Living with Epilepsy/Seizures

I had two seizures while driving, one 2/11 and the other one 2/12. Was charged with DUI both times. On 2/12 I wrecked my Envoy and totaled it. Can’t get the keys out of the ignition; front end destroyed. Air bags DIDN’T go off. My brother and Gail (who was there and was driving behind me when it happened) don’t know how I walked away.

Anyway, wasn’t allowed to see a doctor, have the lab work I needed to have done, or anything. Spent 70 days in jail waiting for the lab work. I had a lawyer who was very good. He never asked me if I’d been drinking or taking anything, other than my prescribed medication. The only one I was worried about was klonopin (1/2 valium, 1/2 xanax), which I’ve taken for over 10 years and most of the time in a smaller dosage than prescribed. I take it for both seizure control and anti-anxiety. It is prescribed for the type of seizures disorder I have. Stress is the main trigger for my seizures. My seizures have been classified as complex-partial; sometimes temporal lobe has been used. They are non-convulsive and have had them since I was a baby. I was diagnosed when I was 23 years old.

My last court date was yesterday 4/25. The lab work came back showing no alcohol (wasn’t drinking and don’t drink) and no detectable drugs (not even the ones I was prescribed showed up). I had a somewhat tough judge, who had set my bond at $3000 cash, so I waited it out. Maybe a too stubborn way to prove a point. My lawyer saw me the 24th and said at worst, he expected two traffic violations, points against my license and possible license suspension.

Gail and my brother were in court and the judge DISMISSED both charges. I walked away owing nothing and nothing against my license. Gail said the court workers, deputies there, and my lawyer (all who had been there during the three court appearances I made trussed up like a turkey in handcuffs and everything else, like I was an axe murderer) had their jaws drop to the floor when the judge did that. The lawyer earned his money.

Gail has been upset and my brother has been angry, upset, etc…. My work knew it was crap when the news broadcast my arrest that night as being “drunk.” They held my jobs and I’m transferring for now, until Gail and I can move somewhere in the US. Had some good feedback from a safety management group in October and had just finished a USDOL certification I needed but had never gotten from any wonderful employer I had worked for in the past. It wasn’t anything I could have gotten before and no one told me I absolutely needed it. Borrowed against the only life insurance I’ve got and took the class online..

Now, I’m irritated, still a little angry, but have decided that as much as I want to make a big stink over what happened, I’m going to take a different approach. I can remember when diabetics were stopped and charged with DUI’s. I want to scream and yell about this. If it happened to me, it’s happened to someone else somewhere. After a seizure convulsive or not (I don’t have convulsions with mine) you have a temporary lack of muscle control and can’t pass a field sobriety test for anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours, depending on the severity. The first officer on 2/11 knew I hadn’t been drinking and wasn’t “on” anything because he heard me talk to the lab tech at the hospital and give names, phone numbers, medications, dosages, frequency, and how long I’d been on each one (anywhere from 5 to 17 years). Same thing on 2/12, only the officer wasn’t listening to what I was saying. I had my Medic Alert bracelet taken away from me for 10 days, until Gail called some people, who called more people, who posted it on the Internet and someone saw it and called the jail and said I was to get it back immediately or they were going to rain fire and brimstone on the place. I had it within two hours of the phone call she made. I found out later that’s what she did and who all helped her.

I didn’t get my medication correctly, or in the proper dosages while I was there and was told it was “policy.” The judge said they could read a prescription bottle, when my lawyer filed a motion to get that portion of my treatment changed. For being in a medical cell with anywhere form 6 to 14 people it was tolerable and I held up relatively well. However, for medical, there is no direct contact with the nurses office, should an emergency arise (one guy had a stroke while I was there and it took over 3 days for him to get to a doctor!) and there is no handicap stuff in there (bars, rails) to assist people with walking (we had to carry one guy to the bathroom for two days until his gout cleared up enough so he could walk again. Nurses couldn’t understand why he couldn’t walk out of the cell to get his medication, yet they were the ones who brought him into the place in a wheelchair, which could not be adequately maneuvered to make it useful.

I’ve got a good start on a news story to try and push like I want to, unless someone has a better idea. If I can get only one person to listen to me, I’ll be satisfied because maybe someday, someone else will complain and they will hear it again and it may “click” enough to start to make a difference, if I can get someone interested in publishing the story to educate.

I have had seizures since birth but was diagnosed when I was 23. I am now 40 and have had no problems with jobs, education, or living. My first seizure on Feb. 11 was my first in over five years; and the second one on the 12th, I believe had to do with not receiving any medication or food the night I spent in jail, combined with the stress. I’ve not had two in a row like that in over 17 years (since I started taking medication and was diagnosed). I have a doctor sign a statement allowing me to drive, which is required by the state I live in and there has not been a problem, since I average one seizure about every five years and the requirement is 90 days seizure free. The state laws are in place for a reason and I understand that. My point is that I should not have been charged with DUIs, received my medication improperly, nor my MedicAlert ignored. It should also not have taken 70 days to resolve this, especially since my seizure disorder is documented.