Paramedic with possible Simple Partial Seizures.
TL; DR Paramedic under investigation for simple partial seizures and told by UK driving agency not allowed to drive for 10 years, now effectively unemployed.
Good evening all, as you all can probably guess from the title I'm a paramedic based in the U.K.
Getting straight to it, since late 2014 I've been having intermittent weird feeling in my stomach which then spreads to my head, these only tend to last approximately 30 seconds to a minute, with no loss of consciousness, awareness or ability to talk or carry on with everyday life. In fact all the people around me who have been present for said episodes haven’t noticed any outward change at all, and since August 2015 the episodes have stopped completely.
Now I have no past medical history except for a sinus arrhythmia (irregular heart beat) and migraines, previous to these sensations I’ve had no head trauma or illnesses that has affected my neurological state at all and I am not on any medication.
Currently I have had two MRIs and Two EEGs, one of which was sleep deprived. All the results came back negative except for my last MRI which one neurologist thought my “left amygdala appeared slightly bulky, this is most likely due to a prenatal abnormality or injury, and could raise the possibility of cortical dysplasia”. (Translation: a part of my brain could be slightly be bigger than normal, which is regularly seen in epileptics)
So to the crux of the matter, as I am under investigation for epilepsy I am by law required to inform the DVLA (U.K. Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) about my possible condition, even though there has been no formal diagnosis. I have since then had a letter from the DVLA stating I cannot drive a Category 2 licence (the ambulance) for 10 years and my own vehicle for 1 year from my last “epileptic episode”. So effectively I am now unemployable as it is a requirement for us to be able to drive.
So my question is has anyone ever been misdiagnosed with epilepsy? And if so what was the overall diagnosis or previous diagnoses. I know this is a long shot being on an epilepsy sub, I only ask as there was no differential in my discussion with my neurologist into what other possible things it could be, i.e. you go see a neurologist and they thinks its brain, you go see a cardiologist and they thinks its heart etc.
Any input would be much appreciated as I’m pretty much stumped for ideas as of what to do.
Posted Feb 21, 2016, 9:34 PM UTC · edited