A Tale of a Neurologist

Last Friday I had an appointment with a new neurologist. I have to admit. I was freaked out.

I had seen 2 different neurologists in Long Beach and pretty much hated them both. They had extremely poor bedside manner and honestly didn't do a thing for me.

The first doctor, during my first visit, after reading my charts and results from my EEG said, "Well, it looks like you had a seizure." No lie!

They offered me no explanations, no hope, no plan of action...just a prescription and a return visit date. Whoop-dee-do.

So, after my last seizure in Nov I had been putting off this new visit. What's the point? They are only going to pat me on my head and give me more meds. I have been dealing with a lot more "symptoms" since being in CO. Dizziness, lack of concentration, lack of focus, memory issues, etc have all plagued me for the last 6 months. It had gotten increasingly worse in the last month or so and John finally told me to make the call.

Anyhoo, I went on Friday only to discover that Dr. Chen, was Dr. Judy Chen! A woman!!! Turns out she is 1 of 3 female neurologists in the state. That gave me courage.

She was WONDERFUL. She probably spent about 45-50 minutes with me and was in absolutely no hurry. She wanted to know EVERYTHING. She asked questions, she nodded her head, she smiled at me, she asked follow-up questions and she wrote everything down. She said she wanted to understand my case up until now.Wow.

Then, she TALKED with me. She told me that with adult onsets of seizures it is typically a result of immature brain cells that just don't develop properly. When there is additional stress placed on you sometimes these immature cells react through a seizure. So when I told her how emotionally unstable I was at the time of the first seizure, she said, absolutely ,YES, that could have been what brought it on! I have been telling everyone since day 1 that I think my first seizure was a physical manifestation of how emotionally distraught I was. Most people just laughed. The doctors in Long Beach assured me that couldn't be the case...its always more scientific than that....

So, just to have her agree to my feelings or pose the possibility of a reason for all of this was sooo encouraging!

She also said that the altitude really could be affecting me with the additional symptoms. She said it typically takes 6 months to a year to get used to it, but that I should be seeing a difference soon.

I also upped my medication dose back in November, and she said that could also be a reason for the additional symptoms. She had me go in for a blood draw to check my dilantin levels. She said if it was too high (toxic) that could also explain my reactions to it.

Then she went on to say, that women who struggle with epilepsy often find symptoms to be worse 2 days before and 2 days after a period. (What a concept!) She said hormones play a huge role in how we feel. So she suggested that I keep a journal of how I feel until my next appt in March. To see if things to worsen around my period. If I can pinpoint days when things are worse, Dr. Chen said that would be an ideal time to do another EEG to see if anything shows up.

We talked about the "funny feeling" I get from time to time and she confirmed that those were aura seizures. She said that if I ever get them close to each other to view it as a warning. Although, since upping my medication in November I have not had any of these.

Even though she doesn't know the EXACT cause of everything, just the fact that she is willing to discuss possibilities is comforting. For 3 1/2 years, no one has given me a single answer, suggestion, encouragement or plan. In less than an hour, Dr. Chen did all of that.

I had prayed extensively prior to this appointment, but with little faith, I'm ashamed to say. It was a reminder that God CAN do anything and that He does care about the little details in our lives. I don't feel so alone anymore. I feel encouraged. I feel like someone cares about me and the quality of my life and is invested in helping me.

Its amazing what a good doctor can do.