Seizure, Anyone?
 

I’ve been lurking for quite a while. I’ve read numerous SR postings and have, sadly, been able to identify with way too much of the pain, confusion and emotional turmoil expressed by the other spouses and loved ones of A’s in those postings. And, like so many others, my STBXAH is a wonderful, caring, considerate, creative, generous, funny, intelligent man when he isn’t drinking. But I rarely see that man anymore because drinking has taken over his life.

My STBXAH and I have been together for 21 years and married for 7. We have no children. Like so many others I can look back through the years and see now that my husband has had a problem with alcohol for many years but my own denial clouded my perception

He has been unemployed for several years and, unfortunately, drinking has become his vocation. My STBXAH’s alcoholism has advanced to the point that he sometimes has a seizure whenever he stops drinking (alcohol withdrawal). Does anyone else live with an A who suffers alcohol withdrawal seizures? The worst part is that even these seizures aren’t enough for AH to seek out treatment. His judgement is so clouded that even suffering seizures is an acceptable price to pay for his beloved drink. Alcoholism is insidious.

My xAH had at least one alcohol related seizure (I witnessed it), I still don't know if it was from drinking too much, or from withdrawal, as he couldn't remember and wasn't honest with me. He had been a closet drinker for a few years at that point.

It's very scary to witness a seizure. I'm sorry your husband's alcoholism has progressed to that stage.

Hello LunaCat, Welcome to SR!

Your story is certainly not at all unfamiliar to us. SR is a great place for support!

Seizures due to alcohol withdrawal can be very dangerous. I hope that you will not hesitate to call 911 if needed in the future.

I will keep you and your stbx in my prayers.

Yes, welcome! I see now that you are a new member. I too joined SR shortly after my AH had a seizure.

A little more of the story: Following the seizure, I called 911, he took an ambulance to the hospital and then had serious withdrawal in the hospital: paranoia, delusions, hearing things, vomiting, dizzy, horrible headache, etc. The Dr.s did not consider alcoholism because he lied and told them that he hadn't been drinking. He was still hiding it from me at this point. Then, finally, his primary Doc diagnosed it as alcoholism and I found vodka stashed in water and gatorade bottles in his car, garage, and basement.

The seizure and withdrawal did not stop him from drinking, however. Soon after he left the hospital he began drinking again. We did 2 interventions and I finally filed for divorce.

So glad you found SR, it has been so helpful for me. Sending you strength,
~ B

It has been terrifying for me to hear and witness these seizures - STBXAH has had six in two years. I called 911 after the first one as I had no idea what was happening to him. STBXAH had no medical insurance at the time. AH was taken by ambulance to the E.R. where the blood work indicated ethyl alcohol withdrawal. STBXAH checked out later that day - against the Dr.'s recommendations. I, too, was in the dark as to the extent of AH's drinking. I was only aware of the beer but it turned out that he, too, had vodka hidden in his car and in the garage (he, too spikes those bottles of Gatorade).

At first he disregarded the doctors' opinions as to the cause of his seizures even when we were finally able to see a neurologist who came to the same conclusion (he'd had three by then). Ah, the power of denial. That was last year.

STBXAH is, once again, sans medical insurance. He has had two AW seizures in the last six months. He has never had DT's or multiple seizures at a time. But his susceptibility to seizures when he stops drinking is finally something that even HE can no longer disregard. After the last one he actually acknowledged that he may need to get treatment for his alcoholism. But the resolve didn't last. After less than a week, he was back at it. I filed for divorce a few months ago. I so look forward to the day when I can, once again, relax and live without the drama of walking on eggshells and no longer fear every little noise as an indication that another seizure is at hand.

It is both amazing and heartbreaking how the stories of the progression of alcoholism are often so similar.

Witnessing the seizure and withdrawal was so traumatic for me that I organized an intervention, in which my AH spent 2 weeks in rehab (and was clearly not ready to quit). He relapsed within a week and we had another intervention. He then spent 1 month at an excellent (and very expensive) rehab and then began drinking again soon after returning home. By then I had done a lot of research on alcoholism, and understood the power of denial and the deep physiological addiction. I realized that if I didn't leave him, I would only enable him, and he would continue to drink.

I have been living apart from my xAH for almost a year now and I'm so grateful for the peace and calm in my life now. It sounds like you are well on your way in that direction too.

Welcome. I just wanted to say witnessing a seizure is so scary. And usually with each additional seizure his brain looses a little more cognitive functioning. I can imagine that between the seizures and the excessive drinking that he is pretty incoherent most of the day. I know he doesn't have insurance but I would call 911 each and every time.

I also witnessed some probable seizure symptoms with my XA - I thought he was having a stroke. He was hallucinating, he had partial paralysis, didn't seem to be breathing properly - it was terrifying. In spite of that, he was always baffled, and even pissed, if/when I called the EMTS. Really?? Geez.

I agree that peace and calm can be reclaimed! I am another example. While not married, my XA and I have loved each other for many years. Parting from him was excruciating for me, and I myself suffered full-on withdrawal (no seizures, tho, *whew*).

But I don't have that awful, hyper-vigilant feeling anymore. I have so much more patience and energy for other things. Definitely a relief. Even when I'm sad, I'm relieved that I can CRY IN PEACE!!

I'm shocked that my husband never had a seizure due to him drinking and several brain bleeds due to a motorcycle accident and him drinking afterward! Although he's been on keppra for those bleeds, I'm amazed he's not seized and dead for a number of reasons! The neuro finally nixed the seizure meds last week. He's actually doing quite well now that he stopped drinking.

My heart goes out to you!

I have posted on here several times about AH's seizures....TERRIFYING.....and although he is in recovery, he slips up (tho not bingeing) but I immediately panic about seizures.

I feel like I have post traumatic stress because of it.....so I too understand the insanity of the denial.....AH actually told me that 1) I was weak for calling an ambulance, that I should've just handled it, 2) he insisted that he didn't actually have any seizures........3) he could control it.

Now I know the signs to look for.....the withdrawal symptoms like the COUGHING!!. Then the look of anxiety and fear on his face and refusal to leave the couch. This tells me he is dryong out..... Mostly it is the cough.... He coughs/or something like a cough, repeatedly. I guess it has to do with chest spasms.....The seizures also hit my AH at 24 hours DRY like clockwork. The drs told me on 2nd ER visit that seizures are common at 24 hours.....why is this not common knowledge when dealing with an alcoholic! If I had known earlier it would have helped!

We had numerous battles because I insisted he go to a detox center and not dry out at home. After I learned more about the danger of death etc I could not condone this stupidity.

The last one was when he was preparing to go to Detox center (2nd time), he decided he wanted to go at a specific time so he didn't have to wait too long for the withdrawal symptoms to kick in for admittance......well once he started getting the symptoms he started to get weird and refused to even go.....said he would wait it out. Well I managed to get him in car and the whole ride was a horror show. I thought he was going to stroke out in the car between the coughing and his anxiety/hallucinations etc. He ended up having a seizure an hour later in the detox center.

I digress, I am not living with the threat of seizures at the moment, or so I hope.....but knowing that he drinks even a beer here and there scares me because I don't know at what point his body would react...so I listen for that cough...

Dr. prescribed some anti-seizure withdrawal meds afterwards, but its the sudden dryout that needs to be addressed. I was told they get worse each time.

Sending you well wishes that he gets proper medical treatment to dry out.....

My A father had what appeared to be a seizure right in front of me, so I called the paramedics and, while on the phone to them, I treated it like a seizure. When it started I yelled to my Mom: "HE'S SEIZING!" and she knew what I meant. It wasn't until the paramedic on the phone asked me was he still breathing that I checked, because he was breathing when the paramedic on the phone started talking to me. I checked again and he wasn't breathing. He was breathing when I placed the call. A minute or so later and he wasn't.

I did CPR until the paramedics arrived. They did CPR and the heart shock thing. Nothing worked. He died on my family room floor nearly 4 months ago.

It turns out my father had a massive heart attack (a great big ol' coronary artery thrombosis) but it did NOT look like any heart attack I've ever read about or seen on TV. It looked exactly like the seizures I see people with epilepsy have, except within about 5 mins he was dead.

My point, I suppose, is that we should never assume that we are witnessing an alcoholic seizure. I did. I was wrong.

I have to not blame myself for assuming that's what it was. But, with an AXH and an A father, alcoholism is uppermost in my mind when I deal with anyone who is a bit "off", if that makes sense. So, instead of the ABC of Airway, Breathing, Circulation I go straight for ASABC: Alcoholic?, Seizure?, Airway, Breathing Circulation.

I put my father in the recovery position and then he stopped breathing. Just like that.