She Thought It Was Anemia... It Was Epilepsy | Maria’s Story at Baptist Health

With nearly 8 years in the U.S., a 3-year-old son and a busy career, Maria’s life was full — until unexpected episodes began.

Maria is from Venezuela. Since age 3, her mother enrolled her in a modelling academy. She’s been in the U.S. for 8 years, married for 6 years, and her 3-year-old son is her world. She works as a sales supervisor.

Suddenly, her health changed. Maria fainted multiple times. She thought it was anemia. At one point, she called an ambulance: “I could hear, but I could not speak… it was very intense, but only lasted seconds, maybe 30 seconds.” It started in January, then became more frequent in February. She didn’t suspect anything “bad”.

In April she met Dr. Carlos Millan, M.D. at Baptist Health Miami Neuroscience Institute. Her episodes were loss of awareness and increasing in frequency. They admitted her to the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU). They found abnormalities in her left temporal region via MRI — a brain lesion called a cavernoma.

“It was epilepsy. I never would have thought it was epilepsy. I thought people with epilepsy fell to the floor with their tongues out. I never would have thought that that’s what I had.” — Maria

Dr. Millan explains: “Not all seizures are like the ones we see in the movies. People fall to the floor and start shaking — those are the least common ones. Many seizures are just losing awareness, staring, shaking one part of the body, tingling sensation… focal seizures coming from a particular brain area.”

At Baptist Health Miami Neuroscience Institute, Maria was prescribed Keppra to stabilize her body ahead of surgery. Using intraoperative monitoring during the resection of the cavernoma, the neurology/neurosurgery team worked to render her seizure-free. She was in the hospital for three days. Dr. Millan walked in and said: “Wow, you have nothing wrong. Your operation was small.”

The surgery was successful — Maria is now seizure-free, back at work, and looking forward to being off anti-seizure medications.

“The most difficult profession is to be a doctor. You have a life in your hands.” -Maria

“We come to the clinic and then we see these amazing outcomes. That’s the most successful thing for us, and that’s what drives us every day.” -Dr. Millan.

If you or a loved one are experiencing unexplained fainting, staring spells, tingling or odd sensations — you don’t have to assume it’s “just anemia” or “just stress”. At our Level 4 Epilepsy Center at Baptist Health Miami Neuroscience Institute, we offer the gold standard in diagnosis and care for seizure disorders.

Visit baptisthealth.net/Neuroscience to learn more and request an appointment.

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro – Maria’s background
0:40 First fainting episodes & ambulance call
1:20 Meeting Dr. Millan & first diagnosis
2:00 What is epilepsy and how seizures can vary (Dr. Millan)
3:05 Treatment: medication and surgical planning
3:10 Surgery success & current life update
3:18 Closing — encouragement & how to reach us


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