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Nightmares or actual seizures?
Fri, 11/27/2009 - 17:35Hi, my name is Violeta and I`m 18 years old. Today it`s been a year since I was diagnosed with epilepsy, almost two since I had my first seizure, and a year and a half since I`ve been having seizure nightmares, or my own freddy krugers as I call them.
When I woke from the first freddy I thought I`d actually had a real seizure, but later convinced my self that it couldn`t have been as it hadn`t felt as the first real one which had been whitnessed by my friends (as a difference to this nightmare, which no one had seen me have). In the real seizure I`d lost conciosness and when I became concious again I wouldn`t remember what had happened, it sort of felt like being dizzy or a little drunk.
Freddys always take place less than an hour after I go to bed. I usually fall asleep and the nightmare sets in the exsact place where I am in real life (meaning that if I go to bed in my room, that`s where the nightmare is set, if I go to bed in a friend`s house the nightmare will be set in that very place), and I see things happen from the exsact position at which I layed down. It`s always as if having my eyes open I feel myself shaking from head to toes, and I see the whole bedroom shaking as well. I always panic when I have them, at first I didn`t realize that I was dreaming so I would try to call for help, or even try to make my self fall off my bed so I`d make a noise and my parents would hear me. But of course I never managed to do it. I told my neuro about this and he said they were only nightmares and I had nothing to worry about, but honestly, it feels so real I`m just not so sure about what he said. Plus I read somewhere that sleeping seizures, or nocturnals as they call them often come in the shape of dreams. When I wake from freddy`s I know exsactly where I am, I don`t feel lost at all, I`ve never wet my bet (I know it often happens with seizures) and never had toungue bitting. I am medicated now, and never have suffered from seizures since I`ve been. It`s just that lately, this nightmares that had gone away a while ago have come back, as I am under a lot of stress. I know stress might be a trigger for seizures.
Anyway the question is, has anyone had any experience with nocturnals without any tongue bittin, or bed weting, or not even feeling lost after having them? Now that I`m used to them when have them I just tell my self to calm down and try to wake up, but sometimes when I do, the shaking gets worse and it feels so bad, so I just choose waiting. It is so scary, and don`t even know whether I`m just dreaming or really seizing.
I hope some one will have an answer to this.. or at least tell me about your own stories with nocturals..
By the way, sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes, I never should have dropped out of my english classes.
Re: Nightmares or actual seizures?
Submitted by juperee on Sat, 2010-02-13 - 03:00
You've really nailed the description, Violeta! I have the same thing, and I've always wondered if it's a nightmare or a seizure. The wierdest part is, like you describe, the setting is accurate: if I'm "dreaming" i'm in bed on my left side, I really am. If I'm "dreaming" I'm on the couch in the living room, I really am there. My Freddys even incorporate real surroundings such as sounds of sirens going off, or the cat meowing.
And yet, they're dreamlike in the sense that they're not quite real. They sometimes incorporate real external stimuli in a fictional manner, just like a half-waking dream.
You mention the "getting shot" sensation. I frequently have the electrocution sensation. I will dream I am being electrocuted in some scenario, then half realize "no, I'm in bed having a seizure", and then finally I fully wake up. At that point, I feel sort of sore, like my muscles were tensed up, but not like a really bad grand mal. However, one time I did crack a tooth that subsequently had to be pulled (i've never even had a cavity, so my teeth are pretty good generally).
To this day, I can't tell if I am having nightmares about seizures because I dread having a real one, or if I'm having nocturnal seizures??? Your description is spot-on though. I hope more people weigh in on this topic.
You've really nailed the description, Violeta! I have the same thing, and I've always wondered if it's a nightmare or a seizure. The wierdest part is, like you describe, the setting is accurate: if I'm "dreaming" i'm in bed on my left side, I really am. If I'm "dreaming" I'm on the couch in the living room, I really am there. My Freddys even incorporate real surroundings such as sounds of sirens going off, or the cat meowing.
And yet, they're dreamlike in the sense that they're not quite real. They sometimes incorporate real external stimuli in a fictional manner, just like a half-waking dream.
You mention the "getting shot" sensation. I frequently have the electrocution sensation. I will dream I am being electrocuted in some scenario, then half realize "no, I'm in bed having a seizure", and then finally I fully wake up. At that point, I feel sort of sore, like my muscles were tensed up, but not like a really bad grand mal. However, one time I did crack a tooth that subsequently had to be pulled (i've never even had a cavity, so my teeth are pretty good generally).
To this day, I can't tell if I am having nightmares about seizures because I dread having a real one, or if I'm having nocturnal seizures??? Your description is spot-on though. I hope more people weigh in on this topic.