Can you pull yourself out of an aura when you feel it coming?

Hi Jumpyjubbles, Here's the address of a 1989 article in Epilepsia, 30(2):168-174 "Sensory Stimulation for Inhibition of Epileptic Seizures" that I tried to exploit with similar techniques with operant conditioning in finding a way to stop my initial partial seizures or an aura from expanding: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/119430454/PDFSTART I still hope I stumble upon a way to preclude my small seizures from spreading one of these days! At least Keppra has stopped them to just before secondary tonic-clonics. I've had TLE all my life (56 yrs) and in the last couple decades it now goes into secondary tonic-clonics without medication. The medication doesn't help with the partial seizures and migraines much at all. I can think about pleasant scenes from my life and to try to "talk myself out of a migraine" but at best this seems to be a distraction from the pain and unusual sensations of a migraine, and works no more often than mere coincidence at precluding an intense headache. Many "Painless" migraines with aura can be confused with the aura of simple partial seizures. Some Anti-epileptic Drugs (AEDs) can help with migraines, but some migraine medications can worsen seizures. The warning aura of an intense clusters of seizures has given me many opportunities to try all kinds of actions and techniques to stop the seizures (from meditation, Pavlovian and operant conditioning, etc.) all to no avail so far. At best, I can minimize the discomfort and environmental dangers during the seizures by early action. Right now, I'm trying minimal medication, ready with a strong dose at an early warning. From the medical textbooks I've studied, many neurologists view emotional placidity in tending to reduce the likelihood of a seizure versus stress as aggravating a seizure as a weight in judging the seizures to be nonepileptic events. Boredom seems to aggravate my migraines somewhat, but my seizures cause my unusual "emotional" sensations; otherwise, my intellectual involvement and emotional state is irrelevant to the likelihood of a seizure (for my secondary tonic-clonics that hit with little warning, I was just as likely to be feeling happy as angry, as sad, as relaxed, as frustrated, as pleased, etc.). My epileptic seizures have taught me that they have priority over every notion of will-power and free will/responsibility. Most all epileptic seizure types also take priority over aversive conditioning, Pavlovian conditioning, and operant conditioning. Only triggered seizures can be avoided by control of the environment, and then that is for "specific reflex" triggered seizures, with "nonspecific" (stress, lack of sleep, etc.) triggered seizures being only "moderated" with control of the environment (to me, the notion of the environment, illnesses, lack of sleep, drugs, etc. "lowering the seizure thresholds" is a more understandable explanation). The sensations during an aura can be just about every kind, with each individual person usually experiencing their own individual and fairly stable pattern of aura. A very long video that includes discussion of many various aura of epilepsy (mainly temporal lobe epilepsy) is: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1030598948823323439# I hope this helps. Tadzio

In my past experiences with seizures i have had aura's that last anywhere from 2-7 hours before an actual seizure occurs.   I have had times where I started to feel that wierd feeling come over me and I can immediately recognize and at that time I try to lay down and relax, often having my legs and my arms rubbed will also help me, i think that part is a circulation thing.  Often my auras feel the way you are describing yours, sometimes it feels like the people who are talking directly to me are so far off in the distant.   Stress is a known trigger for seizures, so you should try to practice eliminating as much stress out of your life as possible, i know easier said than done.  try to develop a consistent sleeping pattern, and I try to stay on a exercise routine that also helps with relieving my stress.I hope you dont have to deal with anymore aura's or seizures.