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IN NEED OF ADVICE--seizure or PANIC attack????

Thu, 09/02/2004 - 14:19
My sister was diagnosed with "seizure disorder" a few months ago.  I witnessed one at the hospital and her boyfriend saw a grand-mal.  She has been on 100mg of Dilantin 3x a day for the past 2 months.  Prior to her diagnosis she told me that she had been having strange things happen to her at night.  She says that she feels "crazy" and doesn't want to talk about it to anyone.  She wakes up and says that her mind always goes to the same place-yet she cannot remember what she is thinking during the episode.  She also says that it is like an "out of body experience"  she says that she has crazy thoughts-yet her mind goes to the same place whenever this happens-she has a very hard time trying to verbalize what she felt.  She went to the doctor  (after having these 2 nights in a row-the first "seizures? since she began taking Dilantin.)  The doctor told her that she is having panic attacks and prescribed Xanax).  I should add that she says she has trouble breathing after them.  I don't think it is a panic attack.  She had another one last night.  Any input would be greatly appreciated.  We are new to the disorder and want to be as informed as possible.  Thanks so much.

Comments

RE: IN NEED OF ADVICE--seizure or PANIC attack????

Submitted by Clunk1234567 on Wed, 2004-08-25 - 05:34
Doctors who diagnose epilepsy without the aid of equipment such as eeg are a menace, and ruling it out without the same is just as bad. Get a second opinion and a new doctor.

RE: IN NEED OF ADVICE--seizure or PANIC attack????

Submitted by ccs123 on Wed, 2004-09-01 - 23:00
When I have a seizure it sort of feels like an out of body experience.  Did she ever mention what "place" her mind goes to?  I have sort of a dejavu feeling before a seizure.  I have a very hard time verbalizing what goes through my mind before and during a seizure.  I would love to know more about your sister.  I think it's wonderful of you for doing research on behalf of your sister.  Take care.

RE: IN NEED OF ADVICE--seizure or PANIC attack????

Submitted by mexican_fire on Thu, 2004-09-02 - 14:19

Hi, I have some info for you that may help.

I have been dealing with seizures since I was about 4, but it was never diagnosed until this May, and the school system just dismissed it as bad beahvior and day dreaming.  Then it remissed for a few years only to return with a vengence.  I started having some pretty bad seizrues in Jan of 01, and my doc put me on Tegretol XR, and that is what I was on for 3 1/2 years total before the epi I have now, removed me from it after having a VEEG done this March, after 4 EEGs--3 from the first neuro in Phx and then one from him-that were all abnormal.  So was the VEEG, and they found other seizure types that we never knew I had, as well

So, now I have 5 types of seizures, and was diagnosed this May with L-TLE with other seizure types.

I have Simple and Complex Seizures and Secondarily Generalized Tonic-Clonic seizures (but not frequently, last one of those was late last Novemember), Absence, and Myoclonic.

After failing 7 other drugs and being a surgical candidate, they started me on Neurontin 1 1/2 years ago, and I still take it, and they did a drug change with the other two I was on right before going into the EMU, and gave me Depakote ER that 3 weeks ago was increased to 1000 mgs.

The info I have is on Simple Partial seizures, and I will abbreviate that term with SPS.

People who have SPS can think, talk, and carry on regular activities during the seizure.  Consciousness is NOT altered, and they remember what happened during the entire seizure.

However, SPS does and will affect movement, emotions, sensations, and feelings in unusual and frightening ways.

The part of the brain that controls movement can cause uncontrolled movements in just about any part of the body.  Eyes may move back and forth, they may blink, there may be unusual movements of the tongue, twitiching of the face, shaking of a limb in one part of the body that spreads to invlove the whole side, speaking may arrast and movement may be suspended until the seizure is over.

The part of the brain that controls emotions can and will cause a sudden feeling of fear or sense of "impending doom", that something terrible is about to happen, feelings of anger, rage, sudden joy, happiness, fear, panic.  The people who experieince fear and panic usually show signes of being terrified for no reason, they act like they are caught in a panic attack with no known history of a panic disorder.  That is how the seizure may manifest itself on occasions.

The part of the brain that controls sensation hits just about everyone with a partial seizure disorder at some point in time.  Some experience all the time, while others only experience rarely.

Some common sensations affected include: feeling a light breeze touch you, unusual buzzing, hissing, or ringing sounds that get louder as the seizure approaches, voices that aren't there, music that isn't there, unpleasant tastes, unpleasant smells, and disortions in the way things look--things may look bigger than they are, or smaller than they are, part of the body may change in size or shape.

If the area of the brain involved with making memories is affected then disturbing visions or places and people from the past may occur.

