Retired Nurse Resolves Temporal Lobe Epilepsy and Olfactory Hallucinations Without Surgery

I was surprised by how quickly she diagnosed me. She got right down to the point. And it was such a relief because you start to feel crazy when other people and doctors kind of look at you like, "well, we have no idea what this is, and just, you know, we don't know why it's causing you so much trouble." Deborah, Watertown, Connecticut. And I'm a retired nurse. I was having these very strange smells that were making me ill. I would smell something, and it was usually a horrible smell like a skunk or rotten garbage, rotting food. And I would get a physical reaction. Either very nauseous, lose my appetite, I couldn't eat or I'd get a headache. And this was going on for about three years. And I talked to a couple doctors, and nobody seemed to think much of it. But I was you know, losing weight and feeling sicker. And then it was making me very anxious. I couldn't trust myself for making food or anything or feeding other people because it would smell so bad, I'm like, 'is it rotten food?' So I got obsessive-compulsive about checking expiration dates and throwing food out and... thought I was going crazy. I was referred to Dr. Calabrese. I didn't even talk to her for five minutes and she said, "you have temporal lobe epilepsy." Which means you're getting these... almost like an hallucination, like an olfactory hallucination. In other words, I was actually smelling something that you couldn't explain. And she said, "I bet you're having these other symptoms." And I said, "yes, I am." I was just so amazed. I'm like, 'wow. This woman figured out right away.' I had had - it started about three years before I saw her and had been getting worse and worse. And I had had a fall with a with a significant head injury. And she said, "it's probably from the head injury." I guess that would be the biggest surprise. And just the relief. The absolute relief! Like, 'oh, somebody finally figured out why I'm having this, and I'm not losing my mind.' I'm back to baseline, I guess. Back to being able to cook food without feeling like I'm going to poison myself or somebody else or, you know, that the food is rotten. I'm at a healthy weight and feel healthy. The neurology department at the hospital is actually amazed how I responded without any medication. They wanted to operate. They wanted to open my brain and operate which was pretty scary. And they warned me that without anticonvulsant medications and possibly without surgery that I could have progressed to life- threatening seizures. That was pretty overwhelming. If you're having something that you can't quite put your finger on, she's an unbelievable. Diagnostician. The support in the office, everybody is wonderful there. The dietitian, Rachel, is so, so great. She gets right down to what you need and it's so personalized. And then there's just support. I mean, there's Zoom groups and book clubs and walks and talks. All sorts of things to give you support and get to know other people. It takes the whole person into consideration. You know, we hear about medication, about holistic approach, but they actually do it. The individualized plan of care and that holistic approach, everything into consideration to help you reach your goal.