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Deja vu/panic attacks - Very tired of being undiagnosed

Thu, 11/01/2012 - 18:14
Hi all, I'm very new to thinking that I possibly have simple partial seizures, however after looking through many posts here, it could possibly explain my symptoms. Over the last few months I have started having these very brief episodes of intense deja vu/flashbacks, and have realised that they mostly revolve around dreams I've had. I usually have the worst ones in the morning, and lead to what I thought was a panic attack. Then, through the rest of the day, I have extremely brief (less than half a second) deja vu flashes, that actually feel like my brain jolts somehow. I initially thought there was something wrong with my heart (as the panic attacks initially started with severe heart palpitations), however these have stopped, and after doing an ECG, EEG, and a holter test, nothing wrong at all. I'm getting to the point where I am so over the whole thing and starting to think that I'm losing my mind, and also that this will never stop. Does anyone have a similar thing happening, particularly with the brain 'jolts'? Any help would be really appreciated, I don't know how much longer I can keep feeling like I'm losing the plot! Thanks in advance, Gemma

Comments

I remember experiencing this

Submitted by MeganVsMind on Mon, 2017-11-06 - 09:30
I remember experiencing this exact feeling once or twice when I was elementary-school age. Then it happened to me one time when I was 21, it only lasted about a minute but it was terrifying. Once it went away I was still rather shaken but I attributed it to a lack of sleep from the night before, and didn’t have any other experiences, until now, two years later. This began about a month and a half ago, and I was having brief episodes of the deja vu/panic attacks that would go away as quickly as they came. Until one night when I was at work, I am a vet tech and was on call one evening, we had a surgery come in and so I had not gotten any sleep when I had this particular episode, and I actually passed out and fell forward, landing hard on the surgery room floor. Unfortunately no one was in the room with me at the time, but they heard me fall and were there within seconds. I was unconscious for no more than ten seconds, and upon regaining consciousness I immediately knew where I was and what happened, and recognized those around me. I was taken to the hospital, where I was treated for a concussion and received stitches from where I had cut my lip when I fell. I also had to go to a dentist the following day because I broke my front tooth. I experienced the strange aura feeling a few more times throughout that day(thursday). The following afternoon(Friday), I experienced it again, this time while simply laying on my bed with my boyfriend. And the next thing I knew, there was a medic in my room...apparently I had had a seizure and my boyfriend called 911. I was taken in an ambulance to the hospital, where they performed many tests, including EEG, echo, blood tests, etc, all of which were normal. I continued having the aura feelings, until I was finally administered an IV dose of Ativan (an anxiety medication). I was released from the hospital on Sunday, and went about my normal life. I had however been put on Keppra, which I took for about four days before I could no longer deal with the side effects and opted to stop taking the medication. I still experienced the aura feeling occasionally, but I would just let it ride out and it would go away after a few seconds. About a month went by, and I finally was no longer having the strange feeling, until one night before bed I had it once. Then the following morning I had it again, and again about every hour until about 11:30, when I was at work and experienced it...and again the next thing I knew there was a medic by my side explaining that I had likely had a seizure. Another trip to the hospital and some more tests later, this time my EEG showed “independent left and right brain spikes.” It is interesting to note that a week previously to this I had had a 24-hour EEG, which so far has reportedly been normal. I am now on a new medication, called Lamotrigine which is the generic brand for Lamictal. This medication must be taken at a slow loading dose over the course of a few weeks, but after about 5 days I feel quite well. I’m not sure if it’s currently just a placebo effect or what, but I’ll take it if it means I don’t have to ever experience that feeling again. I’m sharing this story because I want others to know of the dangers that might surface from this strange feeling that we all seem to experience, and I hope you all have luck in finding a solution. 

And for some reason it makes

Submitted by Tayla on Wed, 2017-11-29 - 21:40
And for some reason it makes me fear death? I have all these thoughts that this is what it feels like when you've died... I don't even know how to explain it

I had the same Symptoms,

Submitted by sedeekofficial on Mon, 2017-12-11 - 17:58
I had the same Symptoms, after going to doctors and doing Blood tests they said it's nothing serious, but red blood cells were smaller than normal, what has reduced the attacks greatly was additional B12 Vitamins and better sleep. Hope that helps.

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