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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

Well I'm here reading up

Submitted by Mr. Déjà vu on Thu, 2018-08-30 - 10:03
Well I'm here reading up again because my episodes seem to be getting a lot more frequent and now it's starting to feel like I'm having the warning signs almost 50% of the time that I'm awake.  I'm not supposed to be able to have daytime seizure, so says my nuro, however I know that I've had at least a couple of minis that came after having my deja vu go on and off for a couple of hours.  Now I've become very paranoid that it might happen again so right when the feelings start I make sure to pay extra attention to them, which probably isn't good either.  My big question is has anyone found anything that's helped them to get these evil things to stop?   I'm on hemp oil and my normal drug now and still nothing.  I've tried several herbs that are supposed to help heal your brain and still nothing.  I've cut out caffeine for a bit and beer for a bit (I'm not a big drinker anymore but I figured maybe that small amount was causing some issues) and still nothing.   I can live with them the way they are but I keep worrying that they're just going to continue to get worse.  It's very hard to find info because it seems like not a lot of people have the issue and most DR.'s have no clue what you're even talking about.  So now I wonder has anyone found some miracle thing that seems to be working for them?  

Hi Mikey,Like yourself I've

Submitted by Adrena1221 on Wed, 2019-02-13 - 16:16
Hi Mikey,Like yourself I've experienced similar episodes when I was a child. I have also on occasion dealt with them in my adult life. I remember being about 12 or so, walking up a giant hill and suddenly I'd have an overwhelming feeling as though I was going mad (I'd be experiencing the deja vu feeling), then become extremely nauseous followed by a horrid headache. The pain was severe enough to make me feel more nauseous and I threw up. I went from a straight "A" student to a "C"s "D"s and "F"s student. They messed up my memory terribly. There's a reason why, the seizures were causing my blood sugar levels to lower. Which is why I'd typically get headaches and nausea afterwards. What I can tell you is whether your family members in the past have had these or not doesn't matter. If an individual's minerals in their body is low, or unbalanced it can cause these. The culprit: Low Magnesium! Anyone who experiences these needs to take a magnesium supplement at the least. Getting on a mineral balancing program is best, but if you eat foods high in magnesium and possibly take a supplement this will help tremendously! Good luck to you! Lindsey

Hey Lindsey thanks for the

Submitted by Mr. Déjà vu on Wed, 2019-04-17 - 12:19
Hey Lindsey thanks for the advise about the magnesium and the mineral balancing program.  I have been looking into this more and more and saw that magnesium is very important when it comes to memory so I have increased my daily intake but now you've given me another reason to watch it even closer.  

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