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normal eegs....i feel like i'm going crazy

Fri, 10/13/2006 - 01:01
Ok I know this is long, but I really need some help figuring this out. I started having weird symptoms in May of last year. I thought they were panic attacks so I didn't pay them much attention, even though I knew they didn't really have the symptoms of panic attacks. After a couple of monthes I finally looked up panic attacks on the internet and discovered I had known of the symptoms. Somehow I got on a page that talked about seizures and it was there I recognized my symptoms in the section on simple and complex partial seizures. I have worked with adults with developmental disabilities for many years and a lot of them have seizures. I never expected that to be my problem. It all starts with a weird sensation that I can't really describe. Then I start to smell a chemical smell. I taste blood in my mouth and then my mind starts racing and I see things. Not like hallucinations but things in my head like a memory of something. It all seems really familiar, but after the spell is over I can't remember what it was that I was seeing I just know either it was a memory or a past dream. Everything apears strange to me as if I'm in a dream. I also get deja vu and a weak feeling. Sometimes I get a pins and needles feeling all over and I feel a little nauseous. When I get the blood taste in my mouth I start either drooling or I will start spitting. I'm somewhat concious of what I'm doing, but its like I don't care. When its all over and I see that either I'm drooling on myself or I'm spitting in the floor I feel really embarrassed, but at the time of the spell it makes perfect sense to spit on the floor. I also have very strong emotions. Its like a fear/panic/depression feeling. Sometimes the emotions are so strong it brings tears to my eyes. I mainly get these spells around the time of my period or when I'm ovulating. I will have several in a day for a couple of days and then nothing for two or three weeks and then it starts all over again. I have problems with my memory after having these spells and then the longer I go without having them my memory starts to improve until I have another one, then I'm right back where I started. It took me having these for nine months before I finally told my doctor. He did a blood test, CT scan, and an EEG. They were all normal so he referred me to a neurologist. The neurologist did a sleep deprived EEG. It was also normal. I didn't really like that doctor so I had my primary care doctor refer me to a neurologist who specializes in seizure disorders. He did a MRI which was normal, so he put me on Trilepital. After three weeks I broke out in rash so that med was discontinued and I started on Keppra. Since taking Keppra I have had no seizures and I finally am starting to feel like my old self again. My new doctor did a ambulatory EEG because he said a lot of times the other EEG's don't last long enough to catch abnormal brain waves. It also came back normal which really surprised my doctor. He said that the medication must be working good for me thats why the test was normal.I feel like I'm going crazy. At first I thought maybe this was all stress related which is why I waited so long to talk to my doctor about it, but if it was stress related the medication wouldn't be helping would it? I don't know what to do. I was thinking of going off my meds to see if the problem comes back. Can someone please help me?

Comments

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: normal eegs....i feel like i'm going crazy

Submitted by Winston on Sun, 2006-10-15 - 22:29
Hello - I'm in Illinois and I think that it says that you have to be seizure free for 6 months. However, my doctor can override that if he wants to and he said that he will say 3 months. Still working on that though..... :-) Yes, I thought "panic attacks" for several months even though I truly did not believe that because I really didn't feel anxious at all and if I did feel anxious, it was a result of what other things were happening (did the chicken or the egg come first, right?) However, I wanted to get to the bottom of it so I started to see a counselor for my self-diagnosed panic attacks. In the meantime though, one night while driving, I suddenly felt as though I snapped out of something, thought the car was completely tilted on one side and thought my head was hanging off of my neck going the other way. This finally confirmed that I was NOT having panic attacks and I got a referral to a neurologist. At this point though, I still didn't know about partial seizures and later learned that all of the other symptoms that I was having was pretty classic of this. The thing in the car was the only time that something like that has happened though. In addition to the main mental symptoms when it happens, I occassionally have extremely strange physical sensations that happen completely seperately, such as feeling like my body is stretched 10 feel wide, that I am litterally a marshmallow, and that my hand is cupping around myself and squeezing down (I'm not kidding....) This does not happen as often though. It's quite a trip though. A big thing that does happen during my seizures though is that I start to gag, kind of like a reflex. I do get a LOT of saliva in my mouth at times, but don't spit. My throat does get extremely tight though which causes the gagging. Has this ever happened to you? I have also been quite delusional and have had hallucinations. I have believed that my husband and I were still living in our old apartment and then saw kind of a slide show of the apartment in front of me, what all the rooms looked like. I also believed that I was at my parents house and not my own before and saw their house, garage, alley, etc. and not mine. It makes for some good entertainment...ha ha :-)

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: normal eegs....i feel like i'm going cra

Submitted by Peaches78 on Mon, 2006-10-16 - 01:19
I thought panic attacks too even though I knew it wasn't that. I have a degree in psychology so I knew all the symptoms of panic attacks and what they could do. I was afaid to mention my problem to anyone because I was afraid of what they would think. Everytime it would happen I would think I need to go to the doctor but then once it stopped happening for a while I would think it wouldn't happen again so I didn't need to see a doctor. I let it go on for about nine months before I finally mentioned it to my primary care doctor during a visit for something else. He was the first person I mentioned it to. My family and friends didn't even know. The only reason why I mentioned it then was because I was afraid it could be caused by a brain tumor or lesion and didn't want it to be one of those things thats curable only if you catch it early enough. I told him how I was afraid it was stress or a panic attack at first but I knew panic attacks didn't do things like that. He assured me it definitely wasn't stress causing it or a panic attack. He didn't know what it was but said it was some kind of temporal lobe problem. Its nice to know that I'm not the only person experiencing diagnostic problems.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: normal eegs....i feel like i'm going

Submitted by mulva417 on Wed, 2006-10-18 - 12:29
Hi everyone! I have similar "episodes" and have undergone many tests. I had routine EEG, ambulatory EEG, MRI, MRA, and many tests for my heart. Everything comes out negative. With my episodes I feel kind of lightheaded and everything just doesn't look normal. I cannot hear out of one ear, then that ear buzzes. Everything else sounds muffled. When I feel it starting, I sit or lie down, or else I think I will fall down. I sweat, become nauseas, and occasinally vomit. I am fully aware of what is happening and can understand people if they talk to me. I can also respond appropriately. I am going for another opinion because I feel I keep running into walls with the doctors I've seen. Why does it seem that drs are afraid to diagnose seizures? What if you never capture one on EEG? My other question is....does anybody ever feel like their brains are just not working right? Sometimes (or many times throughout the day) I have brief moments of thinking I will have an episode, but it never goes further than that. I feel like I am a bit forgetful and have trouble remembering some things (usually small insignificant things, but things I should remember). I feel like maybe I'm just crazy. It's so nice to have people to talk to!!

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