Jeanne A. Carpenter Epilepsy Legal Defense Fund

The Jeanne A. Carpenter Epilepsy Legal Defense Fund was created to assist people living with epilepsy with legal matters related to the condition.

They have a page where you can submit questions and review a FAQ about legal questions related to epilepsy. In addition, it appears that you can submit requests to have them help you find an attorney with experince with epilepsy matters.

Man arrested for having a seizure

This article from ABC is absolutely insane. A guy got tasered and beat, when the police tried to arrest a man who was having a seizure. It is very sad that the level of epilepsy awareness is so low in this country. Here is a brief excerpt from the article.

Undersheriff Michael McCabe of the Oakland County Police Department said that the officers tasered Beloungea because he lunged at one of them. Beloungea and his lawyer say the more police got physical the more Beloungea got agitated and aggressive — typical behavior, according to the Epilepsy Foundation of America, for a person restrained while having a partial complex seizure. Beloungea's wild motions and inability to communicate were not defiance or resistance, but classic symptoms of epilepsy


The officers put Beloungea in jail, citing assault of a police officer and resisting arrest. Throughout the incident Beloungea, was wearing a medical alert bracelet identifying him as an epileptic, stating his name and the contact numbers of people who can be reached in case of an emergency.

U.S. National Election v. Epilepsy

I got this info in an email update from the Epilepsy Foundation:

The Epilepsy Foundation is particularly pleased that Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) has won election to be the House Majority Leader. Rep. Hoyer and his late wife Judy Hoyer (who once served on the Foundation's Board of Directors) have been steadfast champions for epilepsy and other disabilities. The Foundation will be counting on the Majority Leader to carry forward the agenda for restored funding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Epilepsy Program, restoration for the American with Disabilities Act and a commitment to research to find a cure for epilepsy.

The Foundation is also pleased that Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) will be serving in the House of Representatives. Representative Perlmutter has a daughter with epilepsy and has been an active member of the Epilepsy Foundation of Colorado.

Many other supporters of epilepsy from both the Democrat and Republican parties will remain in key positions like Senators Specter (R-PA) and Harkin (D-IA) and Representatives Ferguson (R-NJ), Lewis (R-CA), Wicker (R-MS) and Abercrombie (D-HI).

Cyberonics CEO & CFO Resign

The CEO and CFO of Cyberonics resigned. Cyberonics is the maker of the Vagus Nerve Stimulator. The resignations come in the midst of investigations into stock option back-dating. It is unclear how these investigations will affect the company... but stock prices are up. Check out the article.

Welcome United Kingdom!

I've gotten a ton of hits from the United Kingdom over the last few days, so I thought that I would show my gratitude and fly the Union Jack for a day!


The National Epilepsy Society is the largest epielpsy based chairty based in the UK. They have an epilepsy FAQ page that has a lot of information on a wide varity of epilepsy subjects. Has podcasts too!

No more seizures

I have not had any more tonic-clonic seizures since the last one I had at work. Since then, I printed out about 200 seizure first-aid cards and the director had them passed out to all of our staff. Hopefully if I have another one, my co-workers will be better prepared to take care of me. That, and another 200 people will have received detailed information about taking care of people who have sizures. I'm sure they will run into more than just me...

The Connection of Mankind

I found this interesting poem on the Epilepsy Ontario website. Hope you enjoy.

The Connection of Mankind

By Daniel North


I remember chasing the aura
Being weakened at the limbs
In the fading world that surrounds
Memory is now living on empty whims.

Convulsing violently as the mind suffocates
Into the hand of a neurological reverie
Constantly running around in a field
It seems a lifetime since my mind was clear.

I can not remember half of my life
Where did I get this scar?
Must people run in fear
Just because of a cruel stigma?

I'm so petrified to look at the light
There's panic erupting in my chest
I need to overcome this disorder
As I juncture towards rest.

I've had so many EEG's and scans
What is real or what is a side effect?
We just need to forget the dark ages
And learn for mankind to connect.

Daniel North has more of his poetry online at his website: New Dawn Poetry

Increase seizure activity

In the last couple weeks since I had a tonic-clonic seizure, I have noticed that the number of aura-seizure events have increased some, although nowhere near as high as they were before my VNS. Possibly I have not been getting less seep than I should. Probably from taking my meds too late in the day. I'm going to definitly try to rest a lot this weekend.

I 'm going to do a week or so of the more "popular" posts on epilepsy over the next week. There are certain searches that people do that take them to a number of key posts. Re-posting will just make it a bit easier for them to find the info.

Vote

Although most polls in the East Coast of the US have closed, there are probably some still open in the West Coast. If you have not voted yet, please consider voting for a canidate that supports federal funding for epilepsy research.

As if I didn't have enough to do...

Ok... so I started another blog... on antique furniture. I know, not exactly exciting stuff. But I find it interesting. This blog is exclusivly on the furniture of George Hunzinger. So, unless you have some great desire to learn about American furniture manufacturers of the Victorian era, you may just want to skip it. If you do like pictures of cool antiques, click away!

Dispelling Myths About Epilepsy

Yesterday I was asked a few questions about my epilepsy. One lady was concerned that the screen-saver on her computer may have caused me to have a seizure. Another lady thought that a piece of candy she gave me may have caused the seizure. Both fortunately were false. Although flashing lights within a certain Hz can cause some people to have seizures, the moving screen-saver she had would not meet the criteria. As for candy, I have not found any information on candy ever causing seizures.

Feedblitz...

Ok. At my wife's insistance, I set up my blog to run Feedblitz so she can get her posts via email. Anyone else may also to subscribe. :) Currently I have the sign-up thingy down on the far right sidebar. Please let me know if it does not work!

A little embarrassed...

I was walking around the 3rd floor of my office doing inventory of computers when I saw one of the cubes had the name plate of a person that is normally on the 2nd floor. She was not there, so I asked one of her neighbors when she moved to 3? The lady said, "She has been up here for over 2 weeks. Don't you remember, you and Chet moved her equipment up here?" ... no I did not remember... that was the day of my seizure at work. Moving the lady was the last thing I did before I had my seizure. I was a bit embarrassed at the situation, but played it off like it was no big deal. It was kind of scary though... my memory used to be very very bad as opposed to just sub-standard. I hope to never get to that state again...

Off Topic - Stupid Blogger

Blogger is killing me today. I can't seem to upload any pictures! It keeps failing before the picture is loaded. Arrrggg!

Talking about Epilepsy

I've had to answer a lot of questions about epilepsy over the last week. Sometimes I feel comfortable talking about it... sometimes not so much. I'm not sure why. Obviously I'm willing to write about it in detail for over a year now... I think it has to do with having to admit weakness. It may sound silly, but it isn't always easy to acknowledge that you have a condition that renders you completely helpless at times. And maybe it is a bit embarrassing to have your co-workers find you in that situation... I deal with it and try to be a good role-model and spokesperson for people with epilepsy... It's just not always easy.

No more late nights...

Well, Dr. Dean said that it was important that I get more rest in order to avoid having more seizures. This simple solution is a bit harder to implement than might seem at first glance. First, I have been accustom over the last year or so to getting about 6-7 hours a sleep per night during the week. Now I am going to try for 8. This leaves me cutting out about 10 hours of stuff per week....My plan is to go to bed at 10 and get up at 6....

So what do I have to cut. Well, it means no more Daily Show at 11 P.M. and no more Colbert Report at 11:30 P.M. No more Countdown With Keith Oberman at 12:00 A.M. No more Missing at 10:00 P.M. and I got to hit the sack right after CSI goes off. Finally, I'll be missing the last hour of WWE: Monday Night Raw.

Solutions... well, I'm definitely going to have to make some adjustments so I can get in the important shows... So, I'm going to try to watch the Daily Show rerun and 1st run Countdown at 8:00 P.M. although I may miss a bit of each, I should definitely be able to catch any of Olbermann's excellent Special Comments, such as this one on Fearmongering or this one on Death of Habeus Corpus. Of course, if I can't watch the show, I can always catch the Special Comments clips on Crooks and Liars.

The most important thing is that I get more sleep. I really don't want any more seizures. This last one beat me up pretty bad. Glasses got smashed up along with my face. Ended up in the hospital for about 3.5 hours getting X-Rays... Not fun at all...

Seizure Recovery

It's been a couple of days since Scott's seizure. Scott had an EEG performed last Friday and we met with Dr. Dean that same day. Dr. Dean stated that Scott's tendency for having a seizure increases when he is tired or sleepy. She stated that Scott needs to get more and better quality sleep. So we stayed in all weekend and Scott rested. He returned to work today but has turned in early as he is still a bit tired. Hopefully, his new sleep schedule will reduce the chance of him having more tonic clonic seizures.

Thanks to everyone for your continued thoughts, prayers and support.
Christa

Tonic Clonic at the Office

Scott suffered a tonic clonic seizure at the office this evening. He was beat up pretty badly when he fell. We just returned home from the ER. He is a bit sore and sprained his neck during the seizure but did not suffer a concussion. The ER physician instructed Scott not to work tomorrow and instead to follow-up with Dr. Dean at the Epilepsy Institute. I will post more tomorrow to let everyone know how Scott is doing.

Christa

Dr. Apt.

Had my regular VNS apt with my Dr. Actually, I just saw Nurse Cindy who does the VNS interrogation. Everything checked out fine. I stayed with my same settings as the device seems to be working quite well! (thx Cyberonics!)

My current settings: .75 mAmps, 250 pulse width, 20 hz, 1.8 frequency/off time.

Long Time no Blog

To my loyal readers... sorry. Been busy with a multitude of other fun stuff... uh ... like work & stuff. Good news though! No seizures!