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"Post-ictal" confusion

Wed, 01/07/2009 - 00:06

Hey all,

Most of you don't know me, but, as I stated in my introductory thread, I'm new to all of this (Holy pleonasm, Batman!).  

The first time I ever witnessed a seizure was during my video EEG in November.  Naturally, I saw quite a number of them over the next few nights.

What has stuck with me wasn't necessarily the seizures themselves.  It was the period afterwards.  The doctors and nurses would begin asking a series of question to the teenager in the bed next to me.  I'm sure some of you are familiar with the routine:

"What's your name?"

"David."  He got that one right.

"Do you know where you are?"

"September...19th.  Or 20th.  I think."

So David was capable of responding to verbal cues, but he wasn't actually able to comprehend them.  He knew he was being asked general questions, but he didn't know what he was being asked.  

Essentially -- I think -- his brain wasn't really functioning, at least not at anything resembling a normal level for him.  While it was in the process of recovering, David's brain had created a limited level of awareness.  He wasn't in a seizure state, he wasn't back to normal, he was sort of in the middle somewhere, almost as if it was a survivalistic instinct.  His brain had developed a third state.  

The mere fact that some of you have gone through this so many times that your brain reacts this way is heart breaking.  It was by far the most devastating realization of my four day stay in the hospital.  

I hope this is not a breach of etiqutte as, again, I'm new to this and only suffer from absence seizures, but is this what it's really like for a lot of you?  What is that recovery period like?  How does all of that compare to the seizures themselves?

 

 

 

 

Comments

Re: "Post-ictal" confusion

Submitted by tcameron on Tue, 2011-03-08 - 02:02

My post-ictal state usually lasts 30 minutes.  When I wake up, I can carry on a conversation with others, but have complete amnesia of it.  Usually, someone will repeat themselves after a minute or so, and I'll respond as though it was the first time I heard it.  Finally after being told several times that I had a seizure (approx 30 min) while confused, I'll respond with, "I know had a seizure."  That's how I know okay.

 

My post-ictal state usually lasts 30 minutes.  When I wake up, I can carry on a conversation with others, but have complete amnesia of it.  Usually, someone will repeat themselves after a minute or so, and I'll respond as though it was the first time I heard it.  Finally after being told several times that I had a seizure (approx 30 min) while confused, I'll respond with, "I know had a seizure."  That's how I know okay.

 

Re: "Post-ictal" confusion

Submitted by thebettles on Tue, 2011-03-08 - 02:26

Extreme post-ictal confusion, like after a cluster of severe generalized tonic clonic seizures, is similar to yielding back to the very fabric of existence itself. When there is awareness without any symbolic meaning to anything, it is like being born again. Self awareness vanishes and there is only awareness.

What is heart breaking is how extraordinarily quickly the brain "recovers".

Within minutes or days or sometimes months, our old "self" takes hold with all of its likes and dislikes and expectations and preconceptions of how things should be.

Gone is the post-ictal confusion, which is just another way of saying, gone is the ability to stay in the moment through becoming completely absorbed, so much so that ones ego actually vanishes....

The example of Dave simply having trouble remembering which day it is would be, as they say, the tip of the iceberg.

I love post-ictal confusion!

much love to all,

marty

Extreme post-ictal confusion, like after a cluster of severe generalized tonic clonic seizures, is similar to yielding back to the very fabric of existence itself. When there is awareness without any symbolic meaning to anything, it is like being born again. Self awareness vanishes and there is only awareness.

What is heart breaking is how extraordinarily quickly the brain "recovers".

Within minutes or days or sometimes months, our old "self" takes hold with all of its likes and dislikes and expectations and preconceptions of how things should be.

Gone is the post-ictal confusion, which is just another way of saying, gone is the ability to stay in the moment through becoming completely absorbed, so much so that ones ego actually vanishes....

The example of Dave simply having trouble remembering which day it is would be, as they say, the tip of the iceberg.

I love post-ictal confusion!

much love to all,

marty

Re: "Post-ictal" confusion

Submitted by wichitarick1 on Tue, 2011-03-08 - 16:35

peace R.C.  Hi Been awhile! I see I said something here a long time ago ,very short ,must have been in a lot of pain?

I have done some manner of everything listed here by everyone, BUT I can see a detail that may be left out here is the fact we are also recovering from lack of oxygen and sometimes a concussion ,Although so much information says we recover fully from the szs. it is a little misleading or at least lacking because so much other research shows how lack of oxygen and concussions ,especially when it happens multiple times DOES cause brain damage. 

I have become fully aware that their is no doubt I am simply not as smart as I was a few years ago. Not in a "oh yeah that happens with age, or we all have a bad memory way BUT in a lets compare tests scores from 5 yrs ago and now kind of way.  It took me a life time to understand that I have had an "aura" all my life and also a poster child for A.D.H.D.  and possibly a lot of that "spacy" behaviour I have always been known for was actually a short sz.

It is signifcant here because if I have been doing that for so many yrs. have I also been in a sort of constant "postictal" state for many years also?  B.t.w. am typing one handed,with a postical migraine,and recovering from falling and breaking a shelf OFF the wall about 2 hrs ago. I will not sleep for about 2 days now. my hearing is so elevated I turned the fridge OFF. I can hear the dog breathing,my insides hurt so bad ,etc,etc, it would be madness IF I did not understand "IT". Rick

I have changed again recently and managed to write down a little of what some of the more EXTREME levels of a brain and how some of us may "feel" I am sure others will understand ,while some may be totally freaked out by this 

peace R.C.  Hi Been awhile! I see I said something here a long time ago ,very short ,must have been in a lot of pain?

I have done some manner of everything listed here by everyone, BUT I can see a detail that may be left out here is the fact we are also recovering from lack of oxygen and sometimes a concussion ,Although so much information says we recover fully from the szs. it is a little misleading or at least lacking because so much other research shows how lack of oxygen and concussions ,especially when it happens multiple times DOES cause brain damage. 

I have become fully aware that their is no doubt I am simply not as smart as I was a few years ago. Not in a "oh yeah that happens with age, or we all have a bad memory way BUT in a lets compare tests scores from 5 yrs ago and now kind of way.  It took me a life time to understand that I have had an "aura" all my life and also a poster child for A.D.H.D.  and possibly a lot of that "spacy" behaviour I have always been known for was actually a short sz.

It is signifcant here because if I have been doing that for so many yrs. have I also been in a sort of constant "postictal" state for many years also?  B.t.w. am typing one handed,with a postical migraine,and recovering from falling and breaking a shelf OFF the wall about 2 hrs ago. I will not sleep for about 2 days now. my hearing is so elevated I turned the fridge OFF. I can hear the dog breathing,my insides hurt so bad ,etc,etc, it would be madness IF I did not understand "IT". Rick

I have changed again recently and managed to write down a little of what some of the more EXTREME levels of a brain and how some of us may "feel" I am sure others will understand ,while some may be totally freaked out by this 

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