DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SEIZURE OR ANXIETY ......

Re: DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SEIZURE OR ANXIETY ......

Submitted by phylisfjohnson on Mon, 2010-05-17 - 15:11

You might be having what is called psychogenic seizures. These seizures are most likely triggered by emotional stress or trauma. Some people with epilepsy have psychogenic seizures in addition to their epileptic seizures. It’s a legitimate seizure and should be treated that way, but it is not caused by a problem in the brain.

I have both (boy, I HATE that metallic taste!) and I'm on Lamictal, which at its lowest level is an anti-depressant, at its next level, it's an anti-seizure med and at its highest dosage, it's for bi-polar disorder.  I also take Klonopin which is an anti-anxiety, anti-seizure med and this has become my magical med mix.

I hope this helps!    Phylis Feiner Johnson  www.epilepsytalk.com

Re: DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SEIZURE OR ANXIETY ......

Submitted by 3Hours2Live on Tue, 2010-05-18 - 00:09

Hi Samoahmad, I've had somewhat the opposite problem: mainly simple partial seizures in early childhood, expanding into more frequent complex partial seizures through adolescence, adding painless/painful migraines amongst the seizures into adulthood, and growing frequency of secondary tonic-clonics (TCs) with middle-age. Then with late middle-age, many near fatal TCs, and finally a few expensive Anti-Epileptic Drugs (AEDs) from Catch-22 Medicaid that at least prevents most of the TCs, but not the partials and migraines. One of my university Social Psychology Professors told me that I probably was having seizures because of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE). Before that, I was told my seizures were everything from supernatural forces, my faking illness, indigestion, violations of the "I'm OK, You're OK" rule, etc. None of the C.R.A.P. theories revealed my TLE, and I grew through adolescence with totally untreated TLE. In the University Library, I soon discovered that the observed phenomena with long lasting TLE, especially through adolescence, were being grouped and labeled the "Geschwind Syndrome," and that it was irreversible. Specializing in Psychological Measurements in my University studies, I had already observed that the validity and objectivity of psychological testing and techniques were not reliable, nor scientifically valid, when many of the epilepsies were involved (esp. with TLE). My main focus was on the Minnestota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), and while claims were made that the MMPI could be "patched" by adjusting the measurements after the fact (so much for high statistical standards), the patchwork was like saving the Titanic with a stick of bubblegum. Basically, the MMPI was revamped into the MMPI-2, with the biggest difference being removal of the items like: "I like red sports-cars" being a point for Paranoid Schizophrenia (copyrights are used against critics), and now the subjective and invalid Monster to epilepsy is returning in the guise of measuring for "Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Seizures" (PNES). People with stronger seizures of TLE are improperly labeled bipolar (manic-depressive), depressive, paranoid schizophrenic, etc. Seizures deep enough, or slight enough, will be improperly labeled PNES through the Codes. The invalid testing problems for individuals with epilepsy are being ignored as involving invalid tests, and personality testing in PNES is going full speed ahead, for example: "Neuropsychology of Epilepsy and Epilepsy Surgery" by Gregory Lee (March 2010), p. 159 (book), page 157 (amazon-dot-com Look Inside!), reveals one tip of a possibly upcoming major iceberg. The book "Nonconvulsive Status Epilepticus" by Kaplan and Drislane (October 2008), addresses many instances of TLE seizures being EEG non-detectible, and lasting over long time periods (Chapter 10, pp. 119-130, Figures 10.1-4). "Circumscribed discharges at such localizations are difficult to detect in routine scalp EEG"(p.129). "...cannot...."(p.125). http://books.google.com/books?id=s7mGDA5TaXsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Kaplan+and+Drislane&cd=1#v=snippet&q=routine%20scalp%20EEG&f=false PNES is now more Politically Correctly referred to as "Psychogenic Non-Epileptic Attacks" (PNEAs): http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/epilepsyusa/yebeh/upload/Differential_diagnosis_of_epilepsy.pdf The "too large to be correct without major questions" of PNEAs being of greater frequency than 90% is on the first page. Some true-believers in PNEAs regard when AEDs (such as Keppra) have no effectiveness, with purported seizures, as evidence in support of PNEAs, while very true-believers in PNEAs will dismiss the effectiveness of AEDs, at controlling purported seizures, as evidence of true seizures. Much more evidence is that Keppra causes anxiety than cures anxiety, while Keppra more often controls seizures than aggravates them. So, if Keppra helps with purported "anxiety attacks," the purported "anxiety attacks" are more likely partial seizures than the DSM-IV created symptom labeled "anxiety." Painless migraines can have symptoms just like partial seizures, and many AEDs are used to treat migraines, while some other medicines for migraines will aggravat seizures. Painless migraines don't have quite as much societal bias to them as epilepsy does, and the migraines don't have as much psychological/psychiatric baggage from experts loading the patient needlessly down. The book "Imitators of Epilepsy" by Kaplan and Fisher (2005) has Chapter 9 on migraines being confounded with seizures, and "Migraine" by Robert A. Davidoff (2002) covers "aura" of painless migraines that are nearly identical to aura of TLE. (Davidoff's book's previewed on books-dot-google). Stress often lowers the threshold for seizures (I have the more frequent aspect of relaxation lowering the threshold for impending seizures). As in the article on PNEAs, stress as a trigger is regarded as a clue leading to PNEAs. It is almost as if Neuropsychiatry is promoting stress as a trigger for seizures, while next using the alleged "trigger" of stress as evidence of PNEAs, and that nonsense justifying tons of Psych C.R.A.P. theories. Minimal amounts of Keppra are controlling my secondary TCs, but whenever I have the slightest cold/flu/pollen allergy, etc., Keppra aggravates the symptoms of these otherwise moderate illness annoyances. I hope Keppra continues to be effective for me, while I attempt to keep its levels as low as possible for TC control. Many people have reported that an AED that works initially, often loses its effectiveness over a few years. Tadzio