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Panic attack or seizure??? - Panic triggered from strobe lights???
Fri, 08/17/2007 - 11:13Hi all!
I went to the doctor a couple of days ago and tried to describe to him what some other things I've been experiencing. I was just recently diagnosed as having grand mal seizures but he doesn't know yet if I have other types of seizures yet because "I'm still too knew for him".
I've been having these other types of attacks since I was 13 years old (I'm now 30) and after doing a lot of research on my own, because I'm not getting a whole lot of help from him, I feel that these symptoms may be simple partial seizures. He's now telling me they could be panic attacks. BUT, in the past a lot of these same exact attacks have been brought on by strobe lights or in the middle of the night in a dead sleep. Has anyone had this happen and not had it be a panic attack? I thought only seizures could be brought on by strobe lights and such? Please help me understand this if you can! Has anyone been misdiagnosed with panic attacks when they were really seizures?
Any and all thoughts apprecieated :-)
Thanks!
Elizabeth
Comments
Hmmm. this is an interesting
Submitted by woofytalk on Mon, 2007-10-15 - 18:30
Hmmm. this is an interesting one. Have you seen a therapist yet? I would think it's most likely panic induced. Although the strobe light throws a wrench into the whole thing. I'd love to hear your findings.
I stopped my panic attacks at www.stop-anxiety-panic-attack.com
Re: Re: Panic attack or seizure??? - Panic triggered from strobe
Submitted by elizleigh on Mon, 2007-08-20 - 12:35
Thanks for the time you took respond, Sue. :-) This is the only neuro I've seen so far and I do plan on getting a 2nd opinion; I'm just waiting for the referral. I've tried to do a lot of research on my own - not to diagnose, just to try and educate myself, but a lot of it is very confusing and I'm afraid to take too much into consideration because you are right, it can be damaging not to mention very overwhelming. I guess my only frustration with this doctor is the fact that he's kind of like the tazmanian devil when I go into see him. We've established that I have grand mals but how do we figure out what these other episodes are? He's extremely quick and talks very fast with an accent that can be difficult to understand even when I ask him to slow down. He's the one who explained to me that my EEG was very abnormal especially during the strobe light part which, to me, explained a lot of my prior epsiodes that seemed to be triggered by flashing lights. He also told me at that same time that he thought those episodes were linked to this as well. Then at this appointment he tells me that he thinks they are panic attacks. Just very confusing. The panic attack thing came out of no where at this appointment so by the time I left and had time to actually think about it, I was like, hey wait a minute, I've had all these episodes as a result of flashing lights also, not just in the middle of the night or because other triggers etc. So needless to say I did get a little upset because I've told him all of this before and he has all of my prior symptoms and notes in my file so I guess I thought that he would have thought about it more carefully. I don't know. I don't think he specializes in epilepsy and I think it might be a good idea to find a neuro that does. Just have to find the right doctor and stay patient! Thanks so much Sue!! Hugs! ~Elizabeth