@A MyEpilepsyTeam Member This is pretty much the same way my neurologist works. I see the Neuro, but they work under a epileptologist who controls the way the treatment works. Yes, the neuro does do a lot but they do get a lot of help. There's also an ESN. Having said all that though the Neuro I see does work with epilepsy anyway so it is pretty well set up.

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@A MyEpilepsyTeam Member Oh, sorry my bad, There are a lot on here that have them @A MyEpilepsyTeam Member So they can help you out.

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I was having far more seizures of a similar type. A VNS was never seriously discussed. My first question is, is your neurologist an epileptologist? If not, get one. You need a truly knowledgeable and experienced opinion. Most general neurologists don’t have a clue what they’re doing with seizure disorders. I only got things managed when I got an epileptologist leading a neurological team and it’s only been in the last eight months. I can drive for the first time in five years. If you’re having seizures at all, you can’t drive. In any state. The least restrictive states require six months without a seizure managed by medication. If you get in an accident, it will be a really big problem. If your Dr hasn’t restricted you from driving, they could be considered complicit and at fault and sued too.

My plan is to talk to a lot of people and get more information than I already have. I thank you for your post and information. I do hope others provide information like you have regarding this question. I do not know anyone that has the VNS device. I have had tons of help thus far from family and friends since the diagnoses of Epilepsy.

Talk to a lot of friends on here who have had a VNS installed before you consider it. Most doctors mean well, but they can get distracted by the value to them of having a VNS in your head to get them better tracking of your seizures and don't share as much of the potential bad news as the good news from having the VNS implanted. I can't recall any friend on here who has had the VNS installed for so few seizures or at least a few seizures that were not the more potentially deadly ones. The doctors are always going to advise based on statistics, but this is your brain and your life. Read as many of the stories of those who have had the VNS implanted and hopefully you will have a lot of responses very soon from them to get you a true pro and con understanding of getting the VNS implanted. I know of friends who have had great results from having it in, but I also know others who had it installed and it didn't help at all. It was only suggested back in February 2022 as a possibility for me, but I had told my neurologist that after they (the neurological committee at Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston) who my neurologist presented my epilepsy and all of the updates to in order to have the combined knowledge and experience of the best in every connected field of medicine to epilepsy and all of the published results in medicine about the benefits vs risks of a VNS being installed. However, I have never had any major epileptic seizure and the only risk of potential death from any of my seizures is from the damage from the drop of a full seizure or potential physical attack on me based on something that my subconscious says during a Focal Onset Impaired Awareness Seizure (complex partial seizure). I sustained 17 years of brain damage because when my epilepsy came out of hibernation in 1980 (2 weeks before I started high school) it was not recognized as epileptic seizures, and it wasn't recognized as a possibility and thus I was tested and diagnosed until October 1997. So, I was fine with living with the seizures that I had, if my current neurologist did not fine the perfect anticonvulsant to put me on to get me to start my long-term seizure-free state on April 25, 2022 (3 months and a few days short of the first time I met him and asked him to become my new neurologist after 24 years with 2 local neurologists (because a doctor in Boston was not an option until my older sister told me that she had seen enough and would take days off of work (elementary school teacher) to ensure that we could get to Boston for every appointment I needed. I am one of the few that was born into an amazing family and have had every one of my 6 siblings play a role in helping me significantly before my older sister did this.