You can't imagine what these things feel like. Nothing on earth prepares you
for the feeling of everything dropping out from underneath you.

Your father might not have even been thinking epilepsy, he might have been
thinking "I'm insane, and I can't let anyone know."  Chances are, even the
best of those around him would have looked at him very strangely if they had
known he had epilepsy.

The big seizures are just a part of it. There are so many other things that
can "ding" up a person's days, aura, partials, sensory tics and psychic
tricks like you wouldn't believe your mind could play (That couch didn't use
to be that color of green).

I can't imagine having this disorder/disease without the support of my
family. Your father must have had much stronger shoulders then mine.

How do you mean "understand dad?"  Do you mean some kind of behavior, his
regular Monday problems (which makes me want to know what he did on the
weekends), his need for sleep, or something else?

Barb

Hi Tom

Let me say that you've come to the right place and I'd like to welcome you
to the group. The purpose of the group is to support & help not only those
who have epilepsy, but also their family & friends who also need to cope
with the situation.

Please feel to ask any questions that you have in mind. The following
websites will give you some additional information on epilepsy and seizure
types:
http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/index.cfm
http://www.epilepsyidaho.org/

You can also review the posts in the group by various members who describe
their symptoms.

Due to the lateness in the day, I'm a bit short on time. but will be back
tomorrow. You're sure to get a lot of help from many people here though!

Bob

Hi again.  Just a few more observations.

It's pretty clear that your dad had some form of epilepsy & seizures. It
sounds unlikely though that he was having what are called "grand mal" or
sometimes "tonic-clonic" seizures. Those are the type where the person
falls to the ground and goes into convulsions. It's all very obvious as to
what's going on when these occur. Since these happen at random, you would
have seen them yourself when you were a child at home.

Others will step in here with their thoughts, but his seizures might have
been one of the varieties of Complex Partial Seizures. Those come in many
different forms with many different symptoms.

One thing that catches my eye is the missing of work on Mondays. That's
usually a sign of someone who drinks heavily on the weekend and is too
hungover to go to work on Monday.  Alcohol is also a known trigger for
seizures i.e. a trigger is something that can bring on a seizure. You'd
certainly know if your dad was a drinker and it sometimes doesn't take
much alcohol to bring on seizures.

I'm sure that your dad was a great guy and it must be a shock to discover
that he was going through this living hell called epilepsy. It's
definitely no fun and,  even today, the doctors can't always find the
right combination of medicines to control & alleviate the situation. Most
of the drugs used today were not available back in the 1940's, so there
was a lot less that could be done for the condition.

Keep posting and we'll try to answer any questions you have.

Bob

Howdy!

Here's a shot in the dark!

It sounds to me like your father may have been afraid of the stigma that
would be fall upon him and the family.

Whether the fear was founded or not, he took a plan of action that he felt
was best - to conceal the fact from everybody who did not have a first hand
encounter with it.