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JME with Partials??? Long explaination, but desperate for help

Wed, 12/27/2006 - 20:32
So in October I was diagnosed as having Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy. (If this sounds familiar it's because I've posted prior to this but in some random spot that I can no longer find). Anyways, hearing the word epilepsy was quite unexpected. I'm 20, and it seems to me that I'd have known about something like this sooner! The neurologist suggested that I've had the myoclonic jerks for quite some time, since puberty, but that I wasn't aware of the fact that those jerks were actually seizures. It wasn't until recent "Tonic Clonic" episodes occured, that I noticed something was amiss. Still, my reason for going to neuro in the first place was because I had been getting really dizzy and losing my balance, "zoning out", and having visual disturbances. According to my neuro NONE of these symptoms is related to the JME. Articles I've found state that JME patients often have absences seizures in addition to the myoclonic and tonic clonic episodes. My neuro doesn't feel that this is the case. Still, my EEG showed various seizure activities... I recognize the Myoclonic jerks. I also recognize that lack of sleep, stress, and a poor diet, can lead me into Tonic Clonic episodes. Here are my questions: (1) There are periods of time where seconds pass and I'm totally unaware of it. Watching TV, and then it's on commercial, or I notice the clock is a minute past what I just noticed it changing to. Could these be absence seizures? (2) MOST IMPORTANTLY, can anyone explain what I've begun to call my "episodes".It starts with a tired feeling, confusion, and it quickly goes into feeling paralyzed. I can't move, or even blink, but I can see and hear. My vision is sometimes blurry, or it'll feel as if one eye focuses further than the other. The last for a few seconds, up to fifteen or so, or at least I've been told. During them I'm confused, and although I can see, and hear I'm not totally conscious of what's going on around me. (Similiar episodes have occured while I"m walking, milder, I can continue to walk, but not straight.) There is a feeling throughout my body, almost like a small electric wave. If something like the computer mouse is in my hand when it starts, my hand stays in that position. If I'm standing and I have a big one, I lose my legs, and plop to the ground. Sometimes I fall ,soemtimes I just kind of sink to my knees or butt. What the heck are these? My neuro seems to dismiss them as seizures, but from what I've heard they sound like simple partials. Can JME patients have several seizure types? My EEG showed several paryoxamals in my left front temporal region, and what she described as spikes and waves indictive of generalized epilepsy. When I showed my results to my primary care, she downloaded some information on them, and said they also indicated some absence seizure. Oddest of all was the fact that the ENTIRE left half of my brain slowed down at one point, while the right side continued on. Some times after a major episode I feel numb or weak on my left side, once so badly that my husband was afraid I'd had a stroke. It fades within severa minutes. I just want to know more about simple/complex partials, and if this haze I feel and fall under is more than just something odd about me that can't be explined... -Christina

Comments

Re: Re: Re: JME with Partials??? Long explaination, but desperat

Submitted by ssuuzzyy on Wed, 2007-04-11 - 15:26
JME is a possibility; the eeg should produce a very specific spike/wave pattern that results in a definitive diagnosis for JME. Perhaps seek a second opinion from a different neuro if you don't feel your current one is responsive to you. I would be interested in the results of your sleep study as my son has had sleep issues and I have considered having this done. You could also still have the neurocardiogenic syncope in addition to other issues. Good luck. Mom of 17 yr old boy diagnosed with JME in Nov 2005.

Re: Re: Re: Re: JME with Partials??? Long explaination, but desp

Submitted by dockeryz on Wed, 2007-04-11 - 21:22
Well, you were right about the spike. The doctor did mention a spike, but unfortunately he's no neurologist and couldn't tell me whether or not it was seizure activity. But he did tell me that I definitely had sleep apnea. He said that on average I stop breathing 19 times an hour. So apparently, I'm not sleeping at all when I do sleep, causing me to be sleepy all day every day, which probably causes my body to faint like that. But I'm sure I'm not just fainting, it's more like a mixture of fainting and convulsing. I guess the next step is to talk to the neurologist.

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