All posts tagged "Epilepsyandseizures"

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida officials responsible for providing services to people with lifelong disabilities have allowed nearly $800 million in state and federal matching funds to fall through the cracks in the past two years, according to a budget analysis by a statewide advocacy group. That’s enough to give the 23,000 people on a waiting list maintained by the Agency for Persons with Disabilities the critical services they need to live with their disorders, which include autism and cerebral palsy, the advocates say. The money could be used for medical treatment, therapy, housing and help p......

NEW YORK — A new lawsuit claims city doctors botched a plan to ease a Rikers Island detainee with psychiatric issues off prescription drugs, causing a catastrophic seizure from withdrawal that led him to die. Doctors with Correctional Health Services put Malcolm Boatwright, 28, on the withdrawal plan in November 2021 in an attempt to taper his body’s chemical dependency on clonazepam — a member of the benzodiazepine family of drugs that includes Xanax. Benzodiazepines are used to treat anxiety, seizures and severe insomnia. Three weeks later — on Dec. 7, 2021, after he supposedly completed the......

TOPEKA, Kansas — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly in her State of State address on Tuesday night warned the Republican-controlled Legislature that she would oppose “irresponsible tax proposals” and education measures that pit “parents against teachers,” even as the Democratic governor seeks GOP support for her agenda. Kelly has called for immediately eliminating the state sales tax on food, creating a back-to-school sales tax holiday and providing a tax break for some retirees. Kelly also wants Kansas to fully fund special education after the state has gone more than a decade without meeting mandatory ......

From his career in the Army to a life-changing medical diagnosis in his 30s, Ryan O’Connor doesn’t view life’s obstacles as roadblocks but rather as challenges he can overcome. O’Connor, whose nickname is “ROC,” spent time as a cook in the Army, helping to serve in the name of freedom before having his own taken away by seizures that started at the age of 36. More than a decade later, O’Connor’s epilepsy is an ongoing battle and a force to be reckoned with. “You might not see my medical condition on a daily basis, but it is there and it’s a hidden monster I have to deal with,” he said. “There ......

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Depression sucked the life from Lori Jackson’s time on this earth for nearly 40 years. On her darkest days in college she hung a blanket over her dorm room window to block out the light and slept, skipping classes. As she had her three children, her doctor prescribed Prozac for postpartum depression, but that didn’t lift the darkness. “It’s hard to describe, and it’s kinda cliche maybe. … You just feel like somebody has put a black, non-see-through blanket over your head,” said Jackson, who is 55 and lives in Overland Park, Kansas. “It’s heavy and it’s black and it’s just a......