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Puzzled and confused

Wed, 02/28/2007 - 22:51
I have been having seizures for 6 years, starting about 6 months after a car accident. I have been treated with Valium, Depakote, Tegretol and Neurontin. Neurontin and Tegretol did the most good, but its difficult to say because my seizures wind down and start up again in frequency, with no correlation other than when my body is under the strain of frequent infections. I was told that my seizures are pseudo-seizures, and my primary care doctor refers to them as not "real" seizures like my sister, who has epilepsy. The only testing I have had are two EEGs, and one Video EEG monitoring. During the VEEG, they only started up the EEG if I was starting to have auras. The VEEG was only for 3 days, and they did a battery of memory tests. During those days I didnt have much of any seizure activity at all, and they didnt ask my family if whatever I exhibited was like anything they had seen before. I was told that I have pseudo-seizures because I havent ever wet myself during a seizure, I hadnt ever been unconscious during a seizure, and it didnt show up on the few EEGs they've done. Now, I have had the experience where I was completely unconscious during a seizure, and the doc is saying I probably have a genuine seizure disorder, and has referred me back to another neurologist. Then I read here that a lack of consciousness is not what makes a seizure epileptic. I'm just confused about all of this...and really dont know what to think. I'm prepared to take in that my seizures are psychogenic, except they've never been related to any sort of panic attacks or stressful situations, and always very physical. I feel like I dont know whats going to happen next. Anyone else know what this feels like?

Comments

Re: Puzzled and confused

Submitted by lisaltstheresa on Thu, 2007-03-01 - 08:36
You could have both. The "regular seizures" and the Psydoseizures. It can get very confusing. They can look alike, but maybe slight changes. They can look like a complex partial and generalized seizures. You can stiffen. But if you had a VEEG done, there would be no brain wave and that is how the doctor can truly tell. They are caused by stress and anxiety in your life. http://www.neurologychannel.com/epilepsy/ http://www.aurorahealthcare.org/services/epilepsy/non-epileptic-events.asp http://www.epilepsy.com/epilepsy/seizure_psychogenic.html take care Lisa http://www.sleep-safe.co.uk/id90.htm http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/epilepsyapproach1/

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