Speaking just before a seizure?

Hi Azari, People usually notice my impairments if I'm speaking (or trying to speak) during the stages of a seizure. When I'm not speaking, most of my simple partial seizures remain unnoticed by others. Epileptic speech is a vast, complex subject, and I just stop trying to speak when an aura happens, because when I do, the results vary from "speaking-in- tongues" to primitive noise or no sound at all. People make all kinds of assumptions based on my epileptic speech. When my partial seizures go into secondary tonic-clonics, the "Epileptic Scream" happens at times. Which particular stage in the tonic-clonic a particular type of screamm occurs is difficult to determine, but from reports, the one right near the start is the loudest, with any following loud forced vocal sounds more similar to "Valsalva maneuver" and "Petechial Hemorrage" associated phenomena. Some epileptic histories cite the Epileptic Scream as being louder than any voluntary or fright reflex screams. Animals often have the Epileptic Scream also. In humans, it's sometimes called "Epileptic Cry" (Page 3, first column, 4th paragraph): "With a severe and generalized tonic contraction at the onset, air is forcibly exhaled through closed vocal cords, giving the “epileptic cry” of peculiar and piercing quality." From: http://www.clinchem.org/cgi/reprint/25/6/889 In rabbits, (Page 16, first column, first paragraph): "At 10 mm after the third hour, the rabbit let out a typical epileptic scream (see part I, this issue) and extended his front and hind paws, throwing his head back and arching his body in a typical opisthotonus position. After about 2 mm, the animal went into generalized convulsions and died within about 1 mm." From: http://www.clinchem.org/cgi/reprint/25/6/898 Dostoevsky also made the epileptic scream part of a great work of literature. Tadzio

I have relatively the same symptoms as Tadzio. If I try to speak it sounds garbled or inaudible, but I feel like I'm screaming inside my head. Once the seizure advances I begin to scream, cry and drool. I usually remember the first part of the scream. Maybe the reason our speech is effected is because the part of our brain that controls that function, goes out to lunch for a while... As soon as I feel one coming on I get terrified and feel a loss of control. I immediately tear up and try to talk, but I only get out buh-buh sounds. On good days, I was able to get someone's attention before going down, but that usually ended up with a face plant in the floor if no one caught me. Another aura or symptom I get is breaking out in hives on the right side of my face, chest and arms right before. Weird? I'm still fairly new to E myself and I've often had these same questions. You're not alone :)

I had tonic-clonic and if i told some1 they would FREAK OUT