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Deja vu and Epilepsy

Sat, 09/06/2008 - 19:09

Ok I'm going to give a short version and a long version, as the long one might be too long for many...

SHORT:

-I'm 23, have had 5-6 deja vu episodes in 3-4 weeks. Daydream alot and have fleeting thoughts of normal things seeming weird or funny (but not necessarily unfamiliar). No family history, no grand mal, no head trauma. What's the likelihood of TLE? What else might it be?

LONG:

I'm 23 and have experienced five or six very strong feelings of deja vu in the last 3-4 weeks or so, which was enough to tip me off to possible temporal lobe epilepsy after searching around a bit. They generally last about 10-20 seconds and are not accompanied by the same dread, or stomach discomfort, or fear, or happiness that seems to be common with many TLE patients, but they're also momentarily quite strong (and frustrating!) for me.

I also have been having these thoughts every once in a while that ordinary things, objects, words, concepts, etc. (could be anything depending on the concept) seem somewhat silly or different than they normally would feel. In a way, I feel like I'm processing the world differently, almost a bit, yet not entirely, detached from it for just a few seconds or so. I'm not quite sure it's jamais vu since it's never had any sort of emotion or gut-type "feeling" that deja vu has, and I know what I'm looking at/touching/hearing/etc fine and not actually forgetting anything about it. As an example, it could be as trivial as say looking at a phone or hearing the word phone (or whatever else) and thinking "hm, what a funny thing with a funny name. never thought of a phone that way, i know it's a phone, but it seems kinda silly. kind of weird we use them" and then snap back into it and realize a phone is a phone and i've been using it and familiar with it my whole life. It feels like I'm a permanent stoner or something. Sorry if that sounds a bit nuts, just a quirky thing that I'm wondering if it's related to possible TLE or something else.

I also tend to have some issues fairly regularly with daydreaming or forgetting for a second what it was I was doing or wanted to do (momentary memory, basically), but I've always attributed that to lack of sleep, being a space cadet, or whatever else might cause it, and I'm not too sure if it's symptomatic of TLE.

In any case, I have never had head trauma, have no family history of epilepsy, and obviously never had a grand mal or anything like it. I saw a neuro who took history and notes before referring me to a specialist who's going to take a month to schedule an appointment and for an MRI in the meantime. He mentioned that there are psychological theories but no other neurological explanations aside from TLE to explain having 6 deja vus along with the other quirkiness. Obviously then, it would be frustrating if the MRIs and EEGs, etc all come back fine with no diagnosis made as I could be stuck with these spells (which are affecting my work right now).

That said, I'm wondering a few things:

1) What is the likelihood of TLE (given age, no family history or trauma, symptoms)? Also, what is the likelihood that someone non-TLE has 6 dejavu episodes in a 3-4 weeks timeframe?

2) What are potential alternative explanations if not TLE?

3) What can/will be done if everything comes back okay but I'm still having symptoms?

4) Would stress/lack of sleep cause the symptoms, or do they actually trigger the epilepsy which in turn triggers the symptoms?

Obviously any answers to any of the questions are much appreicated. Thanks and look forward to the discussion!

-Mikey

Comments

Re: Deja vu and Epilepsy

Submitted by crisfca on Mon, 2009-06-22 - 07:59

Believe me, it is very different.

The deja vu experiences related to epilepsy are a very strong feeling of day dreaming, that freezes you..you disconnect from the world around you. You can speak but don't know what you are saying, you can hear but you are in a bubble.. and when  you come back, well, you feel very relaxed, tired, your brain seems to have gone to sleep...

 You know they are comming, seconds before they are there..and try to get distracted to see if they don't happen, but they do...

 

 

Believe me, it is very different.

The deja vu experiences related to epilepsy are a very strong feeling of day dreaming, that freezes you..you disconnect from the world around you. You can speak but don't know what you are saying, you can hear but you are in a bubble.. and when  you come back, well, you feel very relaxed, tired, your brain seems to have gone to sleep...

 You know they are comming, seconds before they are there..and try to get distracted to see if they don't happen, but they do...

 

 

Re: Deja vu and Epilepsy

Submitted by ugadude on Thu, 2009-07-02 - 21:40
WOW!!! Your description is dead-on.  I am new to this website and have experienced exactly what you described for 22 years.  The "spells" (as I have reluctantly called them since I have never actually been diagnosed) happen once every 6-9 months and come and go for about a day when I have them.  You're absolutely right in that I try to fight them off, but once they come on, there's no stopping them.  It's almost like static in the brain for about a minute.  The first few spells are generally mild, but seem to increase in intensity as they continue to occur.  Most of the time they start out mild and spread out, leading up to a few intense spells close together and then they are gone.  They are usually tied to not getting a lot of sleep and stress can also be a common factor.  However, occasionally, neither of these seem to be present (today for instance) and it can still happen.  I can't believe one of the posters said that they found these to be "enjoyable."  I don't like them at all and have tried not to stress out about them over the years since they have been fairly consistent.  While it is slightly comforting to see that I'm not alone, it scares me to see so many people posting that they eventually have a grand mal seizure after having this type for some time.  Any comments would be welcome.

Re: Deja vu and Epilepsy

Submitted by Shotputter99 on Sun, 2009-08-09 - 15:30

ugadude-  I too see the description of once they are coming on there is no stopping them to be extremely accurate!  I am on medicine to control mine and it works about 95% of the time as long as I am perfect about taking the meds.  Once in awhile though, one will come on and there I go, off into the Deja vu world that freaks me out.  The good thing is ...I get a little 30 sec - 1 min warning that it's coming.  I can't stop it, but I know it's coming.

 While figuring out and dealing with getting the right meds for me though...I have to be another poster that says that I did have a grand mal.  The scary part was, it was in my sleep.  It woke my husband up, he had to call 911 and I woke up in the bathroom trying to use the toilet talking to the paramedics after losing control of my bladder during the seizure.  It wasn't my proudest moment but our local team here was great about it.  It was very scary and confusing.  Much more so than a Deja vu moment which I would take any day over the grand mal but hate to have the Deja vu too.

 I have found though that I have a hot spot for the Deja vu.  There's a ballpark around here that I go to and it seems that on the fields there when I'm sitting in the dugout waiting to bat....it's like the tape is just "re-laying down on old tracks" in my brain.  My brain doesn't know what to do with the info and it just goes right into seizure mode.  I've sence stayed away from there and the seizure rate has dropped significantly!

 

ugadude-  I too see the description of once they are coming on there is no stopping them to be extremely accurate!  I am on medicine to control mine and it works about 95% of the time as long as I am perfect about taking the meds.  Once in awhile though, one will come on and there I go, off into the Deja vu world that freaks me out.  The good thing is ...I get a little 30 sec - 1 min warning that it's coming.  I can't stop it, but I know it's coming.

 While figuring out and dealing with getting the right meds for me though...I have to be another poster that says that I did have a grand mal.  The scary part was, it was in my sleep.  It woke my husband up, he had to call 911 and I woke up in the bathroom trying to use the toilet talking to the paramedics after losing control of my bladder during the seizure.  It wasn't my proudest moment but our local team here was great about it.  It was very scary and confusing.  Much more so than a Deja vu moment which I would take any day over the grand mal but hate to have the Deja vu too.

 I have found though that I have a hot spot for the Deja vu.  There's a ballpark around here that I go to and it seems that on the fields there when I'm sitting in the dugout waiting to bat....it's like the tape is just "re-laying down on old tracks" in my brain.  My brain doesn't know what to do with the info and it just goes right into seizure mode.  I've sence stayed away from there and the seizure rate has dropped significantly!

 

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