Sorry to hear this my dad has issues with his hand, and has been told if they operate he will never ride again he is gutted
Good news indeed! My wife has epilepsy brought on by a cyst on the brain. After a brain op or two shes all good and got the epilepsy under control and has had her licence back for 4 years now. Its shit at the time but much better to sort it out and get it under control and have many years of biking than the alternatives! What bikes are you looking at?
The only two side effects of the medication for me are insomnia and I am definitely less steady on the old pins so I have to take this into consideration for the next bike. My short list is 1. Ducati scrambler 2 BMW r9t scrambler (sorry) but it is heavy with those cylinders sticking out. 3. The new Harley street rod (sorry again) but it's not here yet and I am concernerned that it is so cheap. I have had Harley's for many years and they are very well built but very expensive, so is it built down to a price. 4. Triumph Boneville (really very very sorry) If I had to choose now it would be the Ducati Scrambler, I really like the new desert sled (weird name) or the classic as I am not a lover of the rear end of the other models. 5. Anything else that pops up. That list should creat some comments, please be gentle.
Dude look into a ketogenic diet, its proven and works, may not need the meds after all but do your research!!
Good news Richard! Sleep disorders can be a side effect of certain types of epilepsy medication. There may be ways to help reduce this effect & your GP should be a decent starting place to discuss help: Lack of Sleep and Epilepsy | Epilepsy Foundation
z1000: very low centre of gravity, very low seat height (im 5'9" and sit on it bent legged) so its monumentally easy to control at low speed. Uber comfortable (the day i picked it up from south east sussex and rode it back to Bristol i did a 10 minute stop for fuel...that was it. Servicing i do myself....its beautifully analog (64 plate) and as the engine is the old zx9r lump the first valve check it will need is at 26k (im only on 11k). Loads of performance parts available (eg a set of arrow race headers are around 500 quid which these days id say is pretty cheap). Ecu can be reflashed removing all the restrictions - end result being able to stay with an r1m well into triple figures in the straight line....Owned it 2 1/2 years and its never missed a beat. Its the second one ive had and i cant think of any other naked bike id want, even now, with whats out there. PS - Glad to see youre on the mend.!
I’m sorry to read about your problems, it’s good news that your meds are working and life should be back to almost normal later in the year. We went through a very similar thing with my wife a few years ago, but with a different result. She’s a type 1 diabetic, and went through a period where she was less able to control her blood sugars. The result of this was a couple of occasions where she went into Hypoglycemic shock at night, and I was unable to revive her quickly with a Glucose drink or emergency injection so ended up calling an Ambulance. On the last occasion the Ambulance crew arrived just as the injection I’d given her was working and she’d come around. They stayed for 10 minutes and left having made us promise to book a Doctor’s appointment that day. She tried to get an appointment at the specialist Diabetic unit at the local hospital, but ended up at our GP instead as they couldn’t fit her in. The doctor would not accept her or the Ambulance crews account of the situation, he immediately put her on notice of being tested for Epilepsy and she was told to drive home and not drive again until she’d been cleared, or as with yourself for a year after any further attacks. 2 days later she managed to get to the Diabetic clinic who changed her insulin and said they would write to the DVLA to say they believed the issue was purely related to her diabetes. This letter was, to our knowledge, never sent. Like most couples we lead modern lives, and live in a rural area where getting around necessitates driving, our two boys were young at the time, I worked away from home a lot, and Mrs Nasher needed to move the boys about as well as get to and from her Teaching job herself. I’m obviously not disagreeing that if there had been any evidence at all of the Epilepsy she shouldn’t drive, also that she shouldn’t drive until her Diabetes was back under control, but having been there Mrs Nasher and myself can really feel your pain even before you consider being able to enjoy riding for pleasure. For 2 weeks she spent a fortune on Taxis, and used up many favours with friends just to get the boys and herself to school. I cancelled a couple of trips away which caused me issues at work. Her health deteriorated because she couldn’t see how we could manage going forward without her driving. Having lived with Type 1 Diabetes looking after another condition didn’t bother her. After 2 weeks she was given an appointment for the tests a further 6 weeks in the future, which meant that even if the doctor was wrong we’d have to struggle for another 6 weeks and transfer our savings to the local Taxi company. If he was right we’d have to change our lifestyle significantly and move house to enable us to cope with the logistics of School etc. At the time my whole family were on my private medical insurance at work, and 2hrs after I first contacted the insurers that morning they’d been in touch with the office at school to ask my wife to attend an appointment at the local Bupa hospital the following day for a scan. Later the next day we sat looking at the scans with the Bupa specialist who said he knew before the scans that there would be no evidence of Epilepsy in Mrs Nasher. He called the DVLA and told them he’d missed the post that day to post them a letter saying Mrs Nasher had no signs of Epilepsy. Also that she’d since had an appointment at the Diabetic clinic who had changed her type of Insulin, and that in his opinion there was no reason why she couldn’t drive. They agreed that she could drive with immediate effect and the nightmare was over reasonably quickly, but only because we were lucky enough to have Private medical care. Even so, the Taxi fares alone would have cost far more over 6 weeks than paying for a private consultation as a one off. Nasher.
Just read all those, very good to see you have some positive news and looking forward to getting back on a bike. I might not speak to you anymore online if you buy a Harley and whilst I'm a sucker for Ducati , BMW are making some extremely high quality bikes and worth a look.
Interim update. 8+months done. 4 and a bit months to go before my licence is retuned. By the time I get back from my hols in 2 weeks time it will be 2.5 months until I do my application. I will be back on the road during the last week of September. Medications successful. The biggest side effect is insomnia. It's really annoying being sat downstairs between 5 and 6 in the morning then falling asleep on your feet around midday. There are alternative med's but they all have some side effects and these work, if I change and the epilepsy comes back then it's a year from the last episode and at my age that could be the end of my biking. Up to now it's not been too bad as I do not ride in the winter but an empty garage is depressing and the summer months are going to be tough. Its first time since 1965 that is have not been riding at this time of year or the garage has been empty. Anyway have spent the last couple of months dreaming about the next bike. Have been to Fowlers in Bristol and nothing Japanese makes my heart flutter. This morning I looked at the new Harley Street Rod (I had many Harley's before my heart op) and it's too black, made in India and not a single piece of chrome which as we all know is what Harley's are all about (that's why it is so cheap). Nearly bought a nearly new, 670 mile scrambler full throttle 2 weeks ago but it was to early for me. Anyway after going over to Riders this morning to see the Harley my mind is made up. I will be ordering a white Desert Sled mid July, delivered to my house at the beginning of September so watch out all you bikers in Bristol I will be back.
