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Can you be conscious for a grand mal seizure/tonic-clonic?
Tue, 07/07/2009 - 19:52A few weeks ago, at the age of 22, I was diagnosed with epilepsy. I have had mainly focal epileptic seizures but recently suffered from a second tonic-clonic seizure in a month.
I was asleep and it was late at night for the first tonic-clonic seizure and I was at the hospital for EEG testing as well as video monitering.
During the second, it was late afternoon, I had suffered from two seizures that day and then after dozing off around 5:30, awoke to my neck turning almost all the way around and my arms twitching, then my body, and then my legs. I rememeber the entire thing... gasping for air and almost losing consiousness. I am currently taking 1500 mg. of Keppra and now will be increasing this dosage to 3000 mg.
I am 22, in perfect health... and now dealing with all of this. It is my knowledge that people that have grand mal seizures or tonic-clonic seizures, lose consciousness. Am I having some sort of different seizure, or what?!?! So confused...
Comments
Re: Can you be conscious for a grand mal seizure/tonic-clonic?
Submitted by mother of one on Sun, 2009-11-01 - 15:30
Re: Can you be conscious for a grand mal seizure/tonic-clonic?
Submitted by uberzwitter on Thu, 2009-07-09 - 23:49
I remain concious during my seizures. I refer to them as complex partials and secondary generalized (I'll start with confusion and automatisms and that can progress into full body convulsions) since I know tonic-clonic by definition involves loss of conciousness and what I mention may involve some "alteration of conciousness." Mine are just as violent as a tonic-clonic in many ways, my head turns all the way back and my body snaps forward then. I can hear people talking, at times I can incoherently respond, I remember everything that happened but for some reason at the time I feel as if everything is distorted and strange. I often fight my eyes because they will start to track far away things in space and I will get lost staring off. I too have had the argument in my head that "This is not a siezure. Is this a siezure? What is going on? I am imagining this...I can stop this..." What people see and what I experience end up being very different sometimes.
Often friends will come to the hospital and try to comfort me by saying "I know so and so, they are off much worst, they lose conciousness." It makes me a bit upset, they don't realize maintaining conciousness is it's own internal battle sometimes.
I remain concious during my seizures. I refer to them as complex partials and secondary generalized (I'll start with confusion and automatisms and that can progress into full body convulsions) since I know tonic-clonic by definition involves loss of conciousness and what I mention may involve some "alteration of conciousness." Mine are just as violent as a tonic-clonic in many ways, my head turns all the way back and my body snaps forward then. I can hear people talking, at times I can incoherently respond, I remember everything that happened but for some reason at the time I feel as if everything is distorted and strange. I often fight my eyes because they will start to track far away things in space and I will get lost staring off. I too have had the argument in my head that "This is not a siezure. Is this a siezure? What is going on? I am imagining this...I can stop this..." What people see and what I experience end up being very different sometimes.
Often friends will come to the hospital and try to comfort me by saying "I know so and so, they are off much worst, they lose conciousness." It makes me a bit upset, they don't realize maintaining conciousness is it's own internal battle sometimes.
Re: Can you be conscious for a grand mal seizure/tonic-clonic?
Submitted by tweety 12 on Wed, 2009-07-08 - 19:02
alos when i first start to have one my husband says i shake all over and being moving all over and screaming and turning blue before peramedics get there and then im very aggrvated when they try to tske me so they have to tye my arms down all though to this day i rember nothing of those 4 or any peramedics