No.

Don't worry about that.  There are a lot of potential reasons for that
including physical and psychological, which would take a lot of explaining,
much more than what is reasonable to type here.

Trust your instincts.  People get into trouble when they doubt their
instincts.  If you think something is wrong, it probably is.  Your body has
subtle ways of telling you that things are not quite up to snuff.

I hope your neurology appointment isn't too far into the future, because I
don't want you walking around unnecessarily scared.  It's the unknown that
scares people sometimes.  The only painful thing about seeing a neurologist
is they might draw blood, but that's over pretty quickly.  There is no pain
with the EEG or MRI although they are time consuming and down right boring.
They probably will schedule an EEG or MRI for a later date if this is your
first visit to neurology.

Neurology might do memory testing (notice the word might).  This is a big
problem for a lot of us.  There is no total solution to this.  Medications
might help.  Using different learning methods might help.  I have mentioned
on this newsgroup quite a few times that when I took medical terminology,
they gave us flash cards, a workbook, a CD with self-testing, activities,
and games, and audio tapes.  Then I had to periodically review everything
from the beginning of the semester to the current point in time because I
could not be sure what I had lost in my memory/recall.  My daughter, who is
a speech pathologist who is also trained in this sort of thing, also helped
me in memorizing some telephone numbers.  Of course, all this stuff only
helped with school work and did not help with recalling daily stuff like who
called today, did I pick up the mail, or what did I do yesterday.  During my
worst times, I had to take a lot of notes (then I'd often lose the notes),
but that wasn't a total answer either.

Aren't you curious though.  That was my biggest concern; what the heck is
doing this.  Never in a million years expected to have epilepsy.  I was in
my early 40's when diagnosed.  It was a surprise.

Barb

Hi Karen,
I ditto everything  the others have said? (typed? whatever).
Let me ramble on a short anecdote:
My Ortho diagnosed a problem with my as "Osteo-Necrosis" (scary word,
no?) and referred me to a specialist because this was over his head.
Honest guy, no? Well days before the appointment, I Googled this word
and the outlook scared the be-jesus out of me. Bone grafts, total knee
replacements. It was bad news. The specialist only put me in a brace.
That's all. That's All? You can't imagine my relief. Do I still have
Avascular Necrosis? Yeah. In fact in both knees but all the bad stuff
didn't happen.(I look like Forrest Gump with my braces!)  There was no
reason to worry myself sick. (Sounds like great advise to a similar post
from yesterday, don't it folks?)
Bottom line - just wait for the appointment and stop worrying, you'll
only make yourself miserable in the meantime.

Stay vertical Karen,
Tom

No, it's easier to see what you're looking for and your neurologist will
want to know as much as possible or s/he should. Don't let him or her
limit their interest to fits. Other aspects and, in future, side-effects
of drugs can be just as annoying.

However, although I still believe that my epilepsy/anti-convulsant drugs
affect my memory, I realise that a lot of its disturbance comes from the
stress associated with them and lots of other things.

I used to hate it when people said 'Don't worry' but making a conscious
effort to stay calm is a lot more productive than wasting time and energy
worrying. Another thing worth investing in is some faith in yourself.
Don't assume the doctor/neurologist knows best. Ask questions and provide
evidence to show they're reasonable.

Your opinion is as valuable as anyone else's especially wrt to what you're
experiencing all the time and s/he will only have the little you tell
him/her and a few facts about the number and type of fits you have.

It is worth making a list of the questions you want to ask/facts you want
considered so that you don't forget them at your appointment. It might
reduce the strain on yourself if you regard it as your specialist's test
rather your examination. Especially as you're supposed to leave feeling
that you'vr been offered some help for a mutual aim not having had to
prove your worth his/her attention !

Chris L.

@Don'tIn article <7468-3F23366F-31@storefull-2235.public.lawson.webtv.net>,