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Can i get someone's opinion?
Mon, 11/27/2006 - 04:43Topic: New to Epilepsy.com
Hello, first of all i am new here so i don't know too much about epilepsy. Anyway, i was wondering if i can get some opinons. I haven't been myself lately. I've been "sick" for about the past 7 months. I keep having episodes where i get a deja-vu feeling, a feeling of familiarity, like i'd already lived it before, or i know what's going to happen next. usually when this happens, my stomach and my chest feel strange, i can't describe the feelings. Sometimes my arms tingle (usually the left). I become very dizzy and lightheaded, and i wanna pass out. Sometimes on the worse episodes i can't hardly keep my balance and want to fall over. My vision becomes bright, blurry and i feel weak, shakey, and tired. These episodes only last but a few minutes, but afterwards i get a bad headache and the dizziness stays. I also feel "spacey" afterwards. I can feel better usually by laying in bed for a while. I also tend to get alot of muscle twitches, and sometimes my muscles "jerk". I talked to my doctor about getting a refferal to a neurologist, he said he won't do that without a log of what happens. So i have been doing so. My wife has epilepsy, and she told me from what she has seen, and what i have told her, she is concerned that i too could have epilepsy or a neurological disorder. I have never had a seizure, although she says that my episodes could be seizures. I did sustain a head injury years back where i fractured my skull, and we're thinking that could have something to do with this. Well, it's almost 2am, so i don't even know if this is making sense anymore, but please i would like some opinons on what could be happening with me. Thank you for your time.
Dave
Comments
Dave, At 26, I came down
Submitted by renaescott on Wed, 2007-01-03 - 13:59
Dave,
At 26, I came down with TLE - Simple Partial Seizures for no known reason. I too started off with slight tremors and motor skill deficiencies, and as I worked with doctors to determine my illness, I progressively got worse. I have never progressed to Complex Partial seizures (where you lose conciousness), but there's always a chance. It took over 9 months to determine my TLE and it took 4 neurologists before I could prove that I had TLE. I had 3 neurologist try to convince me that I was simply depressed, even though the 4th neurologiest found a foci on my MRI scans and seizures on my EEG. My suggestion is you get started with your doctor on this right away. You never know for sure what you have until you research it medically. Also, stick to your guns. Just because one neurologist doesn't find anything wrong with you, doesn't mean there isn't - Only you know your body and how you feel. If you feel you might black out and are driving, watch for an aura (a butterfly feeling in your stomach) and pull over to be safe - It's not worth it not too. Good Luck.
Re: Dave, At 26, I came down
Submitted by happycat2 on Sat, 2007-01-13 - 19:19
Hi Dave.
I can't remember a time in my life when I didn't have auras, and when I did, I did not drive. I posted someplace else on this topic, and have on this board about this. Please remember that each and every one of us that has complex partials is going to feel something different.
Two people with the same type of seizure can have dramatically different experiences, and I certainly believe that. My own reading tells me that. Even within the same person, symptoms can differ from seizure type to seizure type. Consciousness or awareness is altered, producing a vague, confused or dreamlike appearance. The person may respond, but often inappropriately, and display strange, random or repetitive behaviour, which can and does happen more than once. Along with lack of awareness that complex partial seizures may spread to the rest of the brain leading to a generalised seizure.
As the link says...Sometimes this can happen so quickly that the person may appear to have a straightforward tonic clonic seizure — the fall down and convulse type.
Although someone may appear to be conscious because he stays on his feet, his eyes are open and he can move about, it will be an altered consciousness-a dreamlike, almost trancelike state.
http://www.trileptal.com/info/understanding/complex-partial-seizures.jsp
A suggestion might be to anyone wondering about this, write down details of the seizure so you can report them to the health care provider, if you are not doing so already. Include the date and time of the seizure. How long it lasted, which body parts were affected, the type of movements or other symptoms. I hope it helps if you do, and hang in there. That helps, as does staying positive and upbeat.
Cat.
"Many false prophets are gone out into the world." 1 John 4:1
Re: Can i get someone's opinion?
Submitted by sgtkrizzles on Wed, 2007-01-03 - 12:24
Thankyou, I have researched Temporal Lobe Epilepsy and it describes exactly what i am feeling. I am getting worse however. I am having more episodes per day, and I frequently get muscle jerks while I am trying to sleep, they wake me up. I am worried about having a grand mal sz. I just keep getting this gut feeling of something big coming because I am getting worse. Sometimes I feel so close to blacking out. I haven't been able to see the doctor i've been too busy what with the holidays and all. My wife said she is going to put me on a low gluten diet to help until I get medication. Any opinions would be great. Thanks, Dave