First time epilepsy seizures. Treatment options and advise

[how122255]

I am asking for help for my 39 year old son who lives in Pattaya.  Two days ago he had several seizures, first time ever.  From Google they seem to be of the tonic-clonic type.  He never had anything like this before. He plays a lot of sports and seemed to be very healthy.  There is no family history of epilepsy.  His Thai wife took him to the Pattaya City hospital where they did a CT brain scan and other tests.  All tests results were normal.  He doesn't drink alcohol but does smoke a Lot of pot- Cannabis-marijuana. The hospital will discharge him tomorrow. I don't know yet what medications they will give him. He has no medical insurance but I am able to help him pay for treatments.  Is there any better doctors he should see ???  Can anyone who has experience with this offer any suggestions ??  As he is a USA citizen, would he be better off going back to the USA for treatment?  Thanks for any help or info.  

[how122255]

Is this post 'live' on the website now ?   

[penboy]

7 minutes ago, how122255 said:

Is this post 'live' on the website now ?   

yes

[Drew57]

Anything that interrupts the normal connections between nerve cells in the brain can cause a seizure. This includes a high fever, high or low blood sugar, alcohol or drug withdrawal, or a brain concussion. But when a person has 2 or more seizures with no known cause, this is diagnosed as epilepsy. Sounds like drugs are his problem. 

[bungee]

Getting medical tests done in Thailand would be a lot cheaper than the US but just a good. After the tests if there is a diagnosis then you could consider treatment in the US if it was not going to be possible in Thailand. The private hospitals in Thailand are said to be very good.

As long as he is smoking pot or similar it is going to cloud any diagnosis as it will be easy to say the pot is the cause, which it may well be. The best thing to do would be to stop any and all drugs and see if it happens again. However I assume he will need some help to stop.

 

[mattmoore1965x]

My 23 year old son had either 'Petit Mal' or 'Grand Mal' seizures (bang inbetween the two) start about 3 years after cannabis use, but to be honest, I think he was taking other stuff too.  Non-Tonic Sezures can all be very different, but with him, he just collapsed and zoned out for a minute or two - all very scarey.

At its worst it was four or five times a day, but may have been more as sometimes a Petit Mal can last only a couple of seconds.

He was put on medictation that worked straight away (sodium valproate), but he also stopped all drug use at the same time as it really scared him.  It also embarressed him, as he pissed himself in public once when he collapsed.

So, we don't know if it was the drugs that caused it, or if it was the medicine or stopping the drugs stopped the seizures.  But all is well now.

After 3 years on the tablets, he is being weaned of them now, and is now at a level that is so low that they are probably doing nothing.  So, fingers crossed all is sorted.

Pay for lots of checks, as these symptons can be loads of other stuff.  You say he had an CT scan, but make sure they give him the test when they look at the brain activity (An electroencephalogram - EEG - looks like a cap with 100's of wires coming out of it) - as this is what tells you if it is epilepsy.  Its good news the CT scan didn't see anything though!

Stopping the drugs is the first thing though - but I know thats tough.  Pissing himself in public seemed to be what my son needed to happen........

Oh, and for fucks sake make sure he doesn't drive.  It took the system in the UK three weeks to remove his driving licence.  He got it back though a year after his last seizure.

 

Edited August 21, 2023 by mattmoore1965x

[how122255]

Thanks for the info.  I will take him to Bangkok and make an appt with a top neurologist. I appreciate everyone's suggestions and info.