Sudden nausea or an odd rising feeling in the stomach is also a common one.  Stomach pain may be cause by SPS, sudden sweating, flushing, becoming pale, or developing goose bumps are also more noted ones.

Some peopl even have out of body experiences during this type of seizure, time can get distorded as well.

People can experience a phenomonom called Deja vu.  That is when you are in a strange place and you think you have been there before many times, when in fact you haven't.  Or there is jamais vu, and this is when all your familiar surroundings, and people you know, and family etc all become foreign to you.

Mind you, though, that you don't get all the symptoms in the groups I have listed.  Those are just a common grouping of what occurs during these seizures.  Some people get alot of them, others only one or two.

I only experience the smell (urine/dust combo), stomach pains sometimes, headaches, hostility before or goofy behavior before, and it is 98% the bad smell and headaches.

You may want to have her tested for panic, because that can precipitate seizures in people who have them.  If that has been done and it was negative, then maybe just the seizures scare her and cause her to panic, because she has NO CONTROL OVER HER BODY.  You also may want to find out if her epilepsy is true or non.

Good luck,

Nancy

Hi, I have some info for you that may help.

I have been dealing with seizures since I was about 4, but it was never diagnosed until this May, and the school system just dismissed it as bad beahvior and day dreaming.  Then it remissed for a few years only to return with a vengence.  I started having some pretty bad seizrues in Jan of 01, and my doc put me on Tegretol XR, and that is what I was on for 3 1/2 years total before the epi I have now, removed me from it after having a VEEG done this March, after 4 EEGs--3 from the first neuro in Phx and then one from him-that were all abnormal.  So was the VEEG, and they found other seizure types that we never knew I had, as well

So, now I have 5 types of seizures, and was diagnosed this May with L-TLE with other seizure types.

I have Simple and Complex Seizures and Secondarily Generalized Tonic-Clonic seizures (but not frequently, last one of those was late last Novemember), Absence, and Myoclonic.

After failing 7 other drugs and being a surgical candidate, they started me on Neurontin 1 1/2 years ago, and I still take it, and they did a drug change with the other two I was on right before going into the EMU, and gave me Depakote ER that 3 weeks ago was increased to 1000 mgs.

The info I have is on Simple Partial seizures, and I will abbreviate that term with SPS.

People who have SPS can think, talk, and carry on regular activities during the seizure.  Consciousness is NOT altered, and they remember what happened during the entire seizure.

However, SPS does and will affect movement, emotions, sensations, and feelings in unusual and frightening ways.

The part of the brain that controls movement can cause uncontrolled movements in just about any part of the body.  Eyes may move back and forth, they may blink, there may be unusual movements of the tongue, twitiching of the face, shaking of a limb in one part of the body that spreads to invlove the whole side, speaking may arrast and movement may be suspended until the seizure is over.

The part of the brain that controls emotions can and will cause a sudden feeling of fear or sense of "impending doom", that something terrible is about to happen, feelings of anger, rage, sudden joy, happiness, fear, panic.  The people who experieince fear and panic usually show signes of being terrified for no reason, they act like they are caught in a panic attack with no known history of a panic disorder.  That is how the seizure may manifest itself on occasions.

The part of the brain that controls sensation hits just about everyone with a partial seizure disorder at some point in time.  Some experience all the time, while others only experience rarely.

Some common sensations affected include: feeling a light breeze touch you, unusual buzzing, hissing, or ringing sounds that get louder as the seizure approaches, voices that aren't there, music that isn't there, unpleasant tastes, unpleasant smells, and disortions in the way things look--things may look bigger than they are, or smaller than they are, part of the body may change in size or shape.

If the area of the brain involved with making memories is affected then disturbing visions or places and people from the past may occur.

Sudden nausea or an odd rising feeling in the stomach is also a common one.  Stomach pain may be cause by SPS, sudden sweating, flushing, becoming pale, or developing goose bumps are also more noted ones.

Some peopl even have out of body experiences during this type of seizure, time can get distorded as well.

People can experience a phenomonom called Deja vu.  That is when you are in a strange place and you think you have been there before many times, when in fact you haven't.  Or there is jamais vu, and this is when all your familiar surroundings, and people you know, and family etc all become foreign to you.

Mind you, though, that you don't get all the symptoms in the groups I have listed.  Those are just a common grouping of what occurs during these seizures.  Some people get alot of them, others only one or two.

I only experience the smell (urine/dust combo), stomach pains sometimes, headaches, hostility before or goofy behavior before, and it is 98% the bad smell and headaches.

You may want to have her tested for panic, because that can precipitate seizures in people who have them.  If that has been done and it was negative, then maybe just the seizures scare her and cause her to panic, because she has NO CONTROL OVER HER BODY.  You also may want to find out if her epilepsy is true or non.

Good luck,

Nancy

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