (much of it dried) cleaning up ...I probably lost a tsp-Tbsp of blood
 
Luckily I've never had a injury, so far.

I almost did during my last one. I was driving the tractor and my dad was showing me where to park it. I was heading for a tree, he thought I was joking, pretending like I was going to hit the tree. He suddenly realized I was having a seizure and pulled me off the tractor and put me on the ground. I can't remember if the tractor hit the tree without me on it though:roflmao:

I've had some good ones while having other types of seizures though!
 
I think I've been incredibly lucky so far. Ive had some fairly extensive bruising before from a seizure in a rock club, a mild concussion another time, but other than that its pretty much bruising and the usual bitten tongue or cheek or cracked tooth. Oh wait, I did crack a couple of fingers once. My tonic clonic are usually nocturnal though so I'm much more likely to hurt myself during a partial.
 
Read about my injuries by clicking on my name. Plus last year I had another burn on my hand during a CP when cooking. Had to have plastic surgery again.
 
I dislocated my shoulder during a seizure. I didn't realize it, and couldn't figure out why I couldn't move my arm without it hurting like crazy... During another seizure I re-dislocated it and tore the labrum in my shoulder. The shoulder started popping out all the time, without any trauma, so I eventually had surgery to patch things up. I guess, I'll never be major league pitcher.
 
Worst physical injury Ive had was from my second seizure. I was in the kitchen cooking lunch and next thing I can remember is waking up on the floor about 10 feet from where I previously was, face down in a pool of blood. Not sure what I hit but had a nice 2 inch vertical gash right where my forehead and hair meet. I cant remember but I think it required 12-14 stitches.
 
oooh a toss up between waking up covered in candle wax that had already dried ( i had stupidly been burning a candle in the bathroom & apparently crawled in there and knocked it over while i was coming out of it , dont burn candles anymore :) ) and waking up mangled in a folding chair ( we had them stored in our house before our wedding ) i could barely walk for weeks and my knee is still a wreck !
 
The worst injury I actually sustained was biting my tongue, when I was first in the process of being diagnosed I woke up at 3 in the morning to my partner on the phone, I'd had another seizure and obviously didn't remember it. I crawled into bed in frustration wondering what the hell was wrong with me and the sheets were filled with blood I looked in the mirror and so was my mouth and face... It was gross and painful.
I've been lucky I've not had any serious injuries but, only because I've never had a seizure alone. The last tonic-clonic I had I ran out of the bedroom and went ran at full speed into the bathroom my partner said I nearly when through the glass and would of had he not stopped me, then I ran to the stairs and nearly fell down them. Had he not been there to stop me I would have been seriously injured.
 
The worst that I can think of, was having bruses from falling. The last time I can remember feeing hurt was in 2000 when I had my last grand mal seizure. I remember waking up, taking a shower, and then going into my bedroom. My mom found me next time on the floor with the towel partially wrapped around me, my face was really pale, my lips were purple, and I had foam coming out of my mouth. She said I was out of it. I remember feeling pain when I "Came to".... so I was brused up pretty bad from falling to the ground.
 
Fractured my Nose, and T1 vertabrae in a tonic clonic falling down my stares, and broke my collar bone over new years.
 
Just bruised up. Something really funny was that before I knew what was wrong, I was in the garage on a bar stool. I fell off onto the concrete floor 3 times, and I guess because I was not thinking clearly, the only thing I thought was " wow that didn't even hurt!' It sure did the next day! I am however so very lucky, and somebody must be watching over me, because the way I was finally diagnosed was after I took a 25 minute drive on the freeway that I still have no memory of. The last thing I remember was seeing 3 of everything, and wondering what was wrong with my eyes. The next thing I knew, I was on the side of the road, with the police screaming at me, and asking if I knew how many people had called 911. I have no idea what I said-I did not even know where I was! I don't remember much about that day. I refused to go in the ambulance, or the hospital. I still have no idea why! The doctor said he has no idea how I drove that far and did not crash.
 
...My mom found me next time on the floor with the towel partially wrapped around me, my face was really pale, my lips were purple, and I had foam coming out of my mouth. She said I was out of it.

the last time I ended up at the ER (leaving home I was coherent and figured I was postictal from sleep - coherent not for long) the diagnosis was a psychotic seizure episode
I keep pressing my mom (who came to my house to check on me and she called the ambulance) for info as to what happened at the ER, for the sake of my own sanity and clarification, keeps up with "just laying there on the gurney.. occasionally waving my arm in the air and mumbling things" doesn't clarify much - basically saying "out of it"
I'm beginning to think I don't understand epilepsy - and that these flashes and windows of recollection I have of the time are what epilepsy entails - not to mention the pains.
This forum has been a big help for me. Diagnosed in 2008 and I've been trying to figure it out since! It's hard too coping with the fact that I might have been going through all of these things for years or decades, but just have it come to a diagnosable status a couple years ago.
 
bravery

Yall' are some brave people!! My Tonic Clonics happen when I am sleeping My most painful injury (physically) has been my bitten tongue, and having to be on a liquid diet for several days afterwards. Talking becomes difficult, and I am moody for a few days. My whole body is sore, like I have run a marathon. I have some issues with my back and shoulder now, could be a residual of tonic clonics past, or maybe just middle age! I have jammed a few toes and fingers.
Mostly, it is the overwhelming sense of loss, that my brain has betrayed me AGAIN!
 
I took a 25 minute drive on the freeway that I still have no memory of. The last thing I remember was seeing 3 of everything, and wondering what was wrong with my eyes. The next thing I knew, I was on the side of the road, with the police screaming at me, and asking if I knew how many people had called 911. I have no idea what I said-I did not even know where I was! I don't remember much about that day. I refused to go in the ambulance, or the hospital. I still have no idea why! The doctor said he has no idea how I drove that far and did not crash.

This sounds like what I had written in my topic "Any M.D.'s out here?..." What kind of seizures do you have? This similar thing happened to me about 10 years ago and had my mind going buggy trying to figure out why I can't remember a brief period of time, but somehow managed to not hit anything. THIS IS WEIRD!
 
It was very weird! I have complex partials. I went to the doctor for 3 1/2 years trying to tell them something was very wrong-to the point of thinking I was losing my mind! I always knew when these were going to happen, and pulled to the side of the road many many times. This time was a bit different. The last thing I remember was that I had looked down at something, and when I look back up at the road, I saw three cars, and three lines in the road. I thought "what the heck is wrong with my eyes!" That is the last thing I remember. I have no idea why I did not pull over. My doctor explained that with these you will try to continue to go through the motions of what you were doing, but not do it well. The worst part for me was that for days I tried so hard to remember this drive, and it drove me crazy thinking that there was this piece of my day missing. I know I drove, but the whole thing was gone. It just kind of blows my mind. The other part was that I could have killed somebody, and that would have broken me, and made me really ticked off, since I did try to find out what was wrong. I would find myself outside sitting on my deck at 3 in the morning, and have not a clue how I got there. I cannot understand why doctors have such a hard time listening, and just want to write for anti-depressants, and hormones. My hormones levels were fine, but they insisted I take estrogen, because I kept telling them of the awful night sweats I was having, along with being tired like I have never experienced before. I even tried the 8 anti-depressants in desperation, however, they don't work in your not depressed! Within the first night of taking seizure meds I slept through the night for the first time in four years! After a couple of days, the night sweats stopped. I am at least happy to know what the problem is, and that I am not crazy, even if it has been a hard road with the medicine, as I have become allergic, or had bad reactions to them. I am 4 weeks into my 6th one. So far so good.
 
My wife has had two bad injuries sustained during a tonic clonic / grand mal:
  • Split her scalp open on the window sill as she was falling. Bled profusely and had to have her scalp stapled at the ER. It looked worse than it really was.
  • Shattered (totally fractured) her two front teeth when she fell mouth first into a door frame while falling. The teeth had to be capped to prevent them from falling apart.
Othat than those two, she mostly had the tongue chewing and bruises most people get from time to time.
 
Since I started to have seizures back in 1993, its been a miracle that i've only ended up with some bumps and bruises along the way. I've been very lucky since 2007 when I began to have grand mal seizures. I still go unconscious, but when I come to, I do stuff i'm totally unaware of. Such as putting my laptop computer in the freezer, going outside late at night with no shirt on and other stuff. Thank god though with no injuries!
 
Retrograde amnesia, lost 15 years of memory. (Status)

Chronic shoulder dislocations. Had 2 surgeries on left and 1 on right. Need artificial shoulder joints on both sides now.

Jake
 
Retrograde amnesia, lost 15 years of memory. (Status)

Chronic shoulder dislocations. Had 2 surgeries on left and 1 on right. Need artificial shoulder joints on both sides now.

Jake
===========================

Jake=epilepsy warrior!

I went status once in 03', and my memory stinks, and my personality is different now. My son has referred to me as eccentric. Okay by me! Why be normal?:bigsmile:
 
Back
Top Bottom