goose bumps & 'hidden' seizures?

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Hi, this is Maddie, I'm really glad to find this site. I still don't know for sure whether i have some kind of epilepsy. Neurology hasn't been much help, but my own dr believes i do because of a long history of strange episodes and LTL abnormality on eeg. But if so i don't understand exactly what form the seizures are taking, since those general episodes that i get can go on for a couple of days (seems too long for a single seizure, surely?). Also I don't have the main things that are often mentioned with left TLE, like bad smell, deja vu, staring, chewing, etc. (at least as far as I know). But over about 8 years I've steadily developed so many problems with mental speed, executive functions and any kind of abstract thinking, and i just can't understand how this much damage could be done by epilepsy - if that's what it is - wihtout seizures making themselves more obvious. Is there any such thing as sub-clinical seizures, or seizure-like activity, that can go on without classic seizure signs? Also, can goose-bumps be part of a seizure? Mine can be on leg, or head, or arm, or sometimes head & arm together, but only ever on one side at a time, never left & right together. The feeling can cover half or most of my leg or arm, but when I look at it the visible goose-bumps are spread out in a strange random pattern - say a blob here, a little curving strip there, and another patch further down. For a while they keep coming with a sort of 'pumping' feeling, like pulsing every few seconds. Also there's a 'soft' version of the same thing, that just makes a patch of skin feel a bit sticky. On days when I get all this it can be basically continuous, several times every hour. Can goose-bumps be an aura? Is an aura basically a simple partial seizure?

Comments

Re: goose bumps & 'hidden' seizures?

Submitted by wowmetoo on Thu, 2008-11-20 - 08:57

Wow, it is so cool to find this site..Just like so many have said.:)

I have been having these goosebumps for around 13 years now. I always just thought it was one of my angels saying hi....:) Anyway, I just decided yesterday to google it and take a chance to see if others experience it and never in my wildest dreams thought I'd actually find people that have experienced this. I now want to go see a Dr. But like so many have said about the Dr's not knowing what it is..I'm scared that I"ll have to go see several. And that's definitely not something I want to do. But I do want to find out exactly what causes them. My brother has really bad seizures and I'd never want to experience anything like his, and at the least any kind. I look forward to all new comments on this site!! :) HOpe everyone is having a most awesome day!!

Wow, it is so cool to find this site..Just like so many have said.:)

I have been having these goosebumps for around 13 years now. I always just thought it was one of my angels saying hi....:) Anyway, I just decided yesterday to google it and take a chance to see if others experience it and never in my wildest dreams thought I'd actually find people that have experienced this. I now want to go see a Dr. But like so many have said about the Dr's not knowing what it is..I'm scared that I"ll have to go see several. And that's definitely not something I want to do. But I do want to find out exactly what causes them. My brother has really bad seizures and I'd never want to experience anything like his, and at the least any kind. I look forward to all new comments on this site!! :) HOpe everyone is having a most awesome day!!

Re: goose bumps & 'hidden' seizures?

Submitted by lainey on Sun, 2009-02-01 - 17:25

Hi all, I just came looking for goose bumps cos I'm curious about the sudden burst of goose bumps on my thigh - as you've all said, a random pattern repeatedly throughout the day. It never wakes me and it has happened for a period in the past but went away on its own. I do get the sensation on my shoulder but can't confirm any bumps - they don't hang about long enough and I just presumed it is the same thing. The only thing is, I don't have any kind of epelepsy, siezures or the likes. The only problem I'm having that could be remotely similar is a bad bout of 'SAD' syndrome. Looking back, the last time I remember it happening, I was in the middle of fybromyalgia - a sleep deprivation dissorder. I know quite a few people who, when I mentioned the goose bumps, said that they had that too - but they don't associate it with anything. What I wonder is - are the goose bumps related to the epilepsy or the psycological result of having a long term ailment - i.e. being upset, depressed or the likes?

Re: goose bumps & 'hidden' seizures?

Submitted by stillasking on Tue, 2008-09-30 - 06:14

hello...

i just returned the site for the first time in a long while and was surprised to see goose bumps as a hot topic again ;-) i hope everyone who is worried about this is hanging there.

i've had a few developments since that first goose-bumps post, will mention them in case they're relevant:

- my original dr (psych) found me a really suitable new neurologist in mid-2006. now this bit is good for a laugh, at least it was to me... by that time, with 2 previous neuros, i'd had lots & lots of EEGs, always abnormal but sometimes minimised in the reporting. it turned out the new neuro doesn't much like EEGs, considers them a bit of a blunt instrument, and practically the first thing he said to me was 'one thing's for sure, you DONT need any more EEGs - we KNOW there's a problem!!!' maybe you can relate to this, it was such a relief to hear a neurologist say bluntly that there really is a problem. sometimes a bit of bad news feels like good news.

- my first dr (where would i be today without her?) tried a few more things in the hope of getting me some relief from what she always thought were seizure-related miseries (really high-impact problems, though outwardly i always looked so well). she hit on lamictal, and to all our surprise it's been fantastic. i think in the US it's regarded also as antidepressant? but here it's classified only as antiepileptic.

- both my psych & neuro drs (as well as another one we appraoched for yet another '2nd' opinion) have said the goose bumps are 'autonomic discharges', and this is recognised as a temporal lobe thing, whether interictal, aura or simple partial seizure, the definitions and distinctions seem a bit hazy. incidentally around april i started having a few changes that they both say are differrent temporal lobe seizures, but one dr calls simple partial and the other calls complex partial. the second dr also said that the difference of definition between simple & comlpex is ... well... complex! ;-)

so after saying all that, yes - there are obviously lots of things that *could* cause goose bumps, but there defintintely are drs who consider that they can be a feature of TLE, and even one type of seizure as Sophia said.

a while back i found a very good article about interictal epileptiform activity and subtle seizure activity and whether there's even a difference. i'll look around and try to recover it.

all the best, and same to everyone else on this topic. hope you'll keep letting us know how things go. maddie

hello... i just returned the site for the first time in a long while and was surprised to see goose bumps as a hot topic again ;-) i hope everyone who is worried about this is hanging there. i've had a few developments since that first goose-bumps post, will mention them in case they're relevant: - my original dr (psych) found me a really suitable new neurologist in mid-2006. now this bit is good for a laugh, at least it was to me... by that time, with 2 previous neuros, i'd had lots & lots of EEGs, always abnormal but sometimes minimised in the reporting. it turned out the new neuro doesn't much like EEGs, considers them a bit of a blunt instrument, and practically the first thing he said to me was 'one thing's for sure, you DONT need any more EEGs - we KNOW there's a problem!!!' maybe you can relate to this, it was such a relief to hear a neurologist say bluntly that there really is a problem. sometimes a bit of bad news feels like good news. - my first dr (where would i be today without her?) tried a few more things in the hope of getting me some relief from what she always thought were seizure-related miseries (really high-impact problems, though outwardly i always looked so well). she hit on lamictal, and to all our surprise it's been fantastic. i think in the US it's regarded also as antidepressant? but here it's classified only as antiepileptic. - both my psych & neuro drs (as well as another one we appraoched for yet another '2nd' opinion) have said the goose bumps are 'autonomic discharges', and this is recognised as a temporal lobe thing, whether interictal, aura or simple partial seizure, the definitions and distinctions seem a bit hazy. incidentally around april i started having a few changes that they both say are differrent temporal lobe seizures, but one dr calls simple partial and the other calls complex partial. the second dr also said that the difference of definition between simple & comlpex is ... well... complex! ;-) so after saying all that, yes - there are obviously lots of things that *could* cause goose bumps, but there defintintely are drs who consider that they can be a feature of TLE, and even one type of seizure as Sophia said. a while back i found a very good article about interictal epileptiform activity and subtle seizure activity and whether there's even a difference. i'll look around and try to recover it. all the best, and same to everyone else on this topic. hope you'll keep letting us know how things go. maddie